Authenticity as Power: The Mimi Franks Effect

By Veridiana Gordilho

This week, I had the pleasure of meeting with Mimi Franks, a British actor and model based in Laguna Beach, and one thing became clear immediately: Mimi approaches every aspect of their life through love. 

Everything they create, whether it is through modeling, singing, performing, or putting an outfit together, focuses on expressing themselves and doing and wearing what they love. Mimi goes through life with a single but important belief: you are the only constant in your life. Learning to be your own best friend, to find peace in solitude, and to accept that confidence isn’t linear is not optional, but foundational. 

For Mimi, clothing is more than just nice prints and colors: It’s communication. 

They call their style “Mimi Chic,” a blend of alternative, edgy queer streetwear, with bold pinks and blues that lean into maximalism. But beneath the textures and color, their story is intentional. They resist face-focused definitions of beauty, instead describing fashion as “accessorizing the vessel.” The body is a home, and the outfit is an extension of the spirit. 

Their relationship with pink tells its own story. Growing up in a religious school where uniforms restricted expression, Mimi once rejected pink entirely, associating it with a femininity they didn’t feel aligned with. After coming out as gay at 13 and later identifying as non-binary and transgender queer, their understanding of presentation evolved. About a year and a half ago, fully embracing their non-binary identity marked a new level of authenticity, where pink also became a huge part of it. 

In a cultural moment sometimes referred to as the “Barbie effect,” pink is being reframed as powerful. For Mimi, that reframing is personal. Color norms have always been constructs, and choosing pink now is both aesthetic and a refusal of a label. 

As an artist, Mimi doesn’t separate identity from their work. Since they work with art, Mimi considers themself a “walking ad” in the sense that their presence matters. If they enter a room, they want to be remembered and for their identity to help them find jobs that fit their aesthetic and beliefs. They describe it as peacock energy, where people can see their feathers and be drawn to them. 

Their creative life is layered. They currently work at a local coffee and smoothie shop while pursuing modeling, singing, and rave work. They were recently cast in a four-person stage production of The Birds¹, a psychological thriller based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, written by Conor McPherson and directed by Eric Modyman.

Music is also an important part of their world and work. Their influences range from chill R&B to rave and drum and bass. Artists like Green Tea Peng, Baby Jane, Ayesha Erotica, SZA, jazz musicians, and especially Ashnikko shape their identity. They curate playlists spanning years, treating sound as another form of visual inspiration. 

Authenticity, however, doesn’t always align neatly with industry expectations. 

Mimi has experienced the pressure to “fit a type.” Casting rooms often favor predefined categories, and being “too unique” can feel like both a strength and a liability. There is an unspoken fear of not being chosen. However, instead of being discouraged, Mimi's response is not to shrink, but to amplify it. 

If they are not selected that day, they still make space for themselves, opening the space for people to remember them and reach out when needed. 

After parting ways with a manager who pushed opportunities misaligned with their interests, Mimi made a pivotal decision to rebrand around what genuinely excites them. That shift changed everything. The opportunities that followed felt aligned, and the connections they made with people they met felt real. This only reinforces their belief that energy reciprocates and that authentic output attracts authentic collaboration. 

In modeling, especially, they push back against narrow beauty standards. While influencer culture often promotes a singular “classic” aesthetic with very symmetrical faces that look the same, high fashion has long valued distinctiveness. Mimi celebrates their own individuality and personality, which now define their niche. 

To decide to amplify instead of shrink, even when the world is telling you to do the opposite, is an act of confidence. When asked about their path to this mentality, Mimi talked about their struggles with self-confidence as a little girl. 

Anxiety, body image struggles, and bullying, including experiences during school in the UK, shaped their relationship with self-perception. Early 2010s Tumblr aesthetics, Victoria’s Secret ideals, and now AI-curated digital feeds create endless comparison loops and dictate how one should look. Media diets matter, and what you consume influences how you see yourself. 

Mimi reflects on the idea of media and shows that the influencers you actually like to watch and follow are not the ones trying to be perfect, but those who show authenticity and engage viewers. They mention Vanilla Mace as one of their favorite influences, as she shares with her followers stories that carry her own essence. 

They caution against extremes and reject the illusion of perfection. In an era where images are filtered and often fabricated, internal validation becomes radical. Spiritual grounding and self-reflection counteract the noise.

As we all know, experimentation can be awkward. They laugh about past style eras and phases that didn’t quite land. Instead of seeing them as irrelevant, they actually consider them necessary. Iterative growth means sometimes feeling “ugly” before discovering what feels aligned. You cannot skip the in-between. 

If judgment is inevitable, they would rather be judged for their true self. 

When it comes to viewers, Mimi strongly believes that audiences crave something real and that people connect more easily when vulnerability is shown. This can take many forms, but it focuses on influencers whose personalities aren’t overproduced, and those who show up without heavy filters resonate because they feel human. 

Their philosophy circles back to where it began: build a relationship with yourself first. Then, fashion becomes language; art becomes extension; and identity becomes power. In choosing visibility, Mimi isn’t chasing validation. They are cultivating alignment. And in doing so, they are creating space for others to do the same. 

Honestly, talking to Mimi brought me back to one idea I can’t stop thinking about: you're the only person who stays with you from birth to death. And because of that, learning how to love yourself isn’t corny or optional; it’s necessary. Mimi talked about how self-confidence is never a straight line (some days you feel amazing, other days you wake up and feel off), but what changes isn’t you, but the way you’re seeing yourself, and the kind of media and energy you’re feeding your mind. 

Throughout the interview, they also said something that hit me hard: when you’re on your deathbed, the only guaranteed person with you is yourself, so why would you want to spend your whole life being stuck with someone you don’t even like? That’s why self-love matters so much, but also why it makes you rethink everything else, too. If we’re being real, we only want to cultivate relationships that actually matter with people who love the real version of us, not the version we perform to avoid judgment. Because at the end of the day, being “liked” for a fake version of you doesn’t give you anything. 

Mimi’s whole message was basically: be truthful, be vulnerable, and be your own best friend first, because that’s the relationship you can’t escape, and it’s the one that makes every other relationship in your life feel more real. 

¹ The Birds is a play written by Conor McPherson. Directed by Eric Modyman, Mimi Franks will be debuting at the Cabrillo Playhouse in South OC from April 10th to May 3rd. It’s a four-person psychological thriller play based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. 

Read the full interview!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uN-bCVfFJcmV2hu8dxNxR6znKoFdOJcAUyvxjrk3rdg/edit?usp= sharing 

Mimi Franks’ to-go playlist: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Nvof6wtyCZ6LPIZKChOHE?si=B6iXpw_lSkG7icXmS7fgcQ&pi=SJ OcqJ1qQOG2-

https://www.instagram.com/mimi__franks