“I work full time as an accounting assistant and part time at the yoga/cycling studio Alignment 8. I’m also a full time student studying hospitality management. I hope to be planning music festivals/special events in the near future. 

The last time I was photographed was about five years ago for my senior pictures. 

I stumbled across the info regarding ‘For Real’ while I was cleaning at Alignment 8. Later that night I went to the website for the campaign and looked at all the pictures and read the stories from all these women. They all looked beautiful, and I thought, maybe having this done would help me see how truly beautiful I am.

I wasn’t super uncomfortable with the idea of being photographed without any makeup. Most days I only wear mascara anyway. I was more uncomfortable with thinking about how the photos would turn out.

I was extremely nervous going into the shoot because I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Trish made it easy. She told me where to sit, what to do with my hands, where to look, and what to do with my face. I felt very confident after leaving her studio that afternoon. 

I went into the reveal with mixed feelings. I felt confident after the shoot, but I always felt confident for my selfies and absolutely hated them. The photos were amazing though! I actually loved the way I looked in these photos. 

Back in middle school I started experimenting with makeup. I remember my mom letting me get this really vibrant yellow eye shadow and I wore it to school one day. I think I went the whole day without a comment about it, but on the bus ride home I was called a slut for wearing that color eye shadow (which I know doesn’t make sense now, but I didn’t quite understand that back then). Ever since then I’ve worn very minimal make up. Some days I feel comfortable with my appearance, but most days I feel super uncomfortable in my own skin. Over the past year I’ve worked on cutting out that voice in my head telling me I wasn’t pretty enough or thin enough. This photo shoot was definitely a huge help. For the time I was in the studio that voice wasn’t talking and I felt comfortable in my own skin.”