To preface this, I grew up in an extremely conservative/religious household. Bodies were meant to be covered & conservative. As a female, your body was for your husband (So boudoir photography was NOT something I thought I would ever do), and I grew up thinking being sexy was “sinful.” I was the only curvy woman in our household - I could never wear the same clothes as my younger siblings who were more petite. I was always told to cover up & never show too much skin. I was honestly ashamed of my curves. I also grew up in the generation of diet culture. My mom & friends’ moms were trying to “lose weight” and were never happy with their bodies, always trying the next diet. Always talking about food & how much they would have to exercise because they were eating a piece of cake. Then top it off, social media and society put magazines out that showed and pushed that “thin was best”. They created/pushed diet culture. It is a multi-million dollar business. One that preys on women, and I really saw this come to light while I was a teacher. My students in grade 11 & 12 would talk about how much they weighed, about not eating for a few days to lose weight “so somebody would like them,” etc., and it was heartbreaking. I realized that it was a learned behavior. Some of the things being said I heard from my own family members. I didn’t want the next generation of kids (my kids) to grow up thinking they need to starve themselves. That “thin” was best. I wanted change. I wanted to break this generational cycle of negative body image. 

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