Get a move on!
By Jaishree Drepaul and Mandy Ng
vervegirl: What inspired you to get involved with BYOU?
Sabrina: I’ve been a dancer my whole life. I was dancing 30 hours a week. The producers came to me and asked if I wanted to be part of it. I eventually became one of the producers as well.
vervegirl: What is it like to be a role model?
Sabrina: It’s so amazing. It’s a tough position to be in. I look at the young celebs right now with the girls getting so thin. The media is really tough on celebrities because you’re either thin, you’re fat or you’re not talked about. It’s true. The girls who are healthy and not too thin you don’t really hear about them that much. It’s really tough on teens who are experiencing their bodies changing.
vervegirl: What are some of the concerns you hear from your fans?
Sabrina: I think one of the most impressive things that happened after The Cheetah Girls came out was when parents came to us at meet n’ greets and said, “My daughter never wanted to be active at all and seeing how you girls were dancing and singing and following your dreams, they realized their own dreams are achievable and they started getting active.”
vervegirl: Being in the spotlight, do you also feel a lot of pressure to maintain a certain appearance for your fans?
Sabrina: Definitely. I was a college freshman when I first shot The Cheetah Girls. I had just moved out and it was my first time away from my parents, so I gained a little weight because I wasn’t eating healthy food. I was eating whatever I could pop out of those little micro-fridge things you have in your dorm and I definitely felt a bit bigger and thicker. Now, when I do start to lose a lot of weight, people are like, “Whoa, wait, we don’t want you to lose too much.” And it’s like, “I’m just doing my thing!” I’m obsessed with carbs.
If I could have every single carb you can think of, I would. It’s very tough. No one is going to want to buy a fitness video if the person in it looks like they aren’t fit themselves.
vervegirl: What advice do you have for teens dealing with peer pressure?
Sabrina: I look back at my pictures from junior high and it wasn’t until the middle of high school where I look at my pictures and I think, “Wow, I look pretty cute!” I could look at myself and finally have confidence. In junior high, I was so worried about what everybody thought and how I looked. It took me three years to get from 4'11 to 5 feet. It was ridiculous. I was always so short and everybody was growing. And then I got into high school and started really feeling like I was really developing my own sense of self. I was just myself. I think that every girl should know that whether she’s the pretty girl or not-so-pretty girl in school, every other girl is going through the same insecurities. You’ll go through them and as you grow up, you’ll get over them.
vervegirl: What’s the best advice you ever gotten about body image
and self-confidence?
Sabrina: The slogan BYOU is so empowering because it’s okay to not absolutely love your body—but you need to be yourself. So if that means you have to work at it a bit more, that’s okay. At the end of the day, you just need to feel comfortable with how you are at the moment. If you stress, you’re going to miss so many amazing moments in your life. Confidence comes with understanding that you are who you are.
photography: courtesy SONY BMG MUSIC (CANADA) INC.
