She# the philocalist
Heba Naaz
120420457005
English CIA 3
II RCZ (MCZ)
She the philocalist- Lizzie Velasquez
Elizabeth Anne Velasquez was born on March 13, 1989, is an American motivational speaker, activist, author, and YouTuber. She was born with an extremely rare congenital disease called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome that, among other symptoms, prevents her from accumulating body fat and gaining weight. Her conditions resulted in bullying during her childhood.
However, one episode stands out from all the rest and left Lizzie devastated. At age 17, she did an interview which was posted on Youtube under the title “The World’s Ugliest Woman”. By the time Lizzie found the clip, it already had 4 million views and an endless thread of terrible comments. Although this was a major blow to Lizzie’s confidence, she bounced back from the incident, stronger than ever, ultimately inspired her to take up motivational speaking.
“One of the biggest lessons I had to learn was to stop comparing myself to others. It’s so easy to fall into a hole of doubt but if you stay on top of it and remind yourself of something you do like about yourself, eventually it will become second nature.”
In January 2014 she gave a TED x AustinWomen Talk titled "How Do YOU Define Yourself"and her YouTube videos have received over 54 million views. She also starred in the biographical documentary “A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story” from 2015. So far, she has written 3 inspiring books – the most recent one, “Dare to Be Kind”, was published in 2017. In this book, Lizzie “presents the path to acceptance, love and tolerance, and offers a blueprint for how to lead a resilient life and, ultimately, forge a radically compassionate world.”
Lizzie Velasquez redirects negativity and finds strength in what other people might perceive as weaknesses. She truly deserves the title philocalist because she learned to find beauty in herself when no one else could and also helped others find beauty in themselves.
