In an instant gratification- oriented, influencer-saturated world, 23-year-old Chula Vista native Victoria Avalos is patiently perfecting her platform, Girl or Gun. Through the platform, she is braiding together her passion for makeup, hair and fashion.
Right now, the platform is an Instagram account, but soon Avalos will launch her website, which she hopes to grow into a business where she can work with local vloggers, beauty gurus, models and women who want to express their creativity — regardless of whether or not they have professional experience.
“The girls I’m working with — being vloggers or models — they have stories of their own, so I hope on my platform I can share their stories too, and we can all grow together,” Avalos said.
Avalos has already started featuring their stories on her Instagram page, @girlorgun, and plans to continue doing so on her website. There, local artists will be able to reach out to Avalos to collaborate, and anyone will be able to book her for hair or makeup appointments, or purchase one of the clothing items she’s designed and handmade.
Though Avalos said it has been hard to grow her platform, she’s no stranger to pursuing her passion or curating an Instagram account. When Avalos was 16, she started hand sewing costumes for herself and her friends.
Following her high school graduation in 2014, she curated The Drifter’s Things, an Instagram account through which she was able to style and resell more than 200 pieces of clothing that she thrifted herself, and sell clothing she designed and handmade.
“I had so much fun doing that, and I made some pretty good side money. So I was doing that for a couple years, and then I kind of got bored.” Avalos said. “My brand needed to change with me.”
After enrolling at Paul Mitchell Beauty School and taking time to re-envision her brand, Avalos decided she wanted to create a space where she could put all of her skills to use. In
June the idea for Girl or Gun came to life.
“I didn’t want to feel like I had to stick to one thing for the rest of my life,” Avalos said.
Avalos currently works as a server, but eventually wants Girl or Gun to be her main source of income. The name Girl or Gun signifies the power that women hold, according to Avalos.
Moving forward, she said she hopes to inspire women when they are in the middle of a creative rut. She also aims to remind artists that they can create their own rules without succumbing to the pressure to constantly produce content on social media, or fit into an aesthetic that is “cookie-cutter-esque.”
As she seeks to impact the beauty scene in San Diego with longevity, Avalos encourages other women going into the beauty industry to be their genuine selves.
“I know that if I put my heart and soul into it, it’ll get there eventually. Maybe not as fast as I want it to, but I don’t want that five second fame. I want this to be something that’s bigger than that,” Avalos said.
