Pauline Campos is founder of Girl Body Pride, a site born from the single realization that it was her actions and her words that will determine how her own daughter will see herself in the mirror as she grows more aware of the world outside of fairy tales and princesses. A lifelong emotional eater, Pauline can remember hiding in her parents’ pantry as a girl as young as six to eat what she could without being noticed. By the time she was eight years old, she was as tall as her very petite mother and sharing her clothes. Family members referred to Pauline as “big” because she hit her adult height at 13 and at 5’6”, stood a good six-inches above most women in her family and as tall as most of the men. At the age of 15, after watching a television special on a woman who was working to save eating disordered girls, Pauline took what she had learned about bulimia and would be in denial for a decade that she needed saving of her own. It was through writing out her experiences and connecting with others that Pauline realized how very important it is to no longer hide behind her words and instead use her own experience to continue the trending body image conversation to help others. “I am a body image/healthy self-image/happiness activist who is and most likely always will be broken. I am not standing here looking down from my soapbox telling you that the three keys to happiness and life’s successes…Instead, I am a mostly no-longer-practicing-eating-disordered-behavior-mother-to-a-five-year-old-daughter and I love her with all of my soul. I am self-conscious about the size of my ass and always sucking in the muffin top and always will be no matter what size I am,” Pauline says. “I tell my daughter that we eat and exercise to be healthy and strong and that our bodies perfect and made exactly as they are meant to be and that what other people think isn’t of any importance, not now and not ever. I am the mother who corrects strangers when they call her big because she stands taller than most kids her age because I stood taller than most kids my age because that word got stuck in my head and manifested itself into bulimia, and I’ll be damned if history is going to repeat itself. So I am the mother who smiles and says Why yes, she is tall for her age, isn’t she? And then I change the subject and wonder how much good I’m actually doing.” She also makes it a point to speak out on Girl Body Pride regarding the constant barrage of celebrity weight gain articles to hit the press. A former newsroom journalist with gigs at community newspapers before working at The Detroit News, Pauline is a regular contributor to 30SecondMom.com and has contributed to web sites. She blogs at www.aspiringmama.com, is Latina Magazine's #dimelo advice columnist, and will be featured on the NPR Latino USA show providing even more solicited advice under the hashtag #LatinoProblems.Websites:www.aspiringmama.comwww.girlbodypride.comTwitter:@Pauline_Campos@GirlBodyPrideFacebook Fan Pages:Pauline M CamposGirl Body PrideInstagram: Pauline_CamposPinterest: Pauline Campos