Born Beautiful story @NatalieWetta

Posted by Hoan Nguyen on

 

Tell us about yourself in 50 words or less. We want to know one or two things that you'd want someone to know about you?

I never take myself too seriously. My middle name is B. - just B.- it's not short for anything and my parents can't really explain it. I'm usually told mid-day- unbeknownst to me- that my dress or shirt is backwards or inside out. I love traveling, iced coffee, TM meditation, Christoph Waltz, vintage dress shopping, re-runs of The Office and fermented produce.

What are you most grateful for in life?

The more I educate myself about what's going on in the world, the more grateful I am to wake up with a safe roof over my head, clean water to drink and healthy food to eat. I also get to pursue my vocation. That's so incredible. I'll loose sight of that sometimes and have a trivial bad day. I'll call my brother and he'll tell me to walk over to a sink and turn the water on. It's a joke- sort of- but it's such a good reminder of putting life into perspective.

Who do you find beautiful – and what makes them beautiful to you?

I find people who are joyful and doing what they love to do absolutely beautiful. You can see it on their face. It's captivating and contagious. There is a great yoga teacher, Kathryn Budig who radiates beauty. I've never met her in person, but her online yoga classes, social media and books radiate happiness and joy. You can tell she loves herself and what she does. It's contagious. I find women like Brene Brown beautiful. They get up on stage and radiate beauty. Being vulnerable, admitting the "me too". It immediately puts a smile on my face. More recognizable; Michelle Williams, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kristen Wiig. They're unique, and don't seem to be too concerned what others think.

Based on the time above, when did you realize that you were beautiful?

There hasn’t been a specific realization. Growing up I always wanted to be "prettier"- whatever that means. I wanted to be and look like other girls. I dealt with a lot of bullying in elementary school. I was taller than everyone, I had acne, really curly hair - I was awkward. Girls would say awful comments to me about my looks. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. The bullying obviously stopped the older I got, but I really didn't feel comfortable in myself until my mid-twenties. It took me quite a bit! The quirks I didn't like about myself are what I love now.

What makes you beautiful?

All of my unconventional features. I've always been told I have a sad face. I have pale skin and dark-ish circles under my eyes, my right ear is higher than my left, my lips don't fully close for some reason. When I look in the mirror though it's these quirks I love. It's what makes me - me. I couldn't imagine being tan or having lip injections to make my lips close. I would be looking at a different person.

How has your idea of beauty changed over the years?

Growing up I believed beauty was an external. External beauty is really pretty to look at, but it doesn't hold my attention. My idea of beauty is the expression of joy, humor, being yourself, uniqueness, art. It's challenging with social media to not compare and judge. As a culture we really need to get the eye off ourself and onto others. Being interesting is getting interested. I think beauty comes from that.

If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Calm down! Enjoy whats going on, find humor in it and be nicer to yourself. Everything's just fine.

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