lifestyle

A day in the life with Callie Thorpe

Here on the Island, we have a long standing crush on Callie Thorpe. Let us be clear, this goes beyond stalking her looks (which we definitely do btw). We are fully obsessed with her sunny-side-up attitude and her mission to promote confidence. This November we’re working with Callie to turn up the volume on the body positivity conversation. Stay tuned to the RI social channels for her tips on embracing your authentic self and to see how she’s styling our latest Plus collection. Until then, we’ve got your Callie Fix covered, we spent a day with our Queen (all hail) and spilled the tea on everything from her bedtime routine to her brand new podcast… enjoy!

Morning

I love getting up early in the morning, but I don’t always do it, especially if I’ve been travelling for work. I can get quite jetlagged, so it’s sometimes hard for me to get into a routine. But when I am, I like to go to bed early and when I wake up, I’ll meditate with the Headspace app. If I have a hot breakfast, I’ll make halloumi, kale and scrambled egg with shallot beans. The beans are a bit weird, they are my version of boujee beans! I finely sliced shallots, fry them in a bit of oil and add a tin of baked beans.

After breakfast I get ready, I usually shower and then use a salt scrub, I love to exfoliate. I do the usual cleanse, tone and moisturise. But my cleansing is much more in depth now, I used to just use a baby wipe but now I literally have a product for everything. I love SPF, I do not leave the house without it.

I usually go and work in my local coffee shop. It’s just down the road – I feel like I get so much work done there. Like more than anywhere else – even though I have an office in my house!

“I truly think meditation has changed my life.”

Noon

I’m normally in town having meetings or recording my podcast. If I need a little push to get me through the afternoon slump, I watch Brené Brine on YouTube. She’s a motivational speaker and talks a lot about shame and vulnerability and I just find her really uplifting. It just gives you that boost when you need when you feel a bit low.

Everybody thinks that as an influencer I just swan around taking pictures, which of course is a part of it. However, there’s so much involved in the start to finish of receiving a brief from a brand. Getting a concept, understanding what the brief is, having my legal team run through exactly what I’m required to do. Then, there’s looking at locations, imagery, and styling is such a key component.

But, I also do other things, I also have my new podcast that I have to prep for. I’ll research and write questions up and organise with a studio that I work with in Kensington. I also travel a lot so often I’m working at airports, overseas and in different time zones to people so it can be really varied but that’s exactly where I thrive.

Only until February this year, I had a full-time job, I worked in administration, in a 9-5 role and I just realised that I was so unhappy there. I flourish best when I’m creative and doing multi-functional things. I like how one day I’m doing a podcast, then I’ll do a photoshoot, prepping or writing a travel piece on my blog. I like the fact it’s a diverse role.

“I think everybody thinks that as an influencer I just swan around taking pictures…”

Night

If I’m away on a work trip, I love exploring so I’ll be looking for the best restaurants to try. I’ve started going back to the gym and doing bootcamp too. But, to be honest, I just love chilling in with my husband, watching Netflix and reading. I recently rejoined the local library so I go there on a Sunday and get a load of books. I’ll have a hot bath, a tea and just hibernate for the evening, that’s my absolute favourite. I'll literally read until the bath water is cold. Honestly I’m such a nana but I love it. I absolutely love an early night.

Before I go to bed, I always take off my makeup, if I haven’t already done it earlier and brush my teeth. I’m addicted to flossing, I can’t go out without doing it. I just love flossing.

“To be honest, I just love chilling in with my husband, watching Netflix and reading…”

Callie on the Confidence Corner

My podcast is called the Confidence Corner and it is an addition to the page I created with the same name – it’s a community page where people share their individual stories about confidence and how it’s affected them in different parts of their lives. The podcast explores confidence in motherhood, activism, body confidence, just absolutely all areas in life and what that means to them.

I wanted to do something that was not about me and to honour people and their stories – stories that don’t get heard.The influencer world can feel, to other people, narcissistic and a lot of the time it’s not, there’s some very genuine people in this industry that really care about what they do. I feel passionate about supporting plus size women who feel alienated from the media and I want to support them in feeling stylish and comfortable so that’s always been a real thing for me.

We’re on episode 4 now!