February 25, 2025 • 28 mins
Keri Looijen could be the poster child for women who nurture vibrant and colorful communities. She is co-founder and editor-in-chief of True North Pin Up Magazine, a publication created to celebrate vintage beauty, diversity, and the art of storytelling through retro-inspired photography. Behind the retro fashion and red lipstick, Keri is also a mother of two and a former victim of domestic abuse. However, when Keri needed a safe space for herself and her children, she discovered that the local shelters had a waiting list. Not one to take a closed door as an answer, Keri co-founded a car show to help raise money to support women's centers. The car shows also blended perfectly with her newfound passion for Pin Up culture. In December 2019, the first edition of True North Pin Up Magazine was published. Its goal is to revolutionize and empower an entire community of women through body positivity, connection, and authentic expression of self. We invite you to come and meet Keri Looijen.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Virgin, Beauty, Bitch, Podcast, Inspiring women to overcome social stereotypes and share
(00:09):
unique life experiences without fear of being defiantly different.
Your hosts, Christopher and Heather, let's talk, shall we?
Contribution, philanthropy, giving back, paying it forward, community building.
These are all valued human traits and behaviors.
(00:30):
But what if we could combine all these virtues with the allure and celebration of the female
body?
Hmm.
What I thought.
Well, we just happen to have someone who has found a way to merge all of the above.
We welcome editor and chief of two North pin-up magazine, Carrie Lugin, to Virgin Beauty,
(00:50):
Bitch.
Welcome, Carrie.
Thank you for having me.
Oh, it's our pleasure to have you.
Carrie, we'll be getting into the magazine and all the amazing projects that you've
initiated.
But I'm blown away by how consistent you are and always wanting to make life better for
others and building community.
I wish everyone could be like that.
(01:11):
But what drives you?
What took your life in this direction, do you believe?
My first marriage.
Oh.
So I was married for quite a while to a man who was not great and he was abusive.
And when I left, and I couldn't find any support, what I needed, it really started the fire to
(01:32):
start driving me forward to helping others so they can find the support and empowerment that
we need.
And community.
Community is huge.
So that is what propelled you in this direction in your life?
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah, when I first left, I had joined a pin-up contest.
And this was my first dive into it.
(01:56):
It was 2017.
And there was a pin-up contest in our small town during the car show.
And I said, oh, I have a cherry dress.
I'm going to join this.
And he was absolutely not.
He was really mad.
So he ended up leaving me with the cars.
And I threw out my cherry dress and my giant coconut and white heels and ran across town
to join this pin-up contest.
(02:17):
And it was the first time I think that I was ever surrounded by a group of women who were
all there and they all chewed each other on.
And it was inspiring to watch.
But it wasn't something because we all have really good girlfriends and we have a cherry
on, but it was very small and little things.
But to have a group, there was 20 of them.
(02:39):
And they were the loudest cheerleaders for each other.
And you could hear them prep each other for it.
You're going to do great.
Oh, you did so good.
Like, look what you did.
It was fantastic.
And so that was the little start to it.
And then the next day when I actually moved back to Calgary, I ended up talking with some
of them in the community and started going out for car shows a week.
(03:05):
And I found a tribe of women who are incredible and the most supportive.
I don't know what I would do without them now.
Wow, that is really something powerful because you saw something that was of specific interest
to you and something that you were jazzed to be a part of.
To have someone who is meant to love and support you.
(03:28):
And of course, that's just not the reality for so many of us.
To say, no way, that's not happening.
That's not what you're doing.
And do you find that fire within to say, well, screw that?
I'm out.
I'm out.
I'm out.
I'm out.
That was great.
It was, he took it as left field and I was like, oh, this is the building for so long.
(03:53):
But when I left, there was no, I had two kids and I hadn't been working full time and I needed
support and I didn't have any.
So we initially looked at the women's shelters in Calgary and there was a three month waiting
list.
And so I had two kids, nowhere to go.
And thankfully my parents opened up like there are two bedrooms and their basements for the
(04:14):
three of us in the dog, which was we were really thankful for.
And I don't think that any woman should be turned away from a shelter when you need that
support you need it.
So that's where we keep driving towards supporting women's shelters.
What is the name of that project that you've built?
(04:36):
So we started it as rides for relief and it was my best friend and I who to celebrate my
one year free, my counselor time said you should plan a party.
And I was like, I plan parties and I'm like, I'm spending a ton of money on food and we have
this big open house that he's going to be massive.
I don't have the money for that.
So instead we hosted a car show and we called it rides for relief.
(05:00):
And that was in 2018.
We ran until 2020 and we did an online COVID pinup contest where we raised over $10,000.
And then now she's still, she's in Didsbury and I'm in Drumheller.
So we're in an hour away.
It's really hard to make some of those big car shows work.
So I've revamped it into heels and hearts initiative.
(05:21):
And so far in the last four months we raised $5,500 for the women's shelter here in Drumheller,
which really struggled with some funding challenges last year.
So we're going to keep the momentum going.
We're going to host a misgracious pinup contest at the Drumheller car show here where a lot
of pinups go out and fundraise and then bring it all back and we have so great theme for
(05:46):
the women in the community.
And the magazine, what, what, how did that fit in?
How did that dove tail into what you're doing?
Oh, that was ADHD field ambition.
I wanted to promote what we were doing with rides for relief and there was no Canadian magazine.
(06:06):
Everything was in the States and all the States publications are very beautiful.
There's not a lot of content.
It's a lot of pictures of really pretty women into being all of the beautiful posing and
really great photography and incredible sets.
But there's not a lot of meat to it.
And I really wanted to have them meet and to share stories and start building kind of a
platform where we could all connect.
(06:28):
So that was the drive.
That is so cool.
There's something about pinup style that feels so much more than just vintage fashion.
It feels like it's about attitude.
It's embracing curves and confidence with a little bit of rebellion.
So with that kind of, you know, what you just said saying that it's much more than snapping
(06:49):
these amazing pictures, can you share with our listeners like with the meat on the potatoes
the content that you're talking about that you're really passionate about?
So pinup is for everybody.
It's not just for every person or just for this giving moment.
It is for everybody and in between.
And the way that the dress is feel you feel good, you feel empowered, you feel stronger
(07:13):
in the dresses or even if you're in the jumpsuits, you feel really good about yourself because
of the way that everything fits.
It's meant to fit so many people.
The meat and potatoes of the magazine is I, previously I had them write a bio about who
they were and what they came into pinup and then in this last edition, which was our Queens
(07:34):
and Crowns edition where all of the Canadian pinup themes from a various different kind of
contest across the country got to submit.
I asked them questions and I took, I think it was about 15 questions and I pulled out of
them like how did it actually make you feel?
What does it mean to win a crown?
How would you use that to further your platform and increase your empowerment within your communities?
(07:59):
Because it is coast to coast to coast.
We had some really good quotes pulled out of it.
Is there a, can you see a connecting tissue to these women?
I do.
I find that the connecting tissue between all of us is where we all had to look for that
community.
And we are all creating community.
We are a natural community members and we are a community society but we have been very
(08:24):
isolated within ourselves and in our homes and our suburbs and all the different places
that we live.
And just to bring each other together to have one thing in common, if it is just really
like to play dress up, then that is what it is.
We like the victory roles.
We like the nostalgia of when personally I feel women were incredible.
(08:47):
Like the hairdos take forever.
They are so incredible when you pull them off.
And it is just that finding a community of the odd little ducks of yourself.
That is so cool.
I feel that there are different outlets for women to feel this way.
(09:07):
But some of the messages which are always contradicting for women, some of them tell us to shrink
ourselves or be effortlessly beautiful but not too much.
I feel like True North Penup says, screw that.
Take up space.
Be loud.
Be as glamorous as you want.
Take as long as you want with that hairstyle that you're going to rock.
(09:30):
Can you speak to kind of some of that experience of the transformation that women go through
and what that does for them?
Yeah, absolutely.
It is about living bold.
Because we are told to shrink ourselves and dim our shine and be quiet or do all of these
things.
And showing up when you are dressed up and you have petty coats on and you have sparkles
and you have victory roles and giant hair flowers and you have jewelry or anything you always
(09:58):
show up over dressed to every event.
And it is really not a bad thing.
I actually had a conversation at the Drumheller Business last week about being bold
and building your confidence and it is about taking those steps.
And it's imposter syndrome, everybody has it.
But we move through that by taking steps forward and then of letting the Imposter Syndrome
(10:22):
freeze us.
Yeah, it's about being bold.
I've got grocery shopping and evening gowns.
It makes my kids a little embarrassed sometimes but it's.
I love that.
I love that so much.
Like, you know, 1940s Rita Hayward, big high heels, like long evening gown and opera
blouse and you're in the produce section.
(10:43):
It's fantastic.
What does that feel like for you?
Is that who you used to be and how has it transitioned?
So I was always the tomboy and I never learned to walk in high heels as a kid.
I remember my brother's wedding of 15 and my sister and I were candlelighters and the
night before the wedding my grandmother had me walking laps in the hotel so I could figure
(11:06):
out how to walk in high heels and it looked like a trucker.
Like I was like a soccer kids.
I was flat shoes, I was runners.
I was always running and climbing and moving.
I think I learned how to walk in high heels when I was in my 30s and actually like stand-up
straight.
Walking.
It was never, it was never really one for me.
(11:26):
But when I was married I really, it was all struggle buns and yoga pants and, you know,
I could use them.
You know, I never held good about myself.
So all this time this woman, this little girl was in there waiting to burst out?
Yeah, I played dress up a bit as a kid but it wasn't anything like this big and this powerful
(11:48):
that I would actually go to the house.
It was always like, you know, our neighborhood friends and the basement where it was playing
dress up and running plays and as we did in the 80s and early 90s.
So before we had technology.
But it's become so much more now, which is great.
(12:08):
Yeah, I feel like when people first hear "Pin Up," they think of those old World War
2 posters but there's a lot more to it because it feels like "Pin Up" started as like playful,
kind of morale-boosting photos for a challenging time in history that celebrated curves.
(12:28):
And then it got, I think, it feels like it got more tied into a rebellion and women owning
their sexuality and owning their bodies in a way that how they want to project them or
display them.
How would you feel that things have shifted from your standpoint of what "Pin Up" started
off as being and what you're experiencing of it now?
(12:48):
Well, yeah.
"Pin Up" was definitely for the men back then.
And any magazine that had photos of women, even in true North, we have, we'll have
the Algrin style imagery in the magazine or you will do cheesecake photos where it is like
the feet in the air and on the back and the posing and the face.
(13:11):
You can't put them in place because every time you do that you have to say "Prooms."
It's like it was either that smell-shaking.
No, he's, that is an insider tip.
I love it.
And even when I started the magazine, my mum told me she's not making this.
(13:32):
This is a smut magazine and I was like, "Mom, most of my followers are women."
Almost 90% of my following is women.
None of this had anything to do with men or the male gaze.
This is what we do for us and what we do for each other.
So we'll get together and there will be girls that will have the matching dresses and we'll
(13:53):
dress up together.
And it's way less about the male gaze now.
We don't really do a whole lot for the male gaze, to the male gaze, the narrow boxes.
It feels like you and these women owning your own image and projecting it in the way that
(14:14):
you want to into the world, sexual or otherwise.
Yep, absolutely.
Absolutely.
A lot of the women I know through the community used to be the punks.
So crazy hair and the punk rockabilly and pin-up scene all kind of flow and end together.
So it's really, it's really interesting because you can pull different aspects from different
(14:38):
genres into what you're wearing.
So it's not just petty coats and grief.
You know, sometimes it's crazy hair and more of this psychobilly style, which is a lot
of fun.
So yeah, it sort of feels good.
It feels right.
What I find really amazing is that what you're doing, it's not just isolated.
(15:00):
Like there are pockets like this all over the globe.
Do you get a chance to connect to other groups that are doing the same thing?
Yeah, we do.
Across Canada, I'm very connected with Ontario.
We're starting the branch out into Quebec, more in.
I'm sponsoring one of their kind of contests with pricing.
We've had pin-ups from the East Coast, which came out for it.
(15:20):
There's also in Las Vegas every year.
They have the Las Vegas, which is a massive rockabilly weekend.
And there's a huge car show and there's international pin-ups that can keep them at contests.
It's an entire, it's almost a week that most people go down.
I haven't been able to go down yet.
(15:40):
There's one day that I'll get down there.
But a lot of the community go down there every year and you make friends worldwide.
So yeah, I reached out in the, we had an open up in Canada, in Calgary area anyways.
And she was from South Africa.
She ended up getting stuck here right at the beginning of COVID.
(16:02):
And so she like floated in our community a little bit.
She was a dress designer.
So she had a whole different aspect that she brought with her, which was interesting.
And she was able to finally go home after I think it was 10 or 11 months.
But we have all little pockets everywhere.
So okay, I'm sitting on the sofa at home and I'm listening to this and intrigued.
(16:24):
What do I do?
How do I, how do I get involved in this?
Oh, you want to get involved.
So we have events that we've run all year round.
And there's events in BC, Alberta.
I'm doing one in Saskatchewan.
There's one in Manitoba, Toronto, Quebec.
There's a couple on the East Coast.
So it is coast to coast.
We haven't really touched into the territories, but it's pretty cool up there.
(16:47):
So.
It's everywhere.
And there's a group of women.
If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, we tend to try and connect people.
So if you're like, hey, I'm here and I am from, I don't know, New York to Saskatchewan.
We'll be like, hey, we have an event coming up.
And there's most likely someone from Saskatchewan or two.
(17:08):
And maybe you can meet up and just have a coffee or go out and have a picnic or start your
own little event out there.
And it's just, it's about finding that community.
So I'm running the World of Wheels to pin up contest next month and in Calgary.
And if anyone would like to register, we have registrations open till March 1st.
If you're ready to take thoughts of or just come out and watch one of the car shows and
(17:31):
watch the pin up contest come have a conversation with the booth.
There's a huge community of women that are with open arms, super accepting.
And you'll see us all shapes, all sizes.
There's some very short ones.
There's some very tall ones.
And they probably all walk better and higher than I do.
(17:52):
We're still trying to figure it out.
I love that.
That sense of community and really cheering each other on is just, it's a game changer.
So that's, that's really beautiful.
And I feel like from what you've said, you know, bringing that pin up confidence into our
daily lives, you know, when we're walking around and you know, you've gone through this
(18:14):
transformation in your own life.
What have you found in that experience?
You know, I know that community has meant a big deal to you.
What other pieces have you pulled from the pin up experience that you bring into your
everyday life?
Into almost everyday because I definitely don't get done up everyday.
I work in marketing.
(18:34):
I'm usually behind a computer.
Generally though, it's a bold lip at the very least.
Like I'll put on red lipstick especially now because it is such a, a symbol of resistance.
Like the red studded, the one during World War II when they were building bombs wearing red
lipstick.
It's such a status symbol of resistance.
(18:56):
It's just a symbol of resistance.
And so that bold red, you know, they never like that World War II mustache man.
But we wear it all the time.
My head up and understanding who I am.
And still even so, if I'm in the grocery store of the struggle bun and yoga pants on a
(19:16):
hoodie, I still take up space.
And I hold my chin up and I sound up straight.
It's not, I'm not hiding anymore.
That is so incredibly powerful.
Yeah, it's, it's really difficult.
Like if you even just sit up straight and put your shoulders back a little, it shifts how
you feel.
(19:37):
Because suddenly there's more blood rushing into your heart.
You can feel it.
It's just different.
That's what I've heard from women who have gone down this path as well as there's something
about the posture that you get into when you're in the pinup girl outfit and how you feel
in that, you know, chin up, shoulders back, owning, you know, however you're wanting to
(20:01):
present your body in that moment.
And even the bright red lipstick as a bold expression of your of yourself, that that
feeling, that that's something that they bring into every day without needing to be,
you know, feeling like you need to be done up all the time, but just how you're presenting
from the inside out made a really big difference.
(20:23):
Yeah, it's the authenticity inside.
I pulling that out.
Yeah.
It always feels good.
Yeah.
And I generally have a vintage purse or something.
I have a collection of verses.
So I always like pull like a little piece in.
If it's my jewelry or if it's like just my purse, then carrying around something that is
(20:47):
from the 70s and it's wooden and it's a little purse that has shade carpet in the bottom
and nobody will ever see you, but I know that there's 1960s shade carpet in it.
Because it's so cool.
That's how it's made.
Yeah.
I think when you've got little girls like come up to me and go, "Are you a princess?"
I'm like, "Oh, but you can be."
(21:08):
It's really cute.
It's a lot of fun.
It's so cute.
Yeah.
I love that.
Well, building off of that, we love to ask our guests, especially with this huge transition
that you've gone through in your personal life and the ways that you've seen that in so
many other women's lives through pin up.
(21:30):
What does feminine mean to you?
Whoa.
That's a good question and the one that I struggled with the most.
Because feminine means so many things, but it also, it means not just sitting in society
as roles that they have, but finding out what it means inside and projecting that into
(21:54):
your other worlds.
We're not the feminine that we're 1950s values and we should all be in the kitchen and we
should dress up for when I husband comes home and put your face on and clean the house
and raise the children.
That's not what it's about.
It is very much about owning who you are as a person and might be bold and taking steps
(22:18):
that aren't generally seen as the societal narrow-mindedness.
We're taking big bold steps and really killer shoes.
We have sharp will and we bring it and it's so much more than just being a woman.
(22:41):
It's being bold and who you are.
Now yourself as a tomboy, projecting out into your future, is this the person you would
have thought you would become?
Never not once.
I did try and play dress up a little bit in high school and I kind of played with the
(23:02):
golf idea, but then I would never color my hair and I was too blonde and I was all of those
things.
It was never in a million years thought I would be comfortable in dresses and in high heels.
So what was your thought process as what feminine meant to you then?
(23:25):
I think feminine meant more, it was what I looked like and I would dress feminine.
It was like the societal ideas of what feminine is, whereas it shifted so much more to the
inner empowerment form.
I think tomboy me was like, no, there's no chance.
(23:47):
We're happy to have your perspective on that because feminine is the foundation of what
Heather and I have built Virgin Beauty Bichon and the perception that you had about what it
should be and what it is you're living, that's the separation and that's the distinction
(24:07):
we're attempting to make in having these conversations and asking that question.
So thank you for participating and being so absolutely profoundly clear on that differentiation.
Thank you so much for that.
You're very welcome.
Thank you for having these conversations.
I think when you find someone that starts having these conversations and you start hearing
(24:29):
it and you'll resonate with these little pieces throughout every episode, that's when you
go know and you start to reevaluate what it actually means.
When we reevaluate what it means to ourselves, then we start talking about it in our groups
and we start pushing that message out further that there is a different differentiation.
(24:50):
And how everybody defines it is different.
Yeah, thank you.
That is wonderful.
So if folks want to, I know you shared some ways that people can get involved but if you
could just do one final piece of information for where they can find you, how they can
get in touch, that would be wonderful.
Absolutely.
We have TrunorfPenup.ca, which is our website, which has all of our events to describe
(25:15):
on there.
If you want to give back to the Hittles and Hearts initiative, we're selling hard copies of
our previous edition from 2024 with partial proceeds going to the one in shelter here.
We also have events which you will find out on the website or through our social media
(25:37):
on Facebook, Instagram.
I'm also dabbling on TikTok, not super consistent, but dabbling I am there.
And it's all at TrunorfPenup.
Fantastic.
Carrie, this has been so much fun.
This is my very first podcast.
It was on the floor.
Oh, I'm like, how did she find the money?
(25:59):
Carrie, you are no longer a virgin for podcasting.
No, no longer.
We were there for you, we were all met one.
Fantastic, a community.
Fantastic.
I'm really glad you reached out to us because this has been so, so much fun to do and to talk
(26:21):
to you.
Thank you so much.
It's such an honor.
Well, we look forward to attending your shows and I can't wait to get my copy of the
latest calendar and give some proceeds to last year's calendar as well because I think
that is a tremendous, tremendous way to give back.
And I totally agree with what you said previously that no person should be turned away from
(26:44):
a shelter and I know that they struggle to find enough funding.
So that's a fantastic way to give back.
So if I wanted to have Heather done PIN UP style, where could we send her?
So we were in Toronto, so not this weekend, but next weekend at Modorama, Miss Suzy will
be there with Susie's Bombshell boutique
(27:06):
And she is running the PIN UP contest there, but she also has a shop in Port Dover.
And she is incredible.
So she'll be on a man.
Yeah, I'm in.
I'm in.
So film it.
This will be amazing.
We'll do a show in your full, in your full pin-up.
I reached out to jan Arvin on TikTok because she was trending
and I was like, jan,
(27:28):
you're playing a show in my hometown.
Like, I think I should interview you for the magazine."
And then her publicist reached out there like, "What were you thinking?"
I was like, "I want to dress her like a pin up girl. "
I was like, “option one, option two,just do a Zoom call"
Great.
If I have full creative expression, then we'll go this direction.
(27:49):
Let's go.
Fantastic.
Good to go.
Good to go.
I hope you get that.
You too.
I'm going to open this box.
Keri, thank you so much for spending this time with us.
We wish you nothing, nothing but absolute success in the initiatives that you've started
because they're all so from the heart.
We love that.
(28:09):
Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you.
And do you have been listening to The Virgin and The Beauty and The Bitch?
Find us, Like us.
Share us.
Bring your friends.
Let's do some pin-up work together.
To become a partner in the VBB community, we invite you to find us at virginbeautybitch.com.
(28:30):
Like us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and share us with people who are defiantly different.
Like you.
Until next time, thanks for listening.
(upbeat music)
(soft music)
Virgin, Beauty, Bitch, Podcast, Inspiring women to overcome social stereotypes and share
(00:09):
unique life experiences without fear of being defiantly different.
Your hosts, Christopher and Heather, let's talk, shall we?
Contribution, philanthropy, giving back, paying it forward, community building.
These are all valued human traits and behaviors.
(00:30):
But what if we could combine all these virtues with the allure and celebration of the female
body?
Hmm.
What I thought.
Well, we just happen to have someone who has found a way to merge all of the above.
We welcome editor and chief of two North pin-up magazine, Carrie Lugin, to Virgin Beauty,
(00:50):
Bitch.
Welcome, Carrie.
Thank you for having me.
Oh, it's our pleasure to have you.
Carrie, we'll be getting into the magazine and all the amazing projects that you've
initiated.
But I'm blown away by how consistent you are and always wanting to make life better for
others and building community.
I wish everyone could be like that.
(01:11):
But what drives you?
What took your life in this direction, do you believe?
My first marriage.
Oh.
So I was married for quite a while to a man who was not great and he was abusive.
And when I left, and I couldn't find any support, what I needed, it really started the fire to
(01:32):
start driving me forward to helping others so they can find the support and empowerment that
we need.
And community.
Community is huge.
So that is what propelled you in this direction in your life?
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah, when I first left, I had joined a pin-up contest.
And this was my first dive into it.
(01:56):
It was 2017.
And there was a pin-up contest in our small town during the car show.
And I said, oh, I have a cherry dress.
I'm going to join this.
And he was absolutely not.
He was really mad.
So he ended up leaving me with the cars.
And I threw out my cherry dress and my giant coconut and white heels and ran across town
to join this pin-up contest.
(02:17):
And it was the first time I think that I was ever surrounded by a group of women who were
all there and they all chewed each other on.
And it was inspiring to watch.
But it wasn't something because we all have really good girlfriends and we have a cherry
on, but it was very small and little things.
But to have a group, there was 20 of them.
(02:39):
And they were the loudest cheerleaders for each other.
And you could hear them prep each other for it.
You're going to do great.
Oh, you did so good.
Like, look what you did.
It was fantastic.
And so that was the little start to it.
And then the next day when I actually moved back to Calgary, I ended up talking with some
of them in the community and started going out for car shows a week.
(03:05):
And I found a tribe of women who are incredible and the most supportive.
I don't know what I would do without them now.
Wow, that is really something powerful because you saw something that was of specific interest
to you and something that you were jazzed to be a part of.
To have someone who is meant to love and support you.
(03:28):
And of course, that's just not the reality for so many of us.
To say, no way, that's not happening.
That's not what you're doing.
And do you find that fire within to say, well, screw that?
I'm out.
I'm out.
I'm out.
I'm out.
That was great.
It was, he took it as left field and I was like, oh, this is the building for so long.
(03:53):
But when I left, there was no, I had two kids and I hadn't been working full time and I needed
support and I didn't have any.
So we initially looked at the women's shelters in Calgary and there was a three month waiting
list.
And so I had two kids, nowhere to go.
And thankfully my parents opened up like there are two bedrooms and their basements for the
(04:14):
three of us in the dog, which was we were really thankful for.
And I don't think that any woman should be turned away from a shelter when you need that
support you need it.
So that's where we keep driving towards supporting women's shelters.
What is the name of that project that you've built?
(04:36):
So we started it as rides for relief and it was my best friend and I who to celebrate my
one year free, my counselor time said you should plan a party.
And I was like, I plan parties and I'm like, I'm spending a ton of money on food and we have
this big open house that he's going to be massive.
I don't have the money for that.
So instead we hosted a car show and we called it rides for relief.
(05:00):
And that was in 2018.
We ran until 2020 and we did an online COVID pinup contest where we raised over $10,000.
And then now she's still, she's in Didsbury and I'm in Drumheller.
So we're in an hour away.
It's really hard to make some of those big car shows work.
So I've revamped it into heels and hearts initiative.
(05:21):
And so far in the last four months we raised $5,500 for the women's shelter here in Drumheller,
which really struggled with some funding challenges last year.
So we're going to keep the momentum going.
We're going to host a misgracious pinup contest at the Drumheller car show here where a lot
of pinups go out and fundraise and then bring it all back and we have so great theme for
(05:46):
the women in the community.
And the magazine, what, what, how did that fit in?
How did that dove tail into what you're doing?
Oh, that was ADHD field ambition.
I wanted to promote what we were doing with rides for relief and there was no Canadian magazine.
(06:06):
Everything was in the States and all the States publications are very beautiful.
There's not a lot of content.
It's a lot of pictures of really pretty women into being all of the beautiful posing and
really great photography and incredible sets.
But there's not a lot of meat to it.
And I really wanted to have them meet and to share stories and start building kind of a
platform where we could all connect.
(06:28):
So that was the drive.
That is so cool.
There's something about pinup style that feels so much more than just vintage fashion.
It feels like it's about attitude.
It's embracing curves and confidence with a little bit of rebellion.
So with that kind of, you know, what you just said saying that it's much more than snapping
(06:49):
these amazing pictures, can you share with our listeners like with the meat on the potatoes
the content that you're talking about that you're really passionate about?
So pinup is for everybody.
It's not just for every person or just for this giving moment.
It is for everybody and in between.
And the way that the dress is feel you feel good, you feel empowered, you feel stronger
(07:13):
in the dresses or even if you're in the jumpsuits, you feel really good about yourself because
of the way that everything fits.
It's meant to fit so many people.
The meat and potatoes of the magazine is I, previously I had them write a bio about who
they were and what they came into pinup and then in this last edition, which was our Queens
(07:34):
and Crowns edition where all of the Canadian pinup themes from a various different kind of
contest across the country got to submit.
I asked them questions and I took, I think it was about 15 questions and I pulled out of
them like how did it actually make you feel?
What does it mean to win a crown?
How would you use that to further your platform and increase your empowerment within your communities?
(07:59):
Because it is coast to coast to coast.
We had some really good quotes pulled out of it.
Is there a, can you see a connecting tissue to these women?
I do.
I find that the connecting tissue between all of us is where we all had to look for that
community.
And we are all creating community.
We are a natural community members and we are a community society but we have been very
(08:24):
isolated within ourselves and in our homes and our suburbs and all the different places
that we live.
And just to bring each other together to have one thing in common, if it is just really
like to play dress up, then that is what it is.
We like the victory roles.
We like the nostalgia of when personally I feel women were incredible.
(08:47):
Like the hairdos take forever.
They are so incredible when you pull them off.
And it is just that finding a community of the odd little ducks of yourself.
That is so cool.
I feel that there are different outlets for women to feel this way.
(09:07):
But some of the messages which are always contradicting for women, some of them tell us to shrink
ourselves or be effortlessly beautiful but not too much.
I feel like True North Penup says, screw that.
Take up space.
Be loud.
Be as glamorous as you want.
Take as long as you want with that hairstyle that you're going to rock.
(09:30):
Can you speak to kind of some of that experience of the transformation that women go through
and what that does for them?
Yeah, absolutely.
It is about living bold.
Because we are told to shrink ourselves and dim our shine and be quiet or do all of these
things.
And showing up when you are dressed up and you have petty coats on and you have sparkles
and you have victory roles and giant hair flowers and you have jewelry or anything you always
(09:58):
show up over dressed to every event.
And it is really not a bad thing.
I actually had a conversation at the Drumheller Business last week about being bold
and building your confidence and it is about taking those steps.
And it's imposter syndrome, everybody has it.
But we move through that by taking steps forward and then of letting the Imposter Syndrome
(10:22):
freeze us.
Yeah, it's about being bold.
I've got grocery shopping and evening gowns.
It makes my kids a little embarrassed sometimes but it's.
I love that.
I love that so much.
Like, you know, 1940s Rita Hayward, big high heels, like long evening gown and opera
blouse and you're in the produce section.
(10:43):
It's fantastic.
What does that feel like for you?
Is that who you used to be and how has it transitioned?
So I was always the tomboy and I never learned to walk in high heels as a kid.
I remember my brother's wedding of 15 and my sister and I were candlelighters and the
night before the wedding my grandmother had me walking laps in the hotel so I could figure
(11:06):
out how to walk in high heels and it looked like a trucker.
Like I was like a soccer kids.
I was flat shoes, I was runners.
I was always running and climbing and moving.
I think I learned how to walk in high heels when I was in my 30s and actually like stand-up
straight.
Walking.
It was never, it was never really one for me.
(11:26):
But when I was married I really, it was all struggle buns and yoga pants and, you know,
I could use them.
You know, I never held good about myself.
So all this time this woman, this little girl was in there waiting to burst out?
Yeah, I played dress up a bit as a kid but it wasn't anything like this big and this powerful
(11:48):
that I would actually go to the house.
It was always like, you know, our neighborhood friends and the basement where it was playing
dress up and running plays and as we did in the 80s and early 90s.
So before we had technology.
But it's become so much more now, which is great.
(12:08):
Yeah, I feel like when people first hear "Pin Up," they think of those old World War
2 posters but there's a lot more to it because it feels like "Pin Up" started as like playful,
kind of morale-boosting photos for a challenging time in history that celebrated curves.
(12:28):
And then it got, I think, it feels like it got more tied into a rebellion and women owning
their sexuality and owning their bodies in a way that how they want to project them or
display them.
How would you feel that things have shifted from your standpoint of what "Pin Up" started
off as being and what you're experiencing of it now?
(12:48):
Well, yeah.
"Pin Up" was definitely for the men back then.
And any magazine that had photos of women, even in true North, we have, we'll have
the Algrin style imagery in the magazine or you will do cheesecake photos where it is like
the feet in the air and on the back and the posing and the face.
(13:11):
You can't put them in place because every time you do that you have to say "Prooms."
It's like it was either that smell-shaking.
No, he's, that is an insider tip.
I love it.
And even when I started the magazine, my mum told me she's not making this.
(13:32):
This is a smut magazine and I was like, "Mom, most of my followers are women."
Almost 90% of my following is women.
None of this had anything to do with men or the male gaze.
This is what we do for us and what we do for each other.
So we'll get together and there will be girls that will have the matching dresses and we'll
(13:53):
dress up together.
And it's way less about the male gaze now.
We don't really do a whole lot for the male gaze, to the male gaze, the narrow boxes.
It feels like you and these women owning your own image and projecting it in the way that
(14:14):
you want to into the world, sexual or otherwise.
Yep, absolutely.
Absolutely.
A lot of the women I know through the community used to be the punks.
So crazy hair and the punk rockabilly and pin-up scene all kind of flow and end together.
So it's really, it's really interesting because you can pull different aspects from different
(14:38):
genres into what you're wearing.
So it's not just petty coats and grief.
You know, sometimes it's crazy hair and more of this psychobilly style, which is a lot
of fun.
So yeah, it sort of feels good.
It feels right.
What I find really amazing is that what you're doing, it's not just isolated.
(15:00):
Like there are pockets like this all over the globe.
Do you get a chance to connect to other groups that are doing the same thing?
Yeah, we do.
Across Canada, I'm very connected with Ontario.
We're starting the branch out into Quebec, more in.
I'm sponsoring one of their kind of contests with pricing.
We've had pin-ups from the East Coast, which came out for it.
(15:20):
There's also in Las Vegas every year.
They have the Las Vegas, which is a massive rockabilly weekend.
And there's a huge car show and there's international pin-ups that can keep them at contests.
It's an entire, it's almost a week that most people go down.
I haven't been able to go down yet.
(15:40):
There's one day that I'll get down there.
But a lot of the community go down there every year and you make friends worldwide.
So yeah, I reached out in the, we had an open up in Canada, in Calgary area anyways.
And she was from South Africa.
She ended up getting stuck here right at the beginning of COVID.
(16:02):
And so she like floated in our community a little bit.
She was a dress designer.
So she had a whole different aspect that she brought with her, which was interesting.
And she was able to finally go home after I think it was 10 or 11 months.
But we have all little pockets everywhere.
So okay, I'm sitting on the sofa at home and I'm listening to this and intrigued.
(16:24):
What do I do?
How do I, how do I get involved in this?
Oh, you want to get involved.
So we have events that we've run all year round.
And there's events in BC, Alberta.
I'm doing one in Saskatchewan.
There's one in Manitoba, Toronto, Quebec.
There's a couple on the East Coast.
So it is coast to coast.
We haven't really touched into the territories, but it's pretty cool up there.
(16:47):
So.
It's everywhere.
And there's a group of women.
If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, we tend to try and connect people.
So if you're like, hey, I'm here and I am from, I don't know, New York to Saskatchewan.
We'll be like, hey, we have an event coming up.
And there's most likely someone from Saskatchewan or two.
(17:08):
And maybe you can meet up and just have a coffee or go out and have a picnic or start your
own little event out there.
And it's just, it's about finding that community.
So I'm running the World of Wheels to pin up contest next month and in Calgary.
And if anyone would like to register, we have registrations open till March 1st.
If you're ready to take thoughts of or just come out and watch one of the car shows and
(17:31):
watch the pin up contest come have a conversation with the booth.
There's a huge community of women that are with open arms, super accepting.
And you'll see us all shapes, all sizes.
There's some very short ones.
There's some very tall ones.
And they probably all walk better and higher than I do.
(17:52):
We're still trying to figure it out.
I love that.
That sense of community and really cheering each other on is just, it's a game changer.
So that's, that's really beautiful.
And I feel like from what you've said, you know, bringing that pin up confidence into our
daily lives, you know, when we're walking around and you know, you've gone through this
(18:14):
transformation in your own life.
What have you found in that experience?
You know, I know that community has meant a big deal to you.
What other pieces have you pulled from the pin up experience that you bring into your
everyday life?
Into almost everyday because I definitely don't get done up everyday.
I work in marketing.
(18:34):
I'm usually behind a computer.
Generally though, it's a bold lip at the very least.
Like I'll put on red lipstick especially now because it is such a, a symbol of resistance.
Like the red studded, the one during World War II when they were building bombs wearing red
lipstick.
It's such a status symbol of resistance.
(18:56):
It's just a symbol of resistance.
And so that bold red, you know, they never like that World War II mustache man.
But we wear it all the time.
My head up and understanding who I am.
And still even so, if I'm in the grocery store of the struggle bun and yoga pants on a
(19:16):
hoodie, I still take up space.
And I hold my chin up and I sound up straight.
It's not, I'm not hiding anymore.
That is so incredibly powerful.
Yeah, it's, it's really difficult.
Like if you even just sit up straight and put your shoulders back a little, it shifts how
you feel.
(19:37):
Because suddenly there's more blood rushing into your heart.
You can feel it.
It's just different.
That's what I've heard from women who have gone down this path as well as there's something
about the posture that you get into when you're in the pinup girl outfit and how you feel
in that, you know, chin up, shoulders back, owning, you know, however you're wanting to
(20:01):
present your body in that moment.
And even the bright red lipstick as a bold expression of your of yourself, that that
feeling, that that's something that they bring into every day without needing to be,
you know, feeling like you need to be done up all the time, but just how you're presenting
from the inside out made a really big difference.
(20:23):
Yeah, it's the authenticity inside.
I pulling that out.
Yeah.
It always feels good.
Yeah.
And I generally have a vintage purse or something.
I have a collection of verses.
So I always like pull like a little piece in.
If it's my jewelry or if it's like just my purse, then carrying around something that is
(20:47):
from the 70s and it's wooden and it's a little purse that has shade carpet in the bottom
and nobody will ever see you, but I know that there's 1960s shade carpet in it.
Because it's so cool.
That's how it's made.
Yeah.
I think when you've got little girls like come up to me and go, "Are you a princess?"
I'm like, "Oh, but you can be."
(21:08):
It's really cute.
It's a lot of fun.
It's so cute.
Yeah.
I love that.
Well, building off of that, we love to ask our guests, especially with this huge transition
that you've gone through in your personal life and the ways that you've seen that in so
many other women's lives through pin up.
(21:30):
What does feminine mean to you?
Whoa.
That's a good question and the one that I struggled with the most.
Because feminine means so many things, but it also, it means not just sitting in society
as roles that they have, but finding out what it means inside and projecting that into
(21:54):
your other worlds.
We're not the feminine that we're 1950s values and we should all be in the kitchen and we
should dress up for when I husband comes home and put your face on and clean the house
and raise the children.
That's not what it's about.
It is very much about owning who you are as a person and might be bold and taking steps
(22:18):
that aren't generally seen as the societal narrow-mindedness.
We're taking big bold steps and really killer shoes.
We have sharp will and we bring it and it's so much more than just being a woman.
(22:41):
It's being bold and who you are.
Now yourself as a tomboy, projecting out into your future, is this the person you would
have thought you would become?
Never not once.
I did try and play dress up a little bit in high school and I kind of played with the
(23:02):
golf idea, but then I would never color my hair and I was too blonde and I was all of those
things.
It was never in a million years thought I would be comfortable in dresses and in high heels.
So what was your thought process as what feminine meant to you then?
(23:25):
I think feminine meant more, it was what I looked like and I would dress feminine.
It was like the societal ideas of what feminine is, whereas it shifted so much more to the
inner empowerment form.
I think tomboy me was like, no, there's no chance.
(23:47):
We're happy to have your perspective on that because feminine is the foundation of what
Heather and I have built Virgin Beauty Bichon and the perception that you had about what it
should be and what it is you're living, that's the separation and that's the distinction
(24:07):
we're attempting to make in having these conversations and asking that question.
So thank you for participating and being so absolutely profoundly clear on that differentiation.
Thank you so much for that.
You're very welcome.
Thank you for having these conversations.
I think when you find someone that starts having these conversations and you start hearing
(24:29):
it and you'll resonate with these little pieces throughout every episode, that's when you
go know and you start to reevaluate what it actually means.
When we reevaluate what it means to ourselves, then we start talking about it in our groups
and we start pushing that message out further that there is a different differentiation.
(24:50):
And how everybody defines it is different.
Yeah, thank you.
That is wonderful.
So if folks want to, I know you shared some ways that people can get involved but if you
could just do one final piece of information for where they can find you, how they can
get in touch, that would be wonderful.
Absolutely.
We have TrunorfPenup.ca, which is our website, which has all of our events to describe
(25:15):
on there.
If you want to give back to the Hittles and Hearts initiative, we're selling hard copies of
our previous edition from 2024 with partial proceeds going to the one in shelter here.
We also have events which you will find out on the website or through our social media
(25:37):
on Facebook, Instagram.
I'm also dabbling on TikTok, not super consistent, but dabbling I am there.
And it's all at TrunorfPenup.
Fantastic.
Carrie, this has been so much fun.
This is my very first podcast.
It was on the floor.
Oh, I'm like, how did she find the money?
(25:59):
Carrie, you are no longer a virgin for podcasting.
No, no longer.
We were there for you, we were all met one.
Fantastic, a community.
Fantastic.
I'm really glad you reached out to us because this has been so, so much fun to do and to talk
(26:21):
to you.
Thank you so much.
It's such an honor.
Well, we look forward to attending your shows and I can't wait to get my copy of the
latest calendar and give some proceeds to last year's calendar as well because I think
that is a tremendous, tremendous way to give back.
And I totally agree with what you said previously that no person should be turned away from
(26:44):
a shelter and I know that they struggle to find enough funding.
So that's a fantastic way to give back.
So if I wanted to have Heather done PIN UP style, where could we send her?
So we were in Toronto, so not this weekend, but next weekend at Modorama, Miss Suzy will
be there with Susie's Bombshell boutique
(27:06):
And she is running the PIN UP contest there, but she also has a shop in Port Dover.
And she is incredible.
So she'll be on a man.
Yeah, I'm in.
I'm in.
So film it.
This will be amazing.
We'll do a show in your full, in your full pin-up.
I reached out to jan Arvin on TikTok because she was trending
and I was like, jan,
(27:28):
you're playing a show in my hometown.
Like, I think I should interview you for the magazine."
And then her publicist reached out there like, "What were you thinking?"
I was like, "I want to dress her like a pin up girl. "
I was like, “option one, option two,just do a Zoom call"
Great.
If I have full creative expression, then we'll go this direction.
(27:49):
Let's go.
Fantastic.
Good to go.
Good to go.
I hope you get that.
You too.
I'm going to open this box.
Keri, thank you so much for spending this time with us.
We wish you nothing, nothing but absolute success in the initiatives that you've started
because they're all so from the heart.
We love that.
(28:09):
Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you.
And do you have been listening to The Virgin and The Beauty and The Bitch?
Find us, Like us.
Share us.
Bring your friends.
Let's do some pin-up work together.
To become a partner in the VBB community, we invite you to find us at virginbeautybitch.com.
(28:30):
Like us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and share us with people who are defiantly different.
Like you.
Until next time, thanks for listening.
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