Brittani

I thought it would be important to share a brief snippet of my story. Being comfortable in my skin and loving myself is always something I struggled with. For years, I battled anorexia. It consumed my life and is still a daily battle. No one ever wants to hear of a skinny girl’s struggle but eating disorders are real and all consuming. I was bullied a lot in high school over my eating disorder and constantly called ugly and bullied which just fed into it even more. I got to a point where if I ate, I would punish myself with self mutilation. I obsessed over calorie counting that it controlled my life even into my first pregnancy. The residual effects of it still haunt me, I’m an extremely picky eater and sometimes just looking at food makes me physically ill. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “you need to eat a burger” to someone who is struggling, that’s not okay. And if you look at my pictures, I have a lot of scars. At 19, I started battling different stages and forms of skin cancers, my last surgery was this past summer. The eating disorder, the cutting, the scars and cancers plus the fact I carried three babies had really taken a toll on my body and my self esteem, but I think it’s important to understand that you are only given one body in this life, and you have to embrace it and love it. And hopefully through my story, I can inspire others to battle through their demons and start to love their bodies too.

Did anything change about how you see yourself?
For the first time in years, I felt like my own person again. Being a housewife and mom of three (2 of which are really little), I feel so consumed in doing everything for everyone else that doing something for myself made me feel like a person again! And that I am more than just a mom and wife.

What was your initial reaction to the images?
At first, it was awkward seeing pictures of me like that. I’m not a sexy person at all, I’m actually a pretty big dork that loves to laugh so seeing a sexy, sultry side of me photographed was different but in a good way. Katie did an awesome job making me look hott. I loved the images and couldn’t wait to send them to my husband.

How did you feel before your session? What were you most nervous about?
I felt anxious before. I was nervous about being the worst “model” Katie would ever have, worried about not knowing what to do and super worried about the reaction from my husband.

Any advice for others looking to do a shoot?
Just have fun with it! Browse Pinterest and get ideas of what you’re looking to do first. Katie is awesome at bringing ideas to life. It really is a lot of fun and a totally comfortable environment.