In a world where beauty products, fashion items, and extravagant travel have been linked to harm of the environment and animals, it is always refreshing when someone different comes along to flip the script and show a better alternative. Valerie Grand (Valeriesaprincess) is certainly very different, advocating for her plant-based (vegan) diet and compassion for animals through the well-understood power of social media.
A native of Switzerland, and having grown up in the idyllic Swiss Alps, Valerie had a lot of blessings and got married at the young age of 21 in 2017. Valerie is highly sensitive to the impact human activity has on animals and the environment and has been on a plant-based diet for over 6 years, as well as advocating strongly for animal rights and fighting against animal cruelty.
But Valerie knew that to make the biggest impact, she needed to share to the world how it was possible to live a cruelty-free lifestyle, especially for other women who wanted to enjoy health, wellness and beauty products that were ethically-sourced and not animal-tested. Just one year after her marriage, and with the support of her loving husband, in 2018 she started her Instagram page and has been on an upward trajectory ever since.
With her focus on promoting veganism and fighting against the mistreatment of animals, Valerie’s Instagram quickly grew, and has now gathered more than 130,000 followers. As her Instagram page grew, Valerie also created her own YouTube channel where she began taking her followers with her on her holiday vacation adventures, giving them more insight on both her daily life and how she stays on her plant-based diet even when travelling far and wide around the globe.
In her Regnum Carya (Turkey) vacation vlog, Valerie takes her followers through the highlights of her resort stay, and comments on the availability of vegan food options as well as showing off some of her exercise routine. Watching the video, you can see Valerie’s passion for videography and video editing that shows her YouTube channel as a great pairing with her already established Instagram content.
Right now, Valerie only has 5 videos on her channel since she started in late 2019 just as the outbreak of Coronavirus hit. Not wanting to release sub-par content to her fans while being stuck at home, Valerie has resolved to come back with more video content once lockdown restrictions ease and the world starts to get back to a semblance of normality again.
Speaking more of her Instagram posts, Valerie is always experimenting with new products to try and tackle different skincare routines, for example, she recently used CBD oil as a more natural way to take on skin breakouts she was having. Her candidness and sincere advice is earning her a following from people who want to find cruelty-free and natural alternatives to the traditional skincare products out there.
Like many women trying to make progress online, Valerie has had to deal with her fair share on internet trolls, made even worse by the stigma against veganism that pervades much of society still. While Valerie is able to rise above these juvenile responses, her high sensitivity means that even one mean comment amongst dozens of positive ones can cause her to fixate on it, something that she is working on and taking in her stride as something that makes her stronger in the long run.
Compared to other content creators, Valerie’s content may seem irregular or inconsistent, but that is because she has resolved to only post when she feel genuinely inspired. Rather than posting ‘filler’ content just for the sake of making noise, Valeria wants all of her posts to have real meaning and be born out of genuine creative passion.
In the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown, Valerie is not being complacent, and has resolved to self-improve as much as she can at home while keeping occupied with positives. She has been working on home fitness, getting better sleep, as well as asking her followers for advice about planting fruit trees on her balcony.
Just looking at her online activity and the way she produces content, Valerie definitely lives by her favourite quote “prove yourself to yourself, not others”. When it comes to following your passions and not caring about what people think, Valerie is showing us how it’s done, and inspiring thousands more along the way.
I'm a New York-based journalist covering business, celebrity and entertainment news at Josep Vinaixa. I hold a master's degree from New York University of Journalism.
