Sarah Takacs | "A Voice in this World"
- Stephanie Ann
- Sep 10, 2017
- 4 min read
It was such a pleasure to get to know Sarah, although interestingly enough we had been friends online for nearly 8 or so years. I remember seeing her fashionista photo shoots and self portraits and we'd comment each other's photos. I always told her I wished we could shoot together and that someday we should plan it. The day finally came when Sarah asked if I'd be attending Vidcon 2017 in Anaheim, CA. Because it's a little over 4 hours from my hometown, I had told her I'd drive down whether I attended the event or not.
Throughout the years, I wondered about Sarah's personal life because I often felt we were possibly going through similar things. But the truth is, I never knew how to "dive deep" and ask her about her life. It's something I do often and well to this day, but at the time I was still very shy and awkward with people. Instead, I watched Sarah grow into a quite popular YouTuber and pursue her crafty channel while seemingly fading away from her fashion and lifestyle channel. However, we always remained friends on Facebook and Instagram and periodically checked in with each other about potentially shooting someday.
It wasn't until I was in England that Sarah confirmed whether I'll be at Vidcon or not and that we should hangout and do a shoot. Excited, I told her I'd be there and drive down even if I don't have a badge for Vidcon. At this time, though, You Matter Stories was already created and I had vowed to not shoot any pointless shoots with models anymore because I wanted to take my photography to another level and only shoot real stories. This meant getting to know a model before shooting with them and letting their personality and story guide the shoot. I decided to explain this to Sarah and asked her if she was interested in doing such a shoot. I was very glad when she agreed and we proceeded forward to planning her shoot.
The first step was to initiate a Skype call with her, in which I was able to while I was in England on one of my last days. It was our first video chat and she opened up about her story with no problem. As she began to explain her childhood, I couldn't help but notice how similar we were and how many similar situations we were in. She explained how she was picked on over various things, such as her weight, being good at a lot of things, and being shy. She was artistic and different, and it took quite a while before people noticed the beauty in that.
If you haven't watched her story video yet, you definitely should. Sarah reminded me that there are plenty other people out there going through similar struggles and coming out stronger because of it. She inspired me to continue doing what I love because speaking your voice in art can be so rewarding. Today, Sarah has almost 2-million subscribers on YouTube who adore her as a person, and as an artist. Her crafts are admired among thousands of people on the Internet and she does what she loves as her full-time job.
I was privileged enough to be able to fly out and visit Sarah, seeing her daily life up front. I hung out with her, did photo shoots, and helped her on one of her craft videos which allowed me to truly know her even more. I like to consider her now one of my closest friends online and am so happy we got to share our passions together. She was fun to shoot with and it was encouraging to be doing something I love with someone who didn't get tired of it or complain. We even agreed that we both could shoot for hours on end for creative photos. We stayed up until 5am on my last night there just to get everything we wanted to do done.
I am glad I got to share Sarah's story and spend time with her along the way. I truly believe that if we get to know someone for who they really are, we can change the world. We can be reminders to people they they matter and are significant. I may not be able to do this for everyone (although I wish I could and will try to do it for as many people as I can!) but I hope to encourage others to go spend a day or two with someone by asking about their story and really getting to know them. Use your talents to share them or uplift them. It's worth it, no matter what. You never know when you'll meet someone who knows exactly how you feel or endure trials you thought no one else did.
If this story encouraged you, or if you related, please leave a comment and also view Sarah's video story and subscribe for more! We hope to release stories every Sunday to help inspire others and make people feel like they really matter in this world.
Pink shirt and red skirt/gray top in her shoot was designed by Brii Leah
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