My mom was right....

I almost didn't send this out today cause I wrote up the whole thing and felt immediately insecure. But then I cracked open a Diet Coke, put my hair in a ponytail, and said "Send the Email." So here goes.

For my entire life, the go-to insult that people (we'll just call them my haters) would sling at me has been "You're fat." I can't say that l was ever officially "bullied" ongoing as a child, but when someone wanted to be a Mean Girl to me, "You're fat" was their insult-of-choice. Ouch, right?

Luckily my mother instilled a very sturdy self-confidence in chunky little me from a very young age and when I would come home crying about being called fat, she would talk me off the ledge. 

Among many pep talks Billie Stig gave me - evolving from "just remember that sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you" (circa 8 years old) to, "they're just jealous" (she didn't have time for this BS in my high school years), her main coaching was to let that negative energy propel me forward and use it as fuel. Simply put:

Haters make you greater.

When I reflect on this now, I think about how I have leveraged this insult into a brand and experience that is body-celebrating, body-inclusive, and body-diverse. Frankly, it's body-who-gives-a-fuck.

What we do at DivaDance can potentially right the wrong of years of negative self-talk, bullying, or even shame (this is big). I know that when I teach class, people see someone whose body may not be what's expected, but it's strong and confident (and sexy IMHO). And my hope is that others are inspired to own whatever body they are in at the time. If you want it to look better or be healthier - do it.  If you're happy how you are - I love that for you.

I'm proud that DivaDance is a fat-girl founded business. My haters made all of us greater.