Our Embrace Your Shape Project Exhibition is coming up in just under one month, and we are busy sharing the amazing stories of our models. This babe has been through it all to find her own voice, and she's not afraid to use it! Check out Ms. A's story and epic photoshoot.
**TW: EATING DISORDERS, WEIGHT, BODY IMAGE**
"As a young child I remember the one thing I always got picked on for was my size. I weighed 100lbs in 3rd grade. Yes, that’s a lot for a third grader and my fellow classmates constantly reminded me of it. Since that realization of being the “big kid” my self-esteem stayed nonexistent. From 5th grade till junior year of high school I would go through phases of different eating disorders; not eating, binging, bulimia, orthorexia. Never enough to need medical help but enough to get me to a state of contentment about not eating or excessive working out. Senior year of high school my friend Jessica helped get me into weight training. Within 2 years of weight training & proper eating I lost 70lbs. That’s when I fell in love with my body- not when I lost the weight, but when I realized how strong I am and how my body does all of these amazing things for me everyday, the least I can do is take care of her and tell her she’s wonderful no matter the weight on the scale or the cellulite on my legs.
I participated in the project because I wanted to show off my body & show off how much confidence and self-love I have. It’s taken me a long time to get to this point and I’m so proud to finally be able to love myself and my body. I always joke to my friends and say my body type is “you can tell I workout but can also tell I don’t say no to cake.”
"I asked if I could bring a cake to my photoshoot for 2 reasons. 1 because I wanted to show people that it’s okay to eat cake and indulge. 2 food has always been my life & love language. Even when I was suffering from eating disorders I still loved food. And now I am in the top 5 pastry chefs of North Carolina. The adult smash cake is a celebration of how far I’ve come in my career & in my self love."
"Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE my butt. We constantly joke about how my butt has a bigger ego than me. I’ve always had athletic legs from playing sports & weight training & would love to emphasize that in these pictures.
I also want to portray how fun and radiant I am. I want my personality to shine through my pictures, & hopefully get a couple candid shots of me laughing or smiling."
"I’m feeling both anxious and excited. I had boudoir shoot through another company a while ago and she didn’t make me feel very confident and sexy while she was taking the pictures, it was very much just business with her. So I’m having some anxiety about these because I want to have fun with this and not feel like I’m just someone’s way to make money.
I am also so excited. To get fully pampered before the shoot & to check out the wardrobe closet! As someone who does not wear lingerie, the closet is especially exciting!
I want women to feel empowered when they see my pictures. I want them to look at the pics and be like “she’s embracing her shape, so I should too.” I hope my pictures radiate happiness, joy, confidence & I hope that when someone looks at these pics they look at it and smile and see how happy and confident I am and realize that they too can be happy and confident with their body."
Now that you've read about Ms. A's journey leading up to her photoshoot, let's see what she had to say afterwards!
"IT WAS AMAZING. it was beyond everything I hoped for. Ginny was so sweet and welcoming from the moment I stepped in the door. Started with hair & makeup, the makeup artist kept telling me how beautiful my cheeks and hair were and did my makeup amazingly to help contrast all of my best facial features. Then picking out sets & lingerie. Ginny helped me pick and envision each set & poses, then helped me pick out some lingerie that would be fitting for each set. Once we had that done it was time to get started on the shoot! A little nervous to start especially with facial expressions & posing but within time I got it and became quite the model. Last but not least, being able to see the raw picture & choose which’s ones I wanted to keep the same day left me on a self love high. I was so excited to share my thoughts about the pictures with Ginny & my friends."
What did Ms. A learn about herself through this experience?
"I need to be more relaxed. when you let go of the weight of the world, even just for a couple seconds, that’s when you can really see how beautiful you are- when you’re at peace."
Her final message for you:
"Stop putting your life on hold when it comes to thinking about how you look or how much space you take up and letting that be your deciding factor on if you’re going to do something or not. Take up space, be unapologetically you, and love your body. She does so much for you everyday, the least you can do is show her off and be proud of her. There’s no sense in hiding her and keeping her a secret. Be bold, be happy, be you. Embrace your shape & eat the damn cake."
And we must say, we wholeheartedly agree! Are you ready to embrace your shape? There is no better time than now to begin your body love journey. Find out how you can join us in the studio and start showing up more confidently in your life with the body image you deserve.