From as far back as I can recall I’ve had beauty on the brain…

My mother and her mother were always known for their exceptional looks, and beauty was like a family value.  When I was little, I was cute enough, I guess, but I had this bump on my nose, and was abnormally tall and shy.

The ol’ familia really did mean well when they put duct tape on my back to force me to improve my posture (“Tall girls like you look horrible slouched over!”), hounded me to point my feet forward instead of walking “like a duck” and gave me guilt trips about eating between meals for fear I’d become overweight (which inevitably ended up happening).

So, I was groomed to live among the beautiful.  I learned all about poise, presence and charm, how to dress to flatter my figure, and how to accentuate the positive and distract from the negative with the magic of makeup.  It was a great education that gave me a strong skill set, but it left me feeling ugly, fat, awkward, and ultimately, invisible.  I felt like I wasn’t good enough, and decided to be the smart, nice, dorky girl to be able to make friends and be loved and liked.  I was not a fan of myself and always did what I thought was expected of me, instead of exploring my true happiness.  This kept me frozen and stopped me from even asking myself what I wanted.

Eventually I realized I could never be happy and confident until I learned to embrace who I was on the inside, and get it to match how I felt about my outside.  So I decided to ask for help.  For two years I worked with a spiritual coach and mentor to learn to embrace who I am, and am not.  I learned that I have my own beauty to rock, and that even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I am still ________ enough.
Thanks to this amazing process I now believe that what matters most is being happy and comfortable with me.  I have dropped out of society’s perpetual beauty pageant, and it has revolutionized my life!  In fact, it’s thanks to this that I’m now strong, confident and aware enough to have my own coaching practice.  And I keep learning and plugging away every single live-long day!

I know what it’s like to be frozen in your tracks because you don’t feel pretty, interesting or good enough.  As your fellow dork/freak/ugly duckling/late bloomer, I want to help you discover your unique beauty and bad-assness so that you can finally go after what you want…so you can let yourself SHINE!  Be your own muse.
No more of this being your “pretty” or “cool” friend’s sidekick and hanging out on the sidelines business.

It’s time to showcase YOU in all of your amazing, unique, <insert one of the following: freak/nerd/dork/dweeb/geek/ugly duckling/late bloomer> ___________ splendor!!!!!