The longer I live away from Minnesota, the more I appreciate it every day. I cherish the way I was raised and the Minnesota values I carry with me everywhere I go as I navigate a much different world.
When I am sitting in sometimes-seemingly-never-ending-New York City-traffic, I love to reminisce about growing up in Anoka on the Mississippi River. Everything was natural and healthy, and there was such an emphasis on appreciating everything nature had to offer. The closest I encounter nature on those drives is a potted plant I see in an apartment window!
Regardless of whether you grow up in New York City or Anoka, young girls today are confronted with issues of self-worth as society puts more and more pressure on young women to look a certain way. Thanks to the Minnesota values of my family, I was raised to believe we were beautiful from the inside out, but that wasn't always the case with the outside world.
When I started writing my autobiography, "Getting Real," I did go back to a painful time in my life growing up in Minnesota when people tried to base my self-worth on my looks. I struggled with my weight my whole life and was always on a diet. My most notable characteristics before age 2 were eating, talking and performing. Isn't that a great calling card? Thankfully, how girls feel and their self-esteem are becoming something we increasingly talk about seeking to improve.
According to a revealing study by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, "7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school, and relationships with family and friends." Seven out of 10! That is heartbreaking.
It hurts even more when you hear that 92 percent of teen girls would like to change "something about the way they look, with body weight ranking the highest."
So many young women living day-to-day with these thoughts; imagine if you met a group of young women who just went out on a stage and said: "Here I am; I am beautiful not for what you see on the outside but for the struggle I have overcome on the inside."
After 25 years in the news business, I have met those young women. Abbey Curran is the founder of the Miss You Can Do It pageant. The national nonprofit pageant is for girls of all ages with special needs and challenges. Through the environment Abbey has created, these young ladies are celebrated, and they are changing the way we define "beauty." They are overcoming their fears to walk out in front of everybody and say, "This is me."
