HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL
I grew up loathing my body and my looks. I couldn't get a date to prom, and I was convinced it was because I was ugly. At 16, my beloved younger sister was diagnosed with an eating disorder. I will never forget sitting at Thanksgiving dinner and hearing her throw up as she hid in the basement.
At 22, my amazing, brilliant, special sister, who had begun to study nursing so she could help others.... was admitted to a year-long eating disorder clinic. I would visit her there and wonder... would I dance at her wedding? Would I hold her first child in my arms?
I have permanent images etched into my brain of a 70-lb man.
Thankfully, my sister recovered.
I vowed to fall in love with my body and appearance and live a life that inspired other women to do the same.
TODAY,
At least 30 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder in the U.S. 1, 2
Every 62 minutes at least one person dies as a direct result from an eating disorder.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
13% of women over 50 engage in eating disorder behaviors.
16% of transgender college students reported having an eating disorder.
My vision is a world where all women have the right to their own self expression and beauty.
Unlike almost everyone else, I do not believe that "fixing" your thoughts or feelings will lead you to be confident. Instead, I believe that MAKING things -- creative, embodied doing -- trains the body and mind to experience oneself in a new way. That experience is ultimately what gives us confidence. In other words -- actions lead to feelings, NOT having the right feelings will finally give us the motivation to act like all the other people out there on the marketplace will tell you.
It turns out that science says that I am right. Mirror neurons in our brain are brain cells that are activated when we see someone else do something. So for example, if someone yawns because of that yawn -- we yawn too. If someone is sad, we empathically feel their sadness.
I theorized -- what if we could use mirror neurons to mirror back to OURSELVES? When I work with my styling clients — I get my scientific data.
Overwhelmingly, my clients feel permanently stylish, confident and sexy after working with me. It’s delicious. And then magic happens — they start dating after a hard divorce. They leave their jobs and start their own business.
I cannot take back what happened to my sister.
But, we can take a stand for our beauty, and show through example that there is another way.
Every woman deserves the right to self express.