5 ways creativity helps me process my grief and heal

On TikTok, you may know me as "The Internet’s Agent”. On Instagram, I’m @girlbosstown. I went from making videos from my couch in Medford, Massachusetts — back when I could barely afford my rent — to working with some of my dream celebrities and brands. And I did it my way. Now, a big part of my mission is to show others that you don’t have to take a traditional route to find success in the creative industry.

Growing up in New Hampshire, I wanted to be the next Oprah or work as a correspondent at E! News, but my grades didn’t quite match up with my goals. I wasn’t getting the opportunities I wanted, so right after college, I moved to LA in hopes of landing a reality show (hey, The Hills was huge at the time!) Spoiler alert: It wasn’t like The Hills, and instead, what I got was a crash course in Adulting 101.

In LA, I learned so much about landing on your feet when things don’t work out, so when I eventually moved back to New England, I was able to pivot. I got a few jobs in marketing, but I felt pretty unfulfilled creatively. I launched the first iteration of GirlBossTown as a podcast with a friend as a fun, creative outlet outside of work. After the pandemic I felt lost and stuck in my job and thought I should go back to school. So in June 2021 I quit my corporate job and got a waitressing job and job at Anthropologie to save up for school and attend classes in the fall. That’s when I really started posting my creativity on Tik Tok as an outlet and that summer things took off and I signed With my agency by fall and pursed social media full time January 2022.

I recently made it onto the Forbes 30 Under30 list, and I was named Business Insights Creator of the Year in AdWeek’s Creator Visionary Awards. I’ve been able to make a full-time career for myself as a content creator, and I’ve even built a consulting business on the backend of GirlBossTown. I’ve learned a lot through it all, and I finally feel like I’m able to share my biggest creative lessons with others.

Share your grief — and use it for good

When I was 20 years old, I lost my mom to cancer. It defined a lot about my identity, as she was sick during many of my most formative teenage years (you can read about it in my essay, “Dead Mom’s Club”). That led me to Experience Camps, a nonprofit organization that hosts a summer camp for grieving children who have lost a parent, sibling, or loved one. After attending an Experience Camp, I knew I wanted to do more. Volunteering with Experience Camps is by far the most important work I do, and even as my following grows, I try to use my platform as much as I can to raise awareness for this incredible organization.

Channel your creativity into healing

I love being able to show the kids at camp that I found success in an untraditional way by utilizing my creativity and sharing videos online. We often do arts and crafts at camp to work through grief, because for so many kids, the only time they can get out of their head is when they're doing things that are creatively stimulating to them. Sometimes you need to feel the pain, and you can do that in a healthy way through creativity — art, through music, even though editing photographs and videos.

My brain works through mood boards. By just brain-dumping all my thoughts, it allows me to conceptualize and process things better. I use Adobe Express a lot, especially the new AI features, because if I'm in a creative rut, it can guide me through my creative process. I often feel like my brain is all over the place, so I love being able to use Adobe Express to put it all in one area — it might still be a little chaotic, but it helps me to organize those thoughts into something meaningful.

Create a community online

I saw the power of community at Experience Camps when it comes to tackling that taboo topic of grief. It made me think, ‘How can I recreate the magic of camp, of knowing that I'm not alone in the grieving process, when I’m posting on social media?’ When I post about my grief and I talk about my journey, it created a community of people who could relate — I always say it’s the worst club to be a part of, but with the best members. You might not think that anyone else would be able to relate to your grief or pain, but you're so not alone. We're all going through these extremely heavy emotions that come with humor, sadness, anger, and just feeling alone, and sharing your experience on social media feels very similar to what I feel at Experience Camp: being surrounded by a community who understands what I'm going through.

Trust your inner child

One of my best creative tips is to tune into your inner child and think about the things that really inspired you back then. I like to go into that inner child mentality when I get into a creative rut and ask myself, ‘What if anything was possible? What would I want to do right now?’ Think big, make mood boards, and just go for it. You have to fully believe in yourself even the most when the world is telling you not to. That's really a big part of my creative process.

Look to your heroes for inspiration

My mom was my biggest inspiration, because she worked so hard as a single mom raising four girls. I think my work ethic comes from her.

But other women paved the way for me to be able to do what I do, and for me to have even thought that it was possible to open the metaphorical doors for myself.

There’s obviously the ultimate — Oprah. I love Drew Barrymore. When I was in really dark days, I read her book, Wildflower, and it showed me that throughout life, the endings might be the most beautiful things that happen to you. Even when you're messing up, that’s all part of the process, and what's leading you to where you're supposed to be. She has such a beautiful way of articulating these different chapters of her life.

I look up to Erin and Sara Foster. It's on my bucket list to work with them someday. They have a venture capital fund, they invest in women, they aren’t afraid to be who they truly are, and I listen to their podcast all the time.

When I was growing up, I loved Tavi Gevinson, who started a blog called Rookie when she was 13 — it kind of raised me, in a sense. She later became one of the biggest bloggers in the world and got invited to every Fashion Week, she was this 14-year-old girl taking over the industry. I have all her archived Rookie books, and sometimes when I’m getting so many nos and I’m frustrated with the industry, I go back through them and I'm like, You know what? I need these no’s, because it's what's going to inspire me to push through.

Keep up with Robyn DelMonte at @girlbosstown on Instagram and TikTok.

In honor of Giving Tuesday, you can make a donation to Experience Camps to help the organization continue to offer no-cost summer camps and other programming for grieving children throughout the United States.