Martin Scorsese once said that, “the true goal of storytelling is to make the audience care about your obsessions.” What strikes me is how lucky the people who achieve that really are—those rare artists whose obsessions become something the world cares about too. Most of us dream of that kind of resonance, but we only see the polished surface once they get there. The struggle it took to be understood, to be noticed, to be cared about—that part rarely makes the story. I wa

By Kiki Pape January 2025 Picture 2014. Middle school was buzzing like a hive of awkward beauty decisions, parents pretending they understand your interests, and me at my vanity, trying to invent something that vaguely resembled adulthood on my thirteen-year-old face. YouTube became my unofficial older sister. Bethany Mota taught me how to flick a wing without stabbing my eyeball. Jaclyn Hill quietly saved me from zit-induced panic attacks, like some kind of makeup superher