Episode 52: Radical Self-Acceptance with Body Image Activist and Author Rosie Molinary

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When Rosie Molinary was looking in the mirror at her frizzy, unruly hair in the dead of summer and freaking out over what product would “tame the mane,” she had an epiphany: “I have bought into the beauty myth of what society says I should look like.” She told herself, “I’m going to work with boys in an alternative school. Not one of them will care about the texture of my hair, but they will care about how I will make them feel. Who am I trying to get approval from?” And she set down her straightener and walked out the door as her natural, beautiful self…already good enough.

Rosie is the champion of “radical self-acceptance” — the belief that you are worthy enough just for being born and the idea that you don’t have to do ANYTHING to prove your worth. Radical self-acceptance is the choice to not have an adversarial relationship with yourself. Instead, you choose to accept your own humanity in the same way you accept the humanity of others.

Tune in as we discuss how to practice radical self-acceptance using examples from Rosie’s life, including her experience growing up with brown skin in a predominantly white neighborhood, what really surprised her when she wrote her first book Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina (Seal Press), and how she handles difficult questions from people, like her adoption of a boy from Ethiopia.

Rosie believes “we can teach people who aren’t in the same place as us a better way to use language for the future.” Her book Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self Acceptance (Seal Press), is an ideal tool to walk yourself through daily practices of self-acceptance, sure to induce “spiral ups” and more self-compassion in your Body Kindness journey.

Listen here to Episode 52 here:

About Rosie

As a radical self-acceptance champion, Rosie uses profound questions and wholehearted connection to empower people to treat themselves well so they can connect with their talents and passions to authentically and intentionally live their purpose and help heal the world.

The author of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self Acceptance (Seal Press) and Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina (Seal Press), Rosie teaches at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, serves as a national Dove Self-Esteem Project educator, offers workshops and retreats, and speaks on self-acceptance, body image, self-care, media literacy, the Latina experience, and intentional living around the country. Rosie also serves as a creative catalyst to companies and brands that wish to provide a synergistic, empowered and soulful experience to their clients and employees as they serve the world through workshop and retreat facilitation and consultation.

A committed activist, Rosie helped found HAMMERS, a non-profit initiative to provide emergency home repair for low income families in her community, and Circle de Luz, a non-profit that radically empowers young Latinas by supporting their transformation through extensive mentoring, holistic programming and scholarship funds for further education.