On January 23, 2015, it was confirmed that I was an accidental role model for "women of size"...of all sizes. I say accidental because I never set out to be a role model. It started in 2012 when I ran for a local political office. I had women and their daughters come up to me all throughout the campaign season saying the most complimentary things. Women would point to me and look at their daughter
s and say things like "Look, see, you can be intelligent, powerful, beautiful and big." In 2014, I embarked on a diet I called the BFF Detox Diet, in support of a girlfriend who had special dietary needs. It was only an 8 week "diet" but out of that was the birth of a need for gals to have a place to go to talk about nutrition. In 2015, I made a New Year's Resolution to go to the gym and exercise more. On January 23rd, I shared a funny story about how I was keeping that resolution. As part of that story, I shared a meme that was intended to be humorous, but ended up being unintentionally hurtful in that it mocked people of size. Public and privately, woman were expressing their disappointment that I, of all people, would be so careless and inadvertently encourage discrimination based on size and condone the side effects of bad body image. Of course, I had not set out to do either. But, accidental or not, I am a public figure and a role model and with that role comes a duty. This page is dedicated to that duty, to women of all ages, shapes and sizes, to healthy lifestyles, nutrition, exercise and all things girlie!!! :-)
