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Meet Saniya, a high school senior from New Jersey who loves ‘00s emo music, binge-watching South Park, and hanging with friends at the beach. 

With prom on the horizon, the 17-year-old is turning to ‘90s Naomi Campbell for inspo. Below, we chat about her ✨look✨ for the big day, her dream beach house, her favorite bands, and more.

How would you describe where you live? 

When I was younger, like in elementary school, I hated New Jersey. I was like, I'm gonna move as soon as I get old enough. But as I grow up, I realize I'm right by the beach. I’m by the Jersey Shore so I have access to the beach all year round. Even when it's cold, sometimes my friends and I will go walk on the boardwalk. I’m right by Asbury Park and there’s always something going on in Asbury. 

I love being there because they have the Stone Pony, [a historic music venue]. They always have music and local bands. A lot of people from my school go there and we just go see music and stuff. Especially during the summer, they have the Stone Pony Summer Stage and I work on the beach at the Crepe Shop. We took off days and saw Pierce the Veil and Deftones. We went to Sad Summer Festival last year where we saw Sum 41 and Mayday Parade. 

The location is perfect. You have the beach. You can take the train to New York. It’s the best of both worlds. 

Listening to you say bands like Sum 41 and Mayday Parade is hilarious to me because those were the bands that were popular when I was in high school [laughs]. It’s really fun to hear that you’ve gone to their shows. 

Yeah, we totally love the emo scene. We were all about that last year. 

Is that your favorite genre of music? 

Hmm. I feel like I don’t have a specific genre that I like because I like so many different artists. It depends on the mood. Like, I love R&B. Some of my favorites are Brent Faiyaz and Steve Lacy. I love hip hop. Tyler the Creator is one of my all-time favorites since middle school. Also, bands like Blink-182 and Deftones. Nu metal. I listen to Korn. 

How do you feel about being a senior? 

At first, I was really nervous ‘cause this is the year everyone's like, Oh, you have to get everything together. Like, your life begins now. You got to choose your major and everything. I was really stressed about that. But now that I'm in the final stretch––I applied to all my colleges––I feel more relieved and relaxed. I feel like I got this. I can finally breathe. 

Do you know where you want to go to college? 

I’m still deciding but most likely, it’s gonna be Montclair [State University]. I just went on a college tour of Monmouth [University] yesterday and I really loved the campus. It was really nice and everyone seemed friendly. So that’s on the board. It’s between those two. 

That’s exciting. Do you know what you want to study? 

Yes. I want to go into the advertisement and marketing field. 

Tell me about your day-to-day. Are you involved in any extracurriculars? 

I used to play softball, but this year I couldn't because my school schedule was so jam-packed. But all through freshman and junior year, I played second base. I never played softball before high school, so I just rose up in the ranks. Freshman year we didn't get a season because that was the year COVID happened, but sophomore through junior year, I played with my friends. Originally, I just wanted to hang out with my friends and [figured] we could do a sport. And then I actually loved softball, so I just kept going back and practiced. But since I couldn't do softball this year, me and my friends were managers of a lot of different sports. We were the soccer managers and then we were the basketball managers. We're thinking about being baseball managers. 

Speaking of friends, I’m curious: What kinds of conversations are you and your friends having right now? 

It’s kind of a mix between college and high school life. We daydream to each other. We send each other TikToks and tag each other in videos [featuring] different rooms or travel. We have this thing in our friend group where when we’re rich and famous, we’re going to get a beach house and live in it with our families. So we’ll tag each other on TikTok like, Oh, we gotta get this for our beach house. Since we live down the beach, we’ll drive there towards Deal [New Jersey]. They’re rich there so all the houses are renovated or are giant mansions. We’ll drive by and be like, That’s the color we’re gonna have for our house or I want that on my house [laughs]. 

We also just girl-gossip. We talk about our crushes. Sometimes we go out to breakfast trying to be like Carrie Bradshaw. We’ll go to diners and just talk about whatever. 

What would your dream beach house look like? 

It would be teal. I don’t want a regular color house. I want everyone to know that we live there. It’s gonna be lots of open windows with curtains––for the option of privacy. But for the daytime, you want light. The inside would have lots of greenery; lots of plants. But not too much.

I like a nice kitchen with an island, like a modern kitchen. Or if it’s not a modern kitchen, a nice, rustic, Italian kitchen. It has to have a backyard into the beach. Like, you can just go in the middle of the night and run to the beach if you want. I do want a pool in the backyard. That’d be nice ‘cause sometimes the salt water is not for me.

I like the house in The Summer I Turned Pretty. That’s what I would imagine the inside would look like, but I would put more plants and spice it up with modern things. It wasn’t old, but it felt very colonial. I’d add more color. 

What are you watching right now? 

So I’m really easily influenced [laughs]. I’m weird. I have to watch something once the hype has died down. Right now, I’m binge-watching South Park. I was quite skeptical of it at first. I’m a big fan of Adult Swim and cartoons like Rick and Morty. But I was like, Oh, South Park is taking it too far. I never wanna watch it; it doesn’t look funny. I’m not with the racist jokes. That’s just not something I wanna watch. But then it went viral on TikTok and everyone’s posting clips and making edits and I was like, Oh, fine. I’ll watch one episode. I can’t knock it until I try, you know [laughs]. Then I literally started watching it and at first, it wasn’t my favorite. I just kept it on in the background when I was doing my homework or painting my nails. And now I’m on season 12. 

It’s pretty funny. When I first heard about it, I was like, These jokes aren’t funny. But I realized they have really good commentary on social issues. They do it in a way that’s so out there that it just has to be funny. It’s so left field that it’s crazy to watch. I’m just like, Wow, I really do enjoy South Park. 

What’s something that’s bringing you joy right now?

I have prom coming up and I like planning for prom, like picking out my dress. I have a list of the makeup I'm gonna buy before prom. And I have all these videos of content creators doing makeup and what products they use. I like watching old “Get Ready With Me For Prom” videos. I’m asking my friends what they're gonna wear; how they're gonna do their hair. Last year, I was so last-minute that it was stressful, but now I actually have time to plan. 

What does your dress look like? 

The theme I wanted to go for was like a ‘90s spy; like the Naomi Campbell smokey eye, glitter makeup look. The dark lip and the thin brows. That's what I want for my makeup. And then my dress, it’s not a corset waist, but it has that shape and it ties up in the back so it gives that effect. It’s off the shoulders. It’s really long with a high slit. The cup area has a piece of the cup sticking through, but it’s covered in rhinestones. The dress is all black. 

I love that your inspo is Naomi Campbell. She’s iconic so you can’t really go wrong there. 

Yeah [laughs]. And for the hair, I was thinking Pam Anderson with a high bun. For makeup, I’m thinking of a dark liner with the pink lip. But I wanna go more glossy than the matte look. 

What does self-care look like to you? What helps when you’re feeling stressed out? 

I have really bad anxiety and I get really overwhelmed easily. You see TikTok videos of girls taking a shower, doing their makeup, having a full skincare set; doing everything all at once. That would stress me out more ‘cause I'm like, Oh, I have to do it like this. If they're doing it like this, then I have to do this. So for me, self-care looks like what I wanna do in that moment that I know will help me or make me feel better after. A lot of times, I’ll put on a face mask and listen to music in my room. I have the face mask on for 30 minutes, even though they're supposed to be on for 10. But I'm just in my room blasting music in my headphones and that really helps me. I just dance for 30 minutes. 

Or sometimes I'll just go out to eat by myself or go get Chipotle ‘cause I like driving. Self-care for me isn't one specific thing. It's more like what I feel at that moment. I know for me at least, I can get caught up in the Oh, I need to do this and I need to do that in order to feel good as “self-care.” The clean girl aesthetic was really popular a couple months ago and that really got me. I'm a perfectionist, but with low motivation.

I think we’re the same person. 

If I don’t have the motivation and I know it’s not gonna be perfect, I’m just not gonna do it. So I try not to overwhelm myself with expectations, especially when it comes to self-care because you’re the only one who should be judging. 

A few of Saniya’s favorite things:

• Waffles. Waffles are the best food ever. They have little pockets to hold the syrup so it’s always evenly dispersed, and you can eat them at any time of day. Pancakes are waffles’ overrated counterparts and waffles need to get the recognition they deserve!!!

• Sunrises. Sunrises are more peaceful sunsets. The birds are always chirping and the air is cooler. I love going to the beach in the summer and riding my bike to go watch the sunrise. 

• House music. House is a music genre that you can play at any time. I have at least one house song in every playlist I make. It’s the perfect genre for summer to just listen to with your friends. Some of my favorite artists right now are Rochelle Jordan, KAYTRANADA, and starjunk 95.

• Lip gloss. I never leave the house without lip gloss. I leave them in my friends’ cars all the time. Broadway has the best lip gloss; it comes in so many scents. My favorite right now is Vitamin E and they are only $1.00!!!

• Kianna Naomi. I’ve been following her for awhile now and her content just keeps getting better and better. Her style is unmatched and she creates the most aesthetic videos on YouTube. You can definitely tell her content is authentic. I love her travel and self-help content.

tysm, Saniya! 🌼

In the spirit of it officially being spring (yay!) and pretty, floral-scented things, we wanted to know: What’s your go-to perfume? 

• “Gucci Bloom.” ––Elise, 18

• “Daisy by Marc Jacobs.” ––Madison, 18

• “Glossier You.” ––Eve, 17 (*Editor’s note: This is my absolute favorite, hands down.) 

• “I love Miss Dior always, but my current favorite is the Sol de Janeiro body spray!!!!” ––Raine, 16

• “Sol Cheirosa ‘62.” ––Autumn, 19

• “Black Opium by YSL and Fantasy by Britney Spears.”  ––Amanda, 23

• “Orange Blossom by Jo Malone.” ––Natalie, 19 

• “Clinique Happy.” ––Kate, 18

I made Baked by Melissa’s viral Green Goddess ranch dressing. It’s vegan! It’s creamy! It doesn’t really taste like ranch tbh, but it’s nutritious and great for dumping on romaine lettuce or chicken.

And here’s a song to get ya through the week:

Want to nominate a friend (or yourself!) for “Bloomer in the Spotlight”? Got a brilliant recommendation for “Beyond the Algorithm” or just wanna say hey?

Get in touch at latebloomernewsletter@gmail.com 💘

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