World's Ugliest Woman

Did the title make you click on my blog? It's certainly caught the attention of many others on the web.

There is a video circulating the internet right now accompanied by an article titled, "Labelled the World's Ugliest Woman: Lizzie Velasquez 'Knows God Sees Her True Beauty'". The video is of her speaking at an Austin Women Ted Talk forum.

Lizzie Velasquez has a genetic disease that prohibits her from gaining any weight. She is one of only three people on the planet with this disease. But despite this hurdle, she stands today as a motivational speaker and shares her story.

As a titleholder in the Miss America system, I was encouraged to support some kind of platform. Last year I chose, "The Beauty Myth", renamed this year as, "Being You". Through the ease and access of social media, it's incredible the videos and articles that have been shared this past year. Every day I see videos like Dove Real Beauty campaign, and articles about what dress codes say about girls' bodies, and cool shorts just reminding you that you, yes you, are beautiful.

There is so much focus on what it means to be beautiful and I believe our generation is realizing what I am trying to promote through my platform - that there are so many different kinds of beautiful, and being you is the best kind there is.

In Lizzie's Ted Talk, she asks, "What defines you? Who are you? Is it where you come from? Is it your background? Is it your friends? What is it? What defines who you are as a person?"

She talks about how for the longest time, she thought what defined her was her appearance. Her skinny limbs, her little face, her thin fingers - she thought she was ugly. She wanted so badly to be like the other kids. "It's what I wanted every single day. And every single day, I was disappointed."

But she shares that she stood above the bullying that she received and the self criticism and came to find who she really is and what she really wanted to do with her life. And what an amazing success story. She is a successful public speaker and she's just finished a manuscript for her third book. If you listen to her talk, her beauty will resonate with you, I promise.

She says, "You are the one who decides what defines you."

Can I stress that even more? In the midst of our world today, there is so much pressure to look a certain way and be a certain way. There are so many tools to shape ourselves to those molds. But these tools can also be used to project our unique and original selves in bigger and brighter ways.

"Brave starts here," Lizzie Velasquez.

- Annika Wooton

Miss Butler County 2014

http://clashdaily.com/2014/01/labelled-worlds-ugliest-woman-lizzie-velasquez-knows-god-sees-true-beauty/