A Conversation with Caralena Peterson, Author of The Effortless Perfection Myth

Caralena Peterson is the author of The Effortless Perfection Myth (September 2022) about the gender issues today’s women run into in college. She graduated from Duke University in 2015 with majors in Women’s Studies and Public Policy. She has published articles with Inside Higher Ed, The Week, She Knows Media, Ms. Magazine, Rewire News, Bustle, Garnet News, Women’s E-News and Elite Daily. She is also a mixed-medium artist whose work has appeared in The New York Times and Washington Life Magazine.

"While experiencing the harmful and overwhelming effects of Effortless Perfection firsthand during college, Caralena added Women’s Studies as a second major to get to the bottom of it all and started writing honestly about her experiences in a column for the student newspaper. After graduating from Duke University in 2015, she set out to educate as many college women and their parents as possible about what she uncovered and the importance of sharing our authentic selves with the world. Today she writes regularly on the topic and travels to high schools and colleges throughout the nation to speak about Effortless Perfection, mental health, hook-up culture, and disordered eating. Caralena is also a mixed-medium artist whose work has appeared in The New York Times and Washington Life Magazine. When she is not busy with all her side hustles, Caralena works full-time as an English teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana (though she will be stepping back the 2022-2023 school year to promote her book)."

"Most women don’t go off to college expecting a major drop in confidence; they’re getting ready to have the best four years of their life. But the reality is that women leave college with less self-esteem than they came in with and are two times more likely to experience depression than their male counterparts. So, where is the disconnect happening? Drawing from a plethora of data and her own personal experience, Effortless Perfection expert Caralena Peterson shows us just how immense the Myth’s impact can be and why women need to start talking about the ways it disadvantages them instead of hiding behind secrecy and comparison. Full of authentic reflection and heart, this talk invites undergraduate women to take an honest look at their state of mental health and learn ways to move into healing and empowerment."

"We must show enough of our own vulnerabilities that others don't feel the need to hide their own," says Caralena. Caralena does just that. She notes that The Effortless Perfection Myth keeps us in isolation, and the feminist movement started because people started sharing their struggles. The Myth is a mental health and a gender issue that Caralena is helping us to combat. Caralena shares advice for women and their parents to help them appreciate the difference between pursuing an image and developing an identity, and learn how to pursue internal appreciation and love, as opposed to outside validation.

You can check out her past work and sign up for her newsletter at www.caralenapeterson.com and follow her on Instagram at @effortlessperfectionmyth. Listen to and like her fantastic TEDx Duke talk: https://youtu.be/d8ZSQQSmZ8c.