Check Out Bridgett Brown’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bridgett Brown.

Hi Bridgett, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am the founder of Beyond Beauty Project, a movement and multimedia platform that focuses on inspiring confidence and acceptance surrounding beauty, body image, and mental health.

After 25+ years working in the modeling industry as a model, I’m working hard to change the narrative of beauty by redefining its meaning from the inside out, providing education and awareness around feeling our best mentally, physically, and spiritually.

By breaking down the barriers to true beauty and self-worth, I hope to empower people to ditch the conventional standards and shape their own beauty, free from judgment and others’ expectations. I am also a very grateful and proud mother, wife, holistic life coach, and host of Beyond Beauty Project: The Podcast.

Raised in the Midwest right outside of Detroit, Michigan, I spent the majority of my childhood dancing competitively. My mother grew sick with multiple sclerosis and was in a wheelchair by the time myself and my twin brother were seven years old. As a result, my dad worked double shifts at Chrysler to support their family.

I channeled my father’s work ethic after high school when I began working full-time as a secretary to put myself through Community College. People had been telling me for years that I should model but I was never interested until I realized the world of opportunities it could give me.

Michelle Pommier Models in Miami and Chic Models in Paris signed me that summer and my modeling career took off. Before I knew it, I was living in Miami, then Paris, and then all around the world. The quick trajectory of my career as a model and the obvious industry focus on — and judgment of — my looks felt unnatural and uncomfortable. I realized quickly that beauty isn’t defined by perfect skin or a waif-like body.

During the beginning of my modeling career, I struggled with my body image, and yo-yo dieting along with other girls going through the same pressures. We were all held to a particular industry standard and often told to lose weight, cut their hair, get surgery, etc. These struggles fostered questions about what beauty truly meant, and I grew determined to learn how to fully love and respect myself.

I dove into educating myself. I got certified in personal training and holistic nutrition and studied Ayurvedic medicine, and psychology through books, training courses, and therapy. After years of questioning how I felt about myself, I felt strong —- physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Then, during a life-altering two years, I lost my mom, my dad, my brother, and a best friend. In the midst of that period of personal loss, I married the love of my life and gave birth to my daughter. As I began to rebuild my life with my young family, several miscarriages left me unsure about how to heal my body and spirit.

My pain sparked a desire to further shape my own beauty, free from judgment and others’ expectations. I then paused from the modeling world and decided to make the Beyond Beauty Project my mission to help others love themselves from the inside out. I decided I would longer be deemed worthy by the size of my hips or the complexion of my skin!

Each day raising a daughter further ignites my passion for tackling tough conversations surrounding beauty. Realizing that my mother’s own self-image had a lot to do with how I felt about myself continues to inspire me to pass along healthy messages to her daughter.

I know a good hair day can help anyone feel beautiful for a moment, but I ardently believe our beauty needs to come from within— our health, minds, emotions, and souls. There is no beauty fix for not loving yourself, and I hope the Beyond Beauty Project helps shine some light on the things we can all do to feel our best from the inside out.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
By the age of five, I started watching my Mom struggle with her self-image as the horrific disease of multiple sclerosis debilitated her body and stole her mental health.

As her only daughter, I shared her tears and defeat as she unsuccessfully tried shoving her growing belly into clothing that didn’t fit and her swollen feet into shoes that were too tight. Her longing for self-acceptance made an indelible mark on my young psyche. That was a pivotal moment, a seed that was planted that I would later identify as the beginning of my own journey.

I also fully emerged in competitive dance growing up where I wore leotards in a mirrored studio six days a week. I was constantly comparing myself to the turning abilities or six-pack abs of other dancers. Those years were also when I started to understand what confidence means, and that the way I looked held weight in the world.

Fast forward to a modeling career where each and every part of my body was judged. I was consistently told to lose weight or to cut my hair. I was typically the biggest model on set… often referred to as “healthy” at a size four. This was before the world of advertising had the brilliant idea of plus-size modeling… wow, how genius to finally start something to represent more women in the world… (insert all the sarcasm here).

I then had a long stretch of educating myself, trying to understand myself, knowing myself… whatever you want to call it! I studied personal training, holistic nutrition, and Ayurveda medicine, did a shit load of talk therapy, read all the self-help books, went to all the workshops, and tried almost every alternative therapy!

I went on to have a successful modeling career. One that I am deeply grateful for. I traveled the world and I met some of my best friends. But whether I was walking through the streets of Paris daydreaming of one day helping women and children with confidence, or reporting a creepy photographer and getting told “Oh yea, that’s just him” – I always had the pull to do something more.

The truth is I’ve always been fiery and I’ve always fought for the person who couldn’t fight for themselves. I feel deeply, I am intuitive and always want to be better. Around the time when I felt like I was at the height of my career. I also met the love of my life, and l was happy. I was healthy and I was grateful. But then my world started to unfold…

In a two-year span, I lost my mom, dad, brother, and a dear friend one right after the other. All the while, I was unknowingly pregnant, facing another huge life change and trying to make sense of a quickly changing body I didn’t understand.

I was legit mad at my friends for not telling me that being the “fit pregnant lady” wasn’t a sure thing and instead I could possibly be the “miserable, depressed pregnant lady who would gain 68 lbs and needs orthotics in her shoes”.

I then had several crushing miscarriages, the last one being identical twin girls at five and half months. I am a twin and two of my best friends were pregnant with identical twins… I was absolutely certain it was fate after losing our other babies… until it wasn’t…

Lost, searching, and wanting my life back, I slowly took steps to return to modeling, and there I stood, a woman on the outskirts of a living hell hearing those all too familiar words, “but first, you need to lose weight”.

I was crushed on every level. Physically, I didn’t recognize the body I knew so well. The body I had studied and perfected from years as a model, my holistic health studies, and personal training. I was merely surviving.

My sweet daughter was three and half years old and she idolized me, I am her mom — the person she will emulate — with or without trying. All the while, unknowingly, I was behind closed doors having flashbacks of my years in my mother’s bedroom.

But now, I was the one that was unsuccessfully trying to shove my body into clothing that didn’t fit. The irony of me in front of the mirror discarding my body, the heroic, beautiful body that had gifted me the miracle of my daughter, and the resilience of miscarriage was clarity for me.

I didn’t recognize my mental health and I had lost all of my faith…

Now I own how I look and my experiences. It’s like that saying, “an ending is a beginning in disguise”. My bottom, my breaking is what really led to the birth of the Beyond Beauty Project.

I started to realize two consistent themes held strong throughout my history…

First, I was the stereotypical ideal of what society saw as beautiful – I was white, thin, tall and I worked as a model. I was privileged. I also got trained from an early age in the patriarchal system to be the “good girl”, a caretaker, a co-dependent, and not use my voice. Add this training with my looks and we have exactly what society wants women to be… I was a walking brunette barbie.

Second, was my deep and sometimes painful journey of understanding that it didn’t matter what I looked like on the outside if the inside wasn’t healthy. I was often a walking contradiction because I was hearing how good I looked while simultaneously sacrificing my physical, mental or emotional health to achieve it.

So I had “the package” but I could no longer ignore the loud, nagging need to heal and develop what was inside. This is when I realized the gift was not just my body or my face but my life experiences and the voice I’d been taught to silence.

I didn’t start my project because I have all the answers or because I am the “end-all version” of what I want to feel like. I started because I am compelled to use the voice I’d muffled for so long in the hope I can reach someone who’s struggling to feel better, stronger, prettier, or louder. I started it for my daughter and I started it for all of us.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The Beyond Bediv>auty Project is a movement and multimedia platform that focuses on confidence and acceptance surrounding beauty and mental health. Beyond Beauty Project has created a safe space for conversations surrounding beauty, aging, and mental health in our society, and strives to collectively change the narrative so we can send healthier messages to ourselves and to our children, expanding the ideal of beauty to every age, with all kinds of bodies and skin types. We strive towards equality by building each other up with confidence, strong voices, and self-love through our podcast, blog, workshops, and social platforms.

The Beyond Beauty Project: The Podcast is a safe space for women to dive into real and raw conversations about their own beauty — we chat about physical, mental, and spiritual health, along with all-time favorite wellness and beauty products and tips! Each conversation is thoughtfully curated to pull out the wisdom from women that have mastered their trade and have the courage to be vulnerable.

In our customizable and interactive workshops, I discuss the importance of confidence and acceptance around beauty and mental health. Some of the main themes in our workshops are learning how to become in tune with your mind, body, and spirit, how to ditch the conventional standards of beauty and value, and how to prioritize self-care and self-love. I’m available for workshops both virtually and in person at universities, conferences, community and corporate events, school districts, etc.

On our blog, I contribute with insightful pieces reflecting on my own personal experiences. We also feature contributing writers who provide their knowledge, expertise and thoughts on a variety of unique topics that align with our mission in hopes of educating and inspiring others on a multitude of levels.

BBP’s mission is to:

• Redefine Beauty from the inside out.
• Inspire confidence & acceptance around body image and mental health.
• Provide education and awareness around feeling our best mentally, physically, and spiritually.
• Ditch the patriarchal standards of beauty and value.
• Break down all barriers to true beauty and self-worth.
• Challenge all objectifying messages and stereotypes that erode self-worth, safe embodiment, and empowered purpose.
• Inspire youth into body-positive and holistically sound self-acceptance.
• Provide a safe and inclusive environment for everyone.

• Provide real product advertising from real people that have truly tried, tested, and loved products over time.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I truly believe we are all in this together!

I am learning right beside my community! I continue to bring on experts or people who have the courage to be vulnerable on my podcast and blog and I love working with preteens, young adults, and adults in my workshops. I share my story and struggles and I learn from them as well.

My hope is that our children will have some of these beliefs instinctively one day… You are beautiful because you are you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beyondbeautyproject.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beyond.beauty.project/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BBbeyondbeautyproject

Image Credits
Susan Bowlus