Instagram Turns 5: Instagram Accounts All Women Must Follow

Happy Birthday, Instagram!

Instagram turns 5 this year… Thank you for giving us the best pictorial memories for the past 5 years.

In celebration of pretty filters and the iconic square photos, here are our picks for the most empowering Instagram accounts for women to follow.

GENDER EQUALITY: @UNWOMEN

UN Women is the UN entity for gender equality & female empowerment. It works to accelerate progress on meeting the needs of women & girls worldwide.

In 10 of the most climate-vulnerable districts of #Bangladesh, more than 19,100 women have built better systems of support and preparation for disasters, while our livelihood skills training has enabled more than 1600 women to expand their businesses. #climatechange Photo: @unwomen/Amy Reggers

A post shared by UN Women (@unwomen) on Sep 14, 2015 at 7:11am PDT

CAREER & WORK LIFE BALANCE : @LEANINORG

The pet project of Sheryl Sandberg, CFO of Facebook, Lean In was the title of her bestseller book. Lean In wants you to assist you to achieve your ambitions, one day at a time.

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A post shared by Lean In (@leaninorg) on Sep 3, 2015 at 11:57am PDT

SOCIAL ISSUES : @MICHELLEOBAMA

What more do we need to say? Michelle Obama is the most powerful women of the free world. Of course, snippets of life at the White House don’t hurt. After all, we can never live there.

“I want you all to be tweeting and Instagramming something other than your shoes and your food, okay?”

In school, I learned how to speak up for myself. #62MillionGirls don't have that chance. 62MillionGirls.com –mo

A post shared by Michelle Obama (archived) (@michelleobama44) on Sep 26, 2015 at 3:47pm PDT

BRINGING OUT THE GODDESS WITHIN : @UNDERARMOURWOMEN

Like every #fitspo feed, Under Armour Women is full of toned, lean women in various state of exercise. The empowering messages and official hashtag #IWILLWHATIWANT will make you want to get moving.

Rise and stride. ?: @lindsey.torgerson

A post shared by Under Armour Women (@underarmourwomen) on Oct 2, 2015 at 4:04am PDT

FOR ENTREPRENEURS: @ENTREPRENEUR

Entrepreneur’s magazine mission is “inspiring, informing and celebrating entrepreneurs”. Their Instagram account is filled with savvy business people whose ideas have taken off. A good place for motivation.

30-year-old Emily Weiss started her skincare line @Glossier in response to the needs of the community of millennial women she created from @intothegloss, an online media company focused on beauty. She secured $10.4 million in venture capital for Glossier in the past two years. “Pointing to Into the Gloss's existing social media reach made it easy to get the money. They also liked the market size for cosmetics—$250 billion worldwide—and the opportunity to bring innovation to an industry that's behind the times when it comes to marketing to younger women today. So many companies try to create content and a community around an existing product. We started with the community and came out with a product line to support it.” (?: Grant Davis ?: Ewan Burns) (Sept 2015 issue, page 52) #YoungMillionaires #?

A post shared by Entrepreneur (@entrepreneur) on Aug 24, 2015 at 11:50am PDT

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL : @HUMANSOFNY

Massively popular, Humans of New York have expanded to other countries. But the formula remains – photo with an unforgettable caption. The stories will make you laugh, feel less lonely or tug at your heartstrings. A recent photo of a male student inspired a crowdfunding effort that raised $1 million. This is an account that truly has social power.

“My father loved children. But I was his favorite because I was the small one. Whenever we did something wrong, everyone else got punished except for me. When I was fifteen, he took us on a shopping trip to Baghdad, and he told us to wait in the car while he ran into a market. We heard a loud explosion. We got out of the car and ran toward the sound. Body parts were everywhere. My father’s body was lying on the ground with his head split open. Part of his brain was on the street. I was young and naïve. I remember thinking: ‘It will be OK. He just needs an operation.’” (Vienna, Austria)

A post shared by Humans of New York (@humansofny) on Oct 4, 2015 at 3:54pm PDT

Best Hashtag for Women Empowerment:

#BanBossy : Celebrating women leadership and rise in power and they shouldn’t be perceived as bossy or aggressive.

#Fatkini : Promoting positive body image to women, instead of feeling bad for the impossible standards set by the fashion and beauty industry.

#62MillionGirls :  Raising awareness for girls who do not have access to education worldwide.