Catching up with Cybersmile Ambassasdor Chessie King to Discuss Body Confidence and Cyberbullying

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Author: SCD Team
June 20, 2019

Cybersmile Ambassador and Instagram star Chessie King is increasingly in the media spotlight, which unfortunately means that she experiences abuse and negative comments online. Having teamed up with Chessie on last year’s multi-award-winning body confidence campaign titled #TrollingIsUgly, which saw Cybersmile win Gold, Silver and Bronze lions at the Cannes Lions Festival of creativity in 2018, we caught back up with Chessie to get some advice on dealing with the haters and to find out how our joint campaign has impacted her career since.

We’re excited to bring you this exclusive interview which is full of tips for dealing with online problems!

WE WORKED TOGETHER FOR THE AWARD WINNING BODY CONFIDENCE CAMPAIGN #TROLLINGISUGLY. CAN YOU TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT HOW THAT CAMPAIGN HAS IMPACTED YOUR CAREER SINCE THEN?

People really resonated with the campaign & I think it helped so many of my followers going through online bullying. I met the team behind Instagram recently & they said they use our campaign in their presentation to show others how to use the platform in a creative & expressive way.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TARGETED WITH CYBERBULLYING OR ONLINE ABUSE?

Absolutely, it’s been so difficult at times but the #TrollingIsUgly campaign helped me so much. Trolling can affect anyone, from a 16-year-old who has 100 followers to a celebrity who has over 3 million followers and everyone in between. In some cases the effects of bullying can have extreme consequences.

The more I open up & share my life on my Instagram, the more hate I’m going to receive. And trolling is such an important issue to tackle because people cannot get away with hiding behind a computer or a phone saying things they most likely would never say to someone face-to-face. It needs to stop.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM AND WHY?

Instagram, because I have such an incredible community who all help & support each other in a non-judgemental space. I have curated my newsfeed to help me feel inspired, positive & empowered everyday.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE BEING AFFECTED BY CYBERBULLYING OR ABUSE ONLINE?