When I was in Indiana a few weeks ago I was invited by an incredible nonprofit called Remedy Live to appear on their podcast, Wired. @remedylive pairs young people with therapists (for free) to talk to 24/7 by texting REMEDY to the number 494949. My struggle with mental health started when I was 16. I had an eating disorder that inspired me to write a post called Runway Model or Role Model that went viral. I received an email following from @talkspace asking if they could fly me to NY to speak on a panel on social media and mental health. It wasn’t until girls and their moms from my high school started messaging me asking how they could overcome their eating disorders that I knew I was not into fashion anymore- I wanted to use my voice to make a change surrounding mental health, but also living life unfiltered. Growing up, I never had anyone to talk to when I was feeling depressed or anxious, and when I dropped out of high school I felt more alone than ever. Blogging became my livelihood but also my lifeline. I say during this interview that something is always going to happen in your life, whether that’s trauma like it was for me during what happened in my childhood or you suffer with anxiety/depression…but you determine the path you go down. You have two paths in life. Pick the right one. You will be OKAY. It’s been over a decade since I started blogging when I was 12, and I’m a different (finally confident!) person now. It takes time to find yourself.

P.S. I was dealing with literally 4 weeks of laryngitis during this interview, aka why my voice is so out of wackkkk!