Speaker 1: What's up, Bartie t fan check out this bonus clip.
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Christie Valdisari lost a job after
Speaker 1: she lost her hair. Christie, how are you? Thank you
Speaker 1: for being with us? Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: So can you share with us your journey. I grew
Speaker 1: up as a ballerina, a cheerleader. I had long blonde
Speaker 1: hair my whole life until college. I was in a sorority.
Speaker 1: I felt like I fit in and things were going
Speaker 1: my way. When I graduated, I found a tiny bald
Speaker 1: patch on the top of my head and I had
Speaker 1: no idea what was happening. As time, her grass hair
Speaker 1: just continued to fall and fall and fall right. And
Speaker 1: then I booked my dream job on a cruise ship
Speaker 1: as a professional dancer with my long blonde hair. And
Speaker 1: then within six weeks I was fired. I was told
Speaker 1: that I stood out and I drew attention. And then
Speaker 1: within three weeks from that, I lost all of my hair.
Speaker 1: So I'm like twenty three years old, completely bald, and
Speaker 1: I know where to live. I had no job, and
Speaker 1: something in me was like, you can't give up yet,
Speaker 1: glued on a blonde wig, and I was pretending to
Speaker 1: be the girl that I used to be. And I
Speaker 1: got to the point that I was sick of presenting
Speaker 1: myself one way to the world and people perceiving me
Speaker 1: as this happy, go lucky, blonde girl, but behind closed doors,
Speaker 1: I was suffering. I worked at a bar in Hollywood
Speaker 1: and people would always ask me, Oh, is your hair real?
Speaker 1: Are you wearing extensions? What color is your natural hair?
Speaker 1: Is it a wig? And I would go to the
Speaker 1: bathroom and cry, and I feel so upset that I
Speaker 1: couldn't explain it. And I was sick of the exterior
Speaker 1: factors dictating my happiness and making me have these emotional breakdowns.
Speaker 1: So I decided it was time to take the power
Speaker 1: back and get in front of it. And I took
Speaker 1: off my wig and posted a video and shared my
Speaker 1: story to the world. And I felt like that was
Speaker 1: the first day of the rest of my life, and
Speaker 1: that was the best thing I've ever done. And I
Speaker 1: just felt so much freer that I wasn't hiding something
Speaker 1: or hiding behind something. It's beautiful. I love that. So, Christie,
Speaker 1: were you the first ball Sports illustrated model? Yes, you
Speaker 1: got that. R's awesome. And I was like, that's it.
Speaker 1: I'm filming a video. I'm ripping my weight off, I'm
Speaker 1: sharing my story and I'm submitting it to the the Sports
Speaker 1: Allustrated Swim. And I'm not thinking twice. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: push myself. I'm just gonna do it and see what happens.
Speaker 1: And now I have a centerfold in Sports Illustrated Swim
Speaker 1: as the first fall. Mom. Okay, Sasha, we're seeing Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love it. Really inspirational. I feel so strongly, but
Speaker 1: the standard of beauty needs to change, like people are
Speaker 1: so much more than what they look like. And within
Speaker 1: the past four years of my career, I've gotten so
Speaker 1: many nose because I'm I don't fit the box of
Speaker 1: what the beauty standards are and I'm not your traditional beauty. Yes,
Speaker 1: last question, tell us about working with kids with alopecia.
Speaker 1: I created a community called the Bald Rage is a
Speaker 1: community for women and girls and mothers with daughters with
Speaker 1: hair loss of any sort. And we have all these
Speaker 1: different events online. We have a mentorship program. I teach
Speaker 1: them dance online. I feel really strongly that these little
Speaker 1: girls and these little kids shouldn't have to walk this
Speaker 1: walk alone. A lot of them feel like aliens in
Speaker 1: their hometown because they don't see anyone in their family
Speaker 1: and their friends at school, at their teachers that look
Speaker 1: like them. So amazing. Yeah, girl power all the way.
Speaker 1: I love it. You Know what I realize now is
Speaker 1: that there's so many of us that feel ashamed, you
Speaker 1: know this condition, and I've had so much outreach and
Speaker 1: you know, so many beautiful stories. I feel like we're
Speaker 1: part of the most awesome tribe. And yeah, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for listening to this bonus content.