SI Swimsuit Models Empower, Inspire Students at Texas Christian University

TCU student ambassador Sydney Tinker shares an essay on feminism following our ‘Be You Women’s Empowerment Tour’ stop in partnership with the Big 12.

TCU student athletes / SI Staff

This fall, SI Swimsuit embarked upon the “Be You Women’s Empowerment Tour,” in partnership with the Big 12, at college campuses across the U.S. Our final stop was at Texas Christian University, where brand models traveled to Fort Worth for a long weekend full of inspirational panel discussions, exciting activations and more.

And while each event included meet and greets with models and makeovers courtesy of Tarte Cosmetics, the “Be You Women’s Empowerment Tour” also included the opportunity for student ambassadors to be involved with everything from event participation to media coverage. Below, you’ll find a guest article written by TCU student Sydney Tinker, following SI Swimsuit’s late October event in North Central Texas.

Modern feminism has struck some controversial nerves in the name of equality in recent years. The battle for equality is much like a quartet, in which there are so many voices with different instruments within this concert. Bands of singular and multiple instruments align as the intersectionality of what it is to be women and women of color becomes effervescent in its symphony; yet they each voice a struggle that adds to our powerful noise. 

The need for community has become ever-present as women’s empowerment surrounds and plucks at our heartstrings. While we follow the Big 12’s advancements in this “Be You Women’s Empowerment Tour,” we hear the songs of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models and their contributions to society as multi-faceted women of our generation. 

While women’s sexuality is raw and powerful, it can be condemning in the eyes of others. During this tour, though, I watched as SI Swimsuit models, including Jasmine Sanders, Katie Austin, Christen Harper, Camille Kostek and Ellie Thumann, who are also entrepreneurs, wives and influencers, poured their hearts into every cup in the room. These women have been ridiculed, been told “no” even as children, and yet they still manage to push on and succeed. How do these multi-faceted women do it? 

Jasmine Sanders, Katie Austin, Christen Harper, Camille Kostek and Ellie Thumann / SI Staff

They illustrated a world in which your allies and friends are your biggest rocks when building your life up as a woman. They advised women to stop overexplaining themselves, to accept change and adapt to new worlds, to stop comparing themselves and embrace their own path, and open up to gratitude—even for those things that are uncontrollable.

As women, it will take more than one of us to shatter the glass ceiling, but this empowerment tour reminded us of that challenge for all that it is: a journey. These wonderfully gifted ladies have lived and shared their dreams so that we can, too, in whatever profession we choose. They have different sides to themselves, proving that women aren’t meant to be put in a box—rather, they are meant to be empowered to live beyond society’s deafening grip. 

We are businesswomen. We are lawyers. We are doctors. We are mothers. We are wives. We are sisters. We are our thoughts and ambitions. We are our challenges and exceptions, our trials and tribulations. We are everything we want to be and everything we are not. We are “The Familiar Female.”