TELLING SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN’S STORIES: Natasha Bhalla

LadyDrinks presents one South Asian female professional’s story each day in the lead up to the DEVI STORY LAB Thursday, June 23rd. Buy tix here.

Today, we feature Natasha Bhalla, Founder, Prana Wellness & Health and Marketing Manager, International Beauty Shows

My hips are large.

My thighs are thick.

My hair can be curly, unruly and wild.

At one point however, I almost died trying to change all of these traits.

Growing up, the media constantly bombarded me with images of beautiful Caucasian women like Cindy Crawford and Brooke Shields.

Tall. Fair. Light eyes. Annoyingly perfect straight hair. And, of course, skinny.

I was short, tan, had dark eyes and — -was far from skinny.

For years, I spent alot of time and energy, trying to match this standard anyway. I applied a ton of product to my hair to straighten it out, tame it and make it lighter in color. In college, I bought blue contacts so I could mask my dark Indian eyes. In the summer months, I would cover up my face to keep from getting darker.

I bought heels. Many, many heels. They killed my feet and made my knees hurt, but hell, they made me taller.

But the most drastic and harmful thing I did — -was that I stopped eating.

In college, I restricted myself to a very low-calorie diet. When I didn’t get results, I started living on an apple a day. Sometimes two if I was hungry. But I was hell bent on getting to that Cosmo magazine cover ideal. And that had its consequences. One day, while in the dorm shower, I blacked out and fainted. When I came to, I was alone and had no idea how long I had been slumped over in the shower stall. It wasn’t until my best friend staged an intervention and convinced me to undergo behavioral therapy that I realized how much harm I was doing to myself. I felt “fat” or lacking in some way because I didn’t look like the girl who is on the cover of Elle this month. In a world full of photoshopped images and selfies, my beauty standard was inherently flawed. I needed to shut out what the media was telling me was beautiful and create my own standard, starting with what was staring back at me in the mirror. I was talented. I was intelligent. And I was loving.

And I’m pretty awesome.

My story has the power to change and encourage those women who feel inadequate. Beauty is only skin deep. Today, I live my life in a way that makes me proud each day. I feel beautiful both inside and out.

Want to share your story? Fill out this form: http://bit.ly/1UeQYfZ