“We were taking stuff that what was positioned as feminism and female joys and aesthetic and dirtying it up and making it fit ,” Ms. Collins said. “Back then it was so original, but now it’s such a thing to do.”

The personal nature of the work — and the collaborative ways in which it was solicited and published — opened up avenues for live Rookie events in cities across the United States and ar ound the world.

Lucia Santos, 15, recalled the preparation that went into her first Rookie meet-up, a stop on the book tour for the second “Rookie Yearbook” anthology in Seattle. She was 10 at the time, and had safety pinned tulle onto the back of her black skirt, creating a sort of train that flowed behind her as she walked. She also brought a copy of her own zine to present to Ms. Gevinson as a gift.

“I wanted to be a mini-mini Tavi,” Ms. Santos said.

At 13, an age when most girls are just trying to survive middle school, Ms. Santos became a Rookie contributor, submitting visual diaries every week. In a piece of art published in May 2016, she painted eyes, polka dots and squiggles over her math homework, dotting the lined notebook paper with stickers of sea creatures, shells and stars. “The effect of scanning my illustration and sending it off across the country — to be published on this website that so many people kind of rely on — felt so good, so validating and so uplifting,” Ms. Santos said. “I felt so empowered and it was so tangible.”