Women To Watch 10.12.25 - Flipbook - Page 38
Instagram influencer Dana Truitt, of Owings Mills, with Piper, her miniature pinscher, who features in many of her posts. KIM HAIRSTON/STAFF
vulnerability builds trust, and trust builds influence,” she said.
“Men, on the other hand, often lean into authority and expertise in a different way. That can be
powerful too, especially on platforms like YouTube
or in tech spaces.”
Irungu previously worked as a photo editor
for former Vice President Kamala Harris and as
a photographer for former President Joe Biden’s
administration.
“Whether you have 1,000 followers or 100,000,
what matters is how you’re showing up for your
community and what kind of impact you’re making
offline,” she said.
Dana Truitt
For Owings Mills resident Dana Truitt, the idea
of being an online influencer used to intimidate
her. After she was nearly killed by a drunken driver
at age 21, Truitt went through months of shock
trauma and surgeries, and said she gained a lot of
weight in a short period of time.
38 | 2025 | WOMEN TO WATCH
“I had to get myself comfortable with taking
pictures and get myself healthy and active again,”
Truitt said. “So I just learned that, you know, you
don’t have to be perfect. … It’s just, be you, and be
relatable, and people will attach themselves to you
and enjoy your story.”
Truitt’s Instagram is filled with colorful posts
about traveling with her dog, Piper, and weekly
ice cream outings.
“I’ve actually run into people ... they’ll tell me
they follow me, and they love that it’s colorful and
that it’s, you know, very bright and positive,” Truitt
said.
One time, an image of her and Piper wearing
matching Nike shoes got nearly 14 million views
on TikTok.
“I feel like it’s easier for them to trust the animal
... because animals are amazing, right?” Truitt said.
“I think that just makes people easier to relate to
you.”
Though her posts are usually more lighthearted,
Truitt also has used her platform to raise awareness about drunken driving and raise money for
breast cancer, the latter of which affected both her
mom and grandmother.
Body image is a focus of some of Feinberg’s posts.
She acknowledges that there are times when she
didn’t want to post a picture because she didn’t like
how she looked. She works through this by adopting a “body neutrality” mindset — “accepting your
body and being neutral about it,” she said.
People have reached out to Feinberg in the past
to tell her how they could relate to her moments
of vulnerability.
“The fact that I could go to college, struggle with
drugs and still make it through to law school really
helped some people who were struggling,” she said.
Feinberg now works full time as an influencer
campaign manager with Fortune 500 companies.
But she still wears authenticity on her sleeve,
so to speak — with a tattooed Friedrich Nietzsche
quote visible under her arm in several yoga shots:
“We should consider every day lost on which we
have not danced at least once. And we should call
every truth false which was not accompanied by
at least one laugh.”
