Lost and Found: My Path Home to Myself

For two years, I lived in the shadows of my own life. I was anxious, depressed, and completely unrecognizable to myself. The vibrant, intuitive woman I once was had vanished, replaced by someone who doubted every thought, every feeling, every instinct.

I was in an abusive relationship. The kind that doesn’t leave bruises on your skin but carves deep scars into your soul. It started subtly, like most emotional abuse does—criticisms disguised as jokes, isolation framed as love, and control masked as concern. Slowly, I stopped trusting my intuition, pushed away my loved ones, and neglected myself, pouring everything into a relationship that drained me completely.

But even in the darkest moments, something inside me refused to be extinguished. Call it divine intervention, call it resilience—something kept whispering, This isn’t who you are. It was a faint voice, barely audible, but it was mine. Eventually, it became loud enough to shatter the silence.

Leaving wasn’t easy. It meant confronting the ways I had allowed myself to shrink and forgiving myself for staying as long as I did. But in walking away, I found my way back to myself. Slowly, I began to heal.

I’m not only a survivor of emotional abuse but of assault, disordered eating, and the quiet erosion of confidence. Yet, without tools to navigate these struggles, I couldn’t fully grasp what I was experiencing. How can you resist what you lack the words to name? 

Recognizing these gaps, I committed myself to providing the tools I once needed. In high school, I created a TED Talk-style presentation to raise awareness about unrealistic beauty standards and their impact on young girls. More recently, I developed a public engagement synthesis addressing sexual violence on campuses. 

The most impactful step I’ve taken, however, is serving as a mentor—a journey that has shaped me as much as my mentees. As a camp counselor, I embraced the privilege of being a role model with one goal: transmit self-love and acceptance. Consequently, I watched girls who once doubted themselves take on challenges they never imagined, and in those moments, I saw the transformative power of transmission—how self-love inspires and multiplies. Mentorship isn’t just about guidance, but also about helping others see their own light, a lesson I carry forward in my current mentor position with Women Building Women. 

What I’ve learned through it all is that while there’s no perfect antidote, healing begins with love—the kind we cultivate within ourselves. Self-love empowers us to heal from our past, honor our present, and grow into the women we’re meant to become. A world grounded in self-love would transform not only individual lives but entire communities.

And so, this has become part of my mission—to give women the tools and help them to heal, grow, and thrive. As Chantal Gaemperle said, “When women support each other, incredible things happen.” I’ve witnessed this firsthand through mentorship—when one woman embraces her own light, she inspires others to do the same. True impact comes from this cycle of empowerment, and my goal is to amplify this ripple effect.

Because if there’s one thing my journey has taught me, it’s this: even the darkest shadows cannot extinguish the light of a woman determined to love herself.