The Funky Nanas

About Us

It's been a wild ride so far. Go get yourself a nice hot beverage and get cozy - we are about to tell you the story of how The Funky Nanas were created and why they think that you are important.

About Us

Hi! We are the Instagram sensation The Funky Nanas. The Funky Nanas is an AI project designed to make women noticeable even after they turn 50. The women in this project are not real; they are AI avatars that excel at showcasing experiences and lifestyle habits. While they only exist in our imagination, the Nanas created a wonderful community on instagram where women from all over the world come together and enjoy some happyness together for a brief moment.

Hi! I am Sam and as you can see - in the original image I am sitting in my office on my own, staring into blank space.

The Nanas are a product of my imagination.

And while you might think that they are a concept that I once created and executed could this assumption not be further from the truth.

I am a Social Media Manager form Germany who has been fascinated about AI created from the second she learned about AI Image creation. While being a horrible artist all my life because I am not blessed with great hand eye coordination, I do happen to be a good writer. So when I figured out that you can create art with words... things escalated pretty quickly.

While I was flying under the radar for about a year with my creations, I posted the now legendary episode of Nanas dancing in glitter dresses in the mudd and the internet went nuts.

After receiving many messages from older women how they felt seen and how much the images meant to them, I deciced to take it further and make it a thing. This was when the idea of the Funky Nanas was born.

Ever since the project started, I learned a lot from our followers and I am proud of the community I created that consist of women from all over the world with a big variety of backgrounds, beliefs and political views. The Funky Nanas is an uptopian place where we all come together in peace.

While I am the creator, I do like to work with all of you to empower you to be your best self. So do comment what adventure should be next or anything you like. I'll make sure to include it in one of the next episodes :)

FUNKY NANA FAQ

Is Creating Nanas Your Main Job?

Oh no. Absolutely not. In "real life" I am a Senior Social Media Manager and run a small agency where I work with my Mom and my Sister. My day job is pretty depressing but has loads of purpose. I work for NGOs and my main task is creating awareness campaigns about homelessness, animal cruelty, child poverty, S**ual Abuse and so on and so on.

So after a hard day of talking about very sad things, I do enjoy sitting down and spending some time with the Nanas.

AI creation is getting more and more important in my day job, too. I do teach people how to use AI image creation in marketing and also use many AI images for my Social Media projects because they are amazing to grab attention and hardly cost anything (which is amazing for NGOs)

Why are you not creating the Nanas in real life?

Well, I wish I could. But AI creation and photography are two completly different art forms and I am a rather mediocre photographer. It's also a matter of costs and resources.

If I were to set up a photo shooting with 15 Nanas, I would have to cast them, create a set, style them and also have Nanas that are experienced with working in front of a camera.

Also, many adventures would sure not be possible in real life like the hot air balloon ride over Afghanistan or lead to an environmental desaster with all this glitter in the river ;)

I know that the idea of AI may be a little strange to you. But I'm sure you'll get used to it :)

Can you make me a Nana?

How do you create the Nanas?

I do use Midjourney. And while I wish I could say that you just need to sign up and can also start creating Nanas, it not that easy. Creating the Nanas is actually pretty difficult and needs loads of skills. Getting where I am now took me about 1.500 hours. I use many techniques like long descriptive prompts, character references and a range of blending options. Here you can see a behind the scenes if you are interested :)