Follow me on my new journey!

Hello all :)

You may or may not know that I recently won my second state title! Please follow me on this new journey at http://www.nicolemortiz.com

xoxo,
Nicole

Love your body day!

From ForbesWoman:

Today is Love Your Body Day. Here at ForbesWoman we love and hate our bodies each and every day, and so to celebrate, we’ve rounded up five great posts (and a video!) we’ve come across recently that celebrate bodies and what they can do.

To see the posts, click:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2011/10/19/five-posts-love-your-body-day/

Sheppard Pratt taps students' perspective on body image

In August, I talked about the Center for Eating Disorders' annual poster campaign.

Described as "great opportunity to intertwine art and outreach for students, youth, organizations and campuses," check out the Towson Times article featuring, Kate Clemmer community outreach coordinator at the Center!

Posters can be submitted to Sheppard Pratt through Dec. 16. Workshops can be scheduled until that time. For more information, or to schedule a workshop, call 410-427-3886 or email kclemmer@sheppardpratt.org.

For the article, visit
http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/baltimorecounty/publications/towson-times/ph-tt-eating-disorder-0923-20110926,0,2556995.story

Eating disorders and the Exec Woman

I often visit Forbes Woman online for career advice, womens issues around the world and this week I was surprised to see an article by Meghan Casserly about eating disorders in professional women. As she says "for a growing number of professional women, food issues take center stage mid life."

For me it has been a life long battle and eating disorders in general have been long associated with teenage girls and tweens. In recent years, treatment centers are seeing increases in the number of women seeking treatment in their 30s to 60s.

Forbes talks about Alison, a middle aged professional woman and self proclaimed perfectionist who has struggled with the condition. She made a decision after completing treatment three years ago to leave her planned career path for a slow paced non profit. I can empathize-- my career was a major catalyst for the disease to take control of my life. In the young girls that I've talked to in recent months divorce, leaving for college, broken relationships and other high pressure situations have served as triggers for disordered eating.

"...asking for help was the most difficult thing [she] had ever done. “Especially in the finance world, in an office full of Type-A men, I never wanted to come across as weak,” Alison says. Rehabilitation experts concede that for older patients, admitting defeat and asking for help can be a major roadblock—but it can ultimately be their saving grace."

Asking for help at any age is difficult but I know my weekly appointments keep me on track and strong both physically and emotionally. It feels good to be in control.

Thanks Meghan for the great article!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2011/09/27/eating-disorders-and-the-executive-woman/

"Anaa-Rexia" Halloween Costume

Just when I was getting excited about picking a costume for Halloween this year, I came across several articles about a glittery skeleton costume titled "Anna Rexia" complete with a heart name tag and measuring tape.

Not funny.

The costume has now been pulled from Ricky's and other retailers (I'm sure you can still find it sold around the web). The description read “You can never be too rich or too thin."

Betty Confidential writes, " Emaciated, starving girls do not need to get the impression that other young women want to be them. And for women like me, this getup is a slap in the face –a heartless trivialization of a battle that took us so long to win...This Halloween, let’s choose what we wear wisely..."

For more from Betty Confidential: http://www.bettyconfidential.com/ar/ld/a/mocking-eating-disorder-is-this-a-good-halloween-costume.html

MBA Beauty Queens

Loved yesterday's article in BusinessWeek about titleholders with MBAs.

The article highlights a dozen women who have competed at Miss America and Miss USA and obtained MBA degrees and have gone on to work for Fortune 500 companies, non profit organizations and technology start ups.

I am so proud to be joined by such bright women who have used the skills they learned through pageants to become successful business leaders.

"The experience of participating in a pageant is in many ways ideal preparation for the business world, says Art McMaster, president and chief executive officer of the Miss America Organization, which runs the Miss America pageant. To impress the judges, the women must learn how to market and brand themselves." Couldn’t have said it better myself!

For more on the article, http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110915/mba-beauty-queens