‘Aren’t You Essentially a Yawning Baby?’. Sliding Into the DMs of Tiny Gentle Asians
By Michael McGregor
Somewhere deep inside the veins of the internet outrage machine lies a distant land, a utopia where content is shared in great quantities, where flame wars are faint, where public disavowing is rare, and cuteness is abundant. This is the Mommy-web — a vast layered system where Mommy Bloggers and future Mommys congregate to get their gentle and ever sweet kicks.
One of the ringleaders of this social network is Mel Kenny, an Asian-Australian with a knack for curation only her work isn’t focused on collecting and sharing “sick fits” or “grails,” but rather, babies. Her pet-project Instagram account, @TinyGentleAsians, has gone from personal celebration of the adorable, preposterously cute and entirely heartwarming into a must-follow social media sanctuary. Kenny’s success in curating an endless stream of plumb babies has garnered her over 100,000 followers and a book deal with art publisher Rizzoli. Interview slid into Kenny’s DMs for a gentle conversation about cultural identity, the politics of regramming cuties, and the need for content that can aggressively cheer up social media users.
Read in full on Interview Magazine
The Best Women’s Tennis Clothes, According to Stylish Pros and Players
By Katherine Gillespie
Writer and lifelong tennis player Mel Kenny (who is also the founder of Tiny Gentle Asians) says her current favorite tennis dress is a ’00s Juicy Couture style sourced from Depop worn with Nike undershorts. But if you’re not up for trawling resale sites, she also likes this one from Copenhagen brand Palmes Tennis Society. The brand’s designs make tongue-in-cheek reference to tennis’s preppy heritage without being too costume-y.
A simple tank top that allows unrestricted arm movement is fundamental. Kenny agrees that “pits out is the move,” and recommends Hanes’ affordable tank tops for early-morning practice sessions. “I usually play at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. before work, so in my sleepy stupor I’ll reach for the simplest of things,” she says. While not specifically designed for tennis, they are “formfitting but not suffocating,” which makes them ideal for on-court workouts.
Read in full on NY Magazine
How Effective Are Pimple Patches in Reducing Acne?
By Anjan Sachar
Few skincare products enjoy the same popularity as instant acne cures, and if they manage to make the bump invisible, that’s even better. Cue: pimple patches. These anti-acne stickers are meant to go directly on your bump to help disinfect it, minimize its size, and keep it hidden from environmental factors so they don’t make it any worse.
Do all anti-acne patches work for all kinds of bumps?
While patches with hydrocolloid minimise existing bumps, others can help nip upcoming acne in the bud. Melissa Kenny, Director of Communications at Zitsticka, a skincare brand built on pimple patches, shares details about the latter. “The ZitSticka Killa is rather different in both composition and use-case; being a microdart zit patch that's able to deposit zit-averse ingredients beneath the skin to target deep, up-and-coming pimples before they reach their potential. For this reason, a key benefit is being able to expedite the life of the zit, while avoiding expensive dermatologist trips,” she says.
Read in full on Vogue India
This Acne-Positive Brand Wants You to Grab That Ice Cream Pint
By Jeena Sharma
Since its launch, ZitSticka has worked to dismantle stigma against acne and normalize the conversation surrounding it. And now, the cult pimple patch label is making the case for the acceptance of pimples with its new campaign, We Got You.
Shot by Ashley Armitage, the commercial shows women doing everyday things — eating a late night snack or drinking a glass of wine — that have been apparently known to cause breakouts. Highlighting the shame women feel, the campaign urges viewers to do what they want anyway.
"It would be too easy to make a shiny campaign video and cast models with flawless skin," said Melissa Kenny, Director of Communications at Zitsticka. "As newcomers to the skincare space we want to explore breakouts in relevant and meaningful ways, while infusing our tone-of-voice and humor. A key part of the ZitSticka ethos is bringing transparency to the acne space—a space typically glossed over, sidestepped or approached in a clinical light."
Read in full on PAPER
Tiny Gentle Asians' Instagram Racks Up 55,000 Followers by Posting Nothing But Images of Cute Chubby Babies
By Carly Stern
An Instagram account is using pictures of adorable chubby Asian babies to rack up 55,000 ovaries. Uh, followers.
Called Tiny Gentle Asians, the page has posted more than 500 pictures of East Asian newborns and toddlers smiling, crying, playing with animals, having their big cheeks smushed, and doing otherwise cute things for the camera.
'Rolls and LOLs are definitely the two vital ingredients, founder Mel Kenny told Mashable about her recipe for a cute account.
That audience is now up to 55,400 people, including Chelsea Handler and Candice Swanepoel.
Read in full on Daily Mail
Pics Of Chubby Asian Babies Will Warm Your Cold, Despondent 2016 Heart
By Kimberly Yam
Brace yourself. You’re about to see the most delightful thing on the internet.
Instagram page “Tiny Gentle Asians” features happiness-inducing photos of chubby, adorable Asian babies alongside hilarious, meme-worthy captions.
The page launched about two years ago and since then, it’s racked up more than 50,000 followers, even attracting famous fans like Chelsea Handler.
Mel Kenny, the genius behind the page, told The Huffington Post in an email that it all started purely out of “irrepressible love” for tiny gentle Asians, or “TGAs” as she lovingly calls them. The name, Kenny says, perfectly captures what these little nuggets are all about.
“The Merriam-Webster dictionary tells me gentle means ‘free from harshness, sternness, or violence,’” she said. “How can babies really be anything other than those things?”
Another reason why the page is so popular is because TGAs are, well, all of us, Kenny noted.
“The average person finds enlarged babies from Asia rather relatable,” Kenny, who’s Thai, told HuffPost.
Read in full on Huffington Post