Twenty-two year old photographer Eva Woolridge, a student at the University of Maryland, created the series “Embrace Your Essence,” to complete an assignment. Little did she know, that these images would end up going viral and touching to many people.

Woolridge created the project to encourage each of the women featured to explore her own beauty and compliment rather than criticize each of their unique attributes.

“I was surrounded by such beautiful women with such gorgeous souls,” Woolridge told Business Insider. “[But they] sometimes let their light dim because they constantly were trying to fit somebody else’s beauty standards.”

When Felicia Taliaferro, a friend of Woolridge and one of the women featured in the series, uploaded one the images to her personal account, they quickly went viral, amassing thousands of shares in a short period of time.

The series has since been viewed over a 100,000 times and was even featured in major fashion publications such as Marie Claire.

“The wildest moment was three months later, when I was assisting a photographer at a male modeling agency,” said Woolridge. “I showed him Felicia’s work [and] he’s like, ‘Wait, I saw this photo. It’s on my girlfriend’s cell phone screen. It’s her backdrop.’”

Woolridge hopes that her series will inspire more young women.