Photo by Leah Runyon
GLORIOUS PROFESSION: Antique Jeweler, Instagram Icon
GLORIOUS PERSONA: A Cheeky Glorious Broad
GLORIOUS QUALITIES: Generous, Joyful, Adventurous – and not takin' it all too seriously
GLORIOUS PHILOSOPHY:
“I never considered myself a fashionista or any of those bullshit labels – I’m just me doing my thing, traveling, living out of a suitcase”
Sarah Jane Adams @ saramaijewels has got 160,000 followers on Instagram. Ok, not 218,000 like Kim Gordon, not 10.5 million like Madonna, but still. What she’s got is 160,000 obsessive fans — and I’m one of them. Sara lives part time in Australia, part time in London and part time just about everywhere else she feels like floppin’. She is the wandering gypsy I think we all want to be, or I wanna be. My ex went on a solo six month bike trip with his backpack and little else a year ago and all men gravitated to him with lust and envy and a “why can’t I” misty gaze. I think Sarah brings that up for women — not the envy but feeding the free-and easy-let’s-go-for-it part of you. Hey, I’m a pro-active kinda lady and live the life I want to but she’s an exaggerated version of what I could be on a very courageous day. Me and the 160,000 others who can’t get enough of her.
INSTAGRAM "STARDOM"
I’m drawn to rocker chicks, only this one answered my Instagram message. I asked if she would let me interview her. She agreed within minutes. Now Kim Gordon wouldn’t do that...
She was on one of her first trips to NYC and I remember her big teddy bear of a man commenting to me while we photographed her: “Amazing — one year ago we had no idea what Instagram was and now it has changed our lives.”
ABOUT THAT FERRET
Half of Sarah’s appeal on IG is her attitude ‘cause she simply just doesn’t give a f***. She started out as a ferret. Yes, a stuffed ferret. Now that’s a lady who definitely doesn’t take it all too seriously. One day she had on a really old Adidas jacket, mixed it up with “whatever was around” and let her daughter’s boyfriend take a smart-ass picture of her. Her daughter posted it, hash tagged AdvancedStyle and AriSethCohen from the uber popular over 50 style blog — and all hell broke loose. Ari, creator of Advanced Style, happened to be in Sidney, came over the next morning, took a couple of photos, and that’s pretty much how it started. Sarah and Ari have become good friends since, and she has the utmost loyalty and respect for the man, “a gentle gorgeous soul.” “I never considered myself a fashionista or any of those bullshit labels – I’m just me doing my thing, traveling, living out of a suitcase...”
And that’s what comes through...her genuineness, her humor, her not giving a shit...
AND SHE'S NOT A NARCISSIST
If you’re on Instagram, you know there are a LOT of narcissists on it. Sarah is quite the opposite. She’s real. She speaks the truth. Her mantra: “Be yourself. Speak up.” She attracts all kinds of ages, all kinds of cultures. “I’ve got different genres of followers. Obviously, I’ve got a bunch of Adidas people (she loves her Adidas), the Brazilians love me ‘cause I am colorful and bright, I am festive, the older and middle aged women like me because I’m gray and able to live my life and have a happy time, the Japanese kids love me cause I am quirky and wear things in an unconventional way. And then there are the Philly people! I found them and they inspired me — so it’s very much a reciprocal thing.”
That’s the difference with Sarah. It’s reciprocal! She asks things. She responds. She does give a shit about the people who follow her. In fact, she considers them “her therapists.” “To have 160,000 therapists out there — some of whom are vocal and some of whom aren’t — that’s huge. I mean, what a blessing is that.”
Enough of me waxing on. Let me introduce you to the girl herself on a couple of rants. She’s the real deal — a “Gloriously “wicked, cheeky, wind up merchant” to quote Sarah …
Wrote, directed, designed, edited this first of a series of video interviews with feisty, strong, charismatic women who are part of the tribe called Glorious Broads. Sarah, who sees herself as a gloriously "wicked, cheeky, wind up merchant" is all that - but so much more. She's got style, wisdom and attitude galore.
This piece or a close facsimile was originally posted for Huff Post 50. Since the article, I've had so many women write me about Sarah's magnetism. Well, she's in Montenegro today — tomorrow — who knows?