Positivity redirects life’s journey towards success
It is rare for Indian Newslink to run submitted copy as it arrives, but Ashley McInroe, our Model of the Fortnight wrote the story of her life which went to printers verbatim.
Here is her narrative.
I wanted to be the next Aishwarya Rai, the next Rani Mukherjee, the next Kajol.
Raised in a mixed household (Indian and European), my early years were spent surrounded by an enormous and truly supportive family.
My parents, siblings, aunties, uncles, cousins, and grandparents were my teachers; helping me to understand that beauty and size had nothing to do with each other.
Bullying adds to obesity
During my teenage years, I experienced severe bullying and racism (I attended a school with very few other Indian students), and the resulting emotional trauma made that belief in myself fade and I became plagued with depression.
I turned to food for comfort using “size doesn’t matter” as an excuse for how I was treating my body until things began to get out of hand.
It wasn’t until I was confronted with holiday images of myself that I realised how far I had let myself go; the way I was feeling on the inside had presented itself blatantly on the outside.
Rediscovering self
Weighing in at a 162 kilograms (October 2013), it was then that I woke up beginning my self-love journey. I was finally ready to rediscover the happy, confident, beautiful me I had been as a child. Six years later, I lost over 80 kilograms and have been signed with a premium New Zealand modelling agency.
All these were achieved through the incredible power of self-care, body positivity and determination.
My passion has always been creative expression, creating to inspire others with my work. Today I’m doing exactly that; modelling, writing and currently working on a number of amazing campaigns with companies in New Zealand and also overseas. I am also in the planning stages of my own business and couldn’t be more excited for possibilities for the years to come.
