High school student promotes self-confidence among her peers

WINDERMERE When Windermere resident Ally Bross was 14, she saw an ad on YouTube for KIDZ Star USA, a national talent search for kids under 15. 

The organization called for kids to post a video of them singing to YouTube. The top eight won a trip Los Angeles to compete against each other for a record deal with RCA Records. 

Bross posted a video of herself singing Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love.” A few weeks later,  she got the call from KIDZ Star USA. Out of the 50,000 kids who entered, Bross was one of the eight selected.

She flew out to L.A. the next week. 

“It was so fast,” she said.

While there, Bross was mentored by Grammy Award-winner Gavin DeGraw. It was the first experience she ever had in L.A. She learned how to be on set and be behind a camera. 

The experience was exciting for Bross. But when she returned home, her classmates didn’t share her enthusiasm. 

“When I came back, I was expecting everyone to (say): ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so cool!’” she said. “But they were just mean about it.”

UNACCEPTED

They picked at her weight, the pink and blue highlights she had in her hair, and her self-confidence. At her school, she found nasty comments about her and the show on the bathroom walls. When commercials appeared on television, her classmates would Tweet sarcastically: Oh my gosh, Ally’s on Disney Channel. LOL. The show aired was on VEVO and YouTube, so plenty of classmates saw it and posted comments.

“It was kind of troubling for me because it was my freshman year of high school,” she said. “All the kids were so supportive of the football players and the cheerleaders, and I thought that if I did something cool like they did, going to a big competition, it would be just as accepted. But it just wasn’t.” 

Bross ultimately switched schools and quickly regained her confidence. Her first EP came out late 2014. The high-school senior has performed locally at places such as Austin’s Coffee in Winter Park. 

Through the competition and creating her own music, she amassed a large number of followers on social media. So a few months ago, she had an idea to use her platform to discuss a variety of other interests, including self-image.

In August, Bross came up with the idea to do a photoshoot and write a blog post discussing self-image. She began to contact girls she knew and ask them if they would be interested in participating in the photo shoot, celebrating differences that make each other beautiful. 

“Love, Not Hate” published Dec. 2. 

LOVE, NOT HATE

“The reason I made the whole blog post was to make girls satisfied with themselves,” she said. “To make them realize that anything you may not like about yourself is actually a treasure, because we all have something different.”

Bross has a six-inch scar on her stomach from a kidney surgery when she was young. For a long time, she didn’t like the scar and the questions other girls would ask her about it. Now, she’s learned to embrace it. 

“You are who you are on the inside. The reason I did everything is because there’s girls who judge each other for who they are on the outside.” 

— Ally Bross

Nicole Romero, a friend who participated in the photo shoot, has a large social media following. But she’s experienced the negative side of social media.

“(Because) I have a lot of people watching me, a lot of people tend to comment on things trying to bring me down,” Romero said. “At first, it was kind of hard for me. It was different to have so many people commenting on me. I just came to the realization that people will just try to bring you down to try to make themselves feel better or to try to get attention.” 

Romero hopes Bross’ blog post will help other girls to recognize they shouldn’t bring other girls down because of how they look.

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].