To me, “body confidence” is… owning my strength, power, & resilience as much as I embrace my vulnerability, softness, sensuality. It’s feeling curious and inspired by my body’s potential, adaptability, and mobility. It’s celebrating its ability to explore the world through my senses, learn new skills, and constantly regenerate through nurturing lifestyle habits. It’s gratitude for my body’s intuitive abilities to facilitate  empowerment and healing in others through Pilates and massage therapy.

At the most superficial level, when I look in the mirror I see the aging process at work. As I gaze at my 51yo self, I see decades worth of reflections flash before me: each era staring back as a reminder of what’s shaped me.

I see… the negative voices from my childhood about my appearance that cultivated my own negative self-talk… being a dark-skinned Black girl in a predominantly White town with a love of Classical ballet where no one looked like me either…

meant to be me. And f**k me for choosing careers that are so driven by aesthetics! In hindsight, it feels both foolish and brave after growing up with all the verbal and non-verbal messaging that I wasn’t the “right type” to pursue my dreams. I knew that being called “healthy” wasn’t a compliment and that my “thick thighs” would always stand between me and a dance career. And in the world of entertainment, hardly anyone looked like me! But I did it anyway.