Page 153 - Flaunt 170 - The Phoenix Issue - Ever Anderson

147 in her technological image, aka Instagram. “It is about having a healthy boundary.There is no escaping it.This entire thing and our fan base (for Sabrina) does largely exist on Instagram, it is nice to interact with them,” she says, button-nose smile, Chicagoan twang maybe somewhere in her voice, “I put a time limit on my phone. I don’t share what I’m doing with my life. Even though I post a lot I don’t let people know about everything. To each their own, but I don’t like to spend hours on Instagram. It doesn’t make me feel good, but it’s part of my job and part of being on a Young Adult show. But I focus on having a healthy relationship with social media. It can be a comparison trap and a lot of toxic things if you make it. It’s a tool and it can serve a purpose depending on how you use it.” So she rides the phoenix of self-reflection. Dodging tech-decay of the spirit. A real one, as they say. Keeping it all the way 100, “I want to set a positive example. I’ve got a lot of young girl followers. I want to be a healthy account to look at. An Instagram account like mine is being seen by a lot of people so I want to keep it light and fun.” But Shipka is honest about the battle between success and uncertainty. Being an artist is unpredictable. Like getting into the ocean. We never really know what’s there. It feels good. But it’s dark. It can be spooky, strange, “There’s a lot of rejection. The amount of ‘no-s’ that you hear is a lot,” she divulges, paddling out into the waters of the beaming starlet, “Especially if you’re auditioning a lot. You’re not going to be right for every role. There is a massive amount of no before you hear the yes. That’s inevitable because everyone is right for different things, and that’s the logical way to look at it but it’s really easy to internalize. For me it’s about having a support system and having been through it I have tools to manage it and also ignore it to a certain extent. But I’d rather be in this job than not at all.” I keep speaking of the phoenix. And whence does it come? The fire. Ever remembering the hell it escaped to find the firmament. Like the lotus, born out of mud. A challenge being just that of remembering when finding the treasure, remembering that just around the corner of the red carpets we are in the midst of an economic crisis, homelessness abounds, and the hourly wage might buy you half of that vegan burger. Begging the question: how does one stay grounded? “There’s gratitude at so many levels for me,” Shipka tells, revealing the bottom line of not spinning out, “Obviously I’m in a really lucky position when it comes to being in this industry, getting to do what I wanted to do and being comfortable in life and having a roof over my head and clean water. I have to practice gratitude daily cause it is so easy to forget how lucky a lot of us are in the positions that we’re in. Having a gratitude journal and writing the things that I’m grateful for and not taking anything for granted and being the best person I can possibly be is extremely important to me.” With or without makeup, the sense with Shipka is that she’s given herself over to integrity. The crew is buzzing around like bees, her face a delicate and angelic pink rose ready to be touched. Her hang out slippers six sizes too big, robe on, her mother nearby, her eyes on the prize: being that artist that is one in a million, not just because she’s made it, but because she’s interested in doing things a different way. How’s that for kicking nihilism in the face? And breathing the breath of fire and truth into the age of social media? Come on, can you cry on and off screen? Cry and laugh not just for likes but also for spiritual growth? Being of service. Not losing touch with the ability to be vulnerable...and kind. PHOTOGRAPHER: VINCE AUNG. STYLISTS: DANI+EMMA. HAIR: CANDICE BIRNS USING ORIBE HAIR CARE AT NEST ARTISTS. MAKEUP: VINCENT OQUENDO USING MAYBELLINE AT THE WALL GROUP. ALEX JACHNO USING CHANEL LE VERNIS AT ART DEPARTMENT. MAKEUP ASSISTANT: JACKIE PICCOLA.