Miley Cyrus has evolved from a Disney channel child star to a diva of a young woman. 

When we met Miley she was an eleven year old southern belle who wanted to get her start in the world of acting. With no formal training she scored her first major role as Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel original series “Hannah Montana”.

Now, flash forward seven years from her acting debut and Miley is now eighteen and has, “started to feel [her] vibe”(Miley) . She’s worked hard to reinvent and express herself. Miley sets to reinvent herself not only in her outward appearance but as a vocal/performance artist, opposed to an actress. In order to reinvent her exterior, Miley shaved her head, bought new clothes, and started posting her thoughts about controversial topics such as sexuality, the legalization of recreational marijuana and the freedom of the female nipple. You can learn more about Miley’s opinions by checking her out on Twitter at @MileyCyrus. With Miley’s transition being illustrated above, I was curious as to how people felt about the transformation of Miley, so I asked my classmate Molly Barry her thoughts.

I began by asking Molly if she ever expected Miley to be the way she is now. Molly laughed a little and then replied with “Uh.. no, but I like who she is!”. The fact that Molly was a fan of Miley’s transformation did not surprise me. I asked several more of my classmates  to see if Molly’s support of Miley’s new persona was one other people in my generation agreed with. Amelia Young said “She’s awesome! I couldn’t do what she does”. I then continued to ask Amelia if she was familiar with Miley’s efforts to gain support and publicity for the LGBTQ youth, homeless youth as well as other vulnerable populations in young America. Amelia said she was familiar with Miley’s efforts.

On the other hand, when I asked this same question about being familiar with Miley’s work for the youths to Miriam Novogrodsky (an adult) and Molly, they said they were not familiar with Miley’s work. I then told Miriam all about Miley’s campaigns such as #HAPPYHIPPIE and #INSTAPRIDE both of which focus on the support of vulnerable groups of youths. Miriam was intrigued. I continued to tell her about how Miley has raised immense amounts of money as well as publicity for these groups and has really made a difference in their members’ lives. After I told Miriam about these campaigns Miley runs/supports, Miriam’s response switched to “Wow, she sure is something”. In southern terms this means: I might not approve of all Miley stands for, but I can’t argue that she’s benefiting many.

 In addition to Miley’s #HAPPYHIPPIE and #INSTAPRIDE campaigns, Miley has teamed up with M.A.C cosmetics to create a line of lipstick called VIVAGLAM. One hundred percent of the profits made from the VIVAGLAM lipstick sales are put towards AIDS/HIV prevention and treatment.  I made sure to inform Molly and Miriam of the VIVAGLAM campaign. They were both very impressed. I checked back in with Molly after I rapidly spit Miley’s accomplishments at her. I asked Molly her thoughts on Miley’s charity work.  Molly replied with“She is incredible! Someone has to do it and who better than the newly transformed Miley?”. 

Molly is right, someone has to do good in the world, and Miley, who we have all grown up with and respect, is a great role model and symbol of acceptance. After all, she’s just being Miley.