A Week of Inspirational Young Women: Monday – Grace Stratton

In honour of youth week 2019, we decided to profile our favorite young female leaders in NZ to showcase the women kicking goals across all fields in NZ. So Monday to Friday this week we will be profiling one inspirational woman a day, to spread the word about all the incredible young talent out there in Aotearoa!

Today, to kick off our Youth Week series, we’re profiling the phenomenal Grace Stratton!

Grace Stratton has an extraordinary career. The 21 year old fashion blogger, influencer and aficionado has been making waves in the arts and culture scene since she burst into influencer prominence in 2015.

When then 18 year old Grace had just come through her 17th bout of surgery and knew that she needed something positive to focus on during rehabilitation. Grace was diagnosed at 1 year old with cerebral palsy, and has been open about her experiences getting wheelchair to get around in her day to day life. Her frustration at the lack of voices like hers in the media as one of the key reasons for starting story telling. So she began to tell her story right from her hospital bed, starting her career as one of NZ’s most recognised fashion and disabled activist influencers.

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All is for All officially launched last night. The vision of the platform is to ensure that every person has access to fashion; and more widely, to further the education surrounding the importance of accessibility online and in industry. Fashion contributes to identity, self worth and confidence. It has currency to impact. That vision could not have been executed without Angela Bevan, whom advises and works on this project. Words can’t describe the impact she has had. Thanks is also due to SweenyVesty, Murray Bevan and the team at Showroom 22 for facilitating and believing in this conversation we had last night and our platform. Thank you to everyone who came, we can and must break down barriers for an accessible world, and fashion industry. It is crucial. ⭐️ #fashionwithoutbarriers #fashioninfocus

A post shared by ALL IS FOR ALL (@allisforall) on Mar 21, 2019 at 12:47am PDT

The All is for All initiative founded by Grace Stratton & Angela Bevan

The first blog evolved into a wildly successful blogging and social media influencer career, a nomination as 2017 young New Zealander of the year and the creation of a world first initiative, an online shopping site designed for disabled users, All is For All.

But what we love about Grace isn’t just her amazing passion for fashion. It’s that she’s been such a tireless advocate for reshaping the narrative around disabled people in NZ.

She’s been very outspoken in challenging the assumptions that society often makes around disability, portraying disabled individuals as waiting around in misery for science to ‘fix them’.

Instead, Grace says, disability is not something to be fixed or afraid of, so she blogs through a disability lens to show how it can be integrated into fashion, lifestyle and advocacy as a fact of life. We love that she has always been outspoken in reframing disability in this way, rather than something to be afraid of. And she does all of this while also maintaining a kick ass sense of style, passion for the magic of clothes and exuding boundless energy and charisma.

You  can follow Grace here or check out All is For All here .