‘A Brave Heart’ The Lizzie Velasquez Story Debuts At SXSW

This is Lizzie Velasquez. She's my idol, she's a huge inspiration to me, and she's an anti-bullying advocate.

She is the subject of a documentary called 'A Brave Heart' that debuted this past weekend at the SXSW festival. Lizzie was born with two rare conditions, Marfan syndrome and lipodystrophy. Her conditions keep her from being able to gain weight, and have caused her to be blind in one eye with limited vision in the other.  She also tires quickly and has a hard time getting over illnesses.

Up until the time she was 17, Lizzie thought she was just like everyone else.  Until she came across a horrible video of herself on YouTube, it was titled "The World's Ugliest Woman."  The video had been viewed by millions and was accompanied by thousands of mean, hurtful comments.  The video was heartbreaking and Lizzie recalled crying for days, over comments like "Kill It With Fire" and "Why Would Her Parents Keep Her?"

Lizzie is now 26 years old, and almost ten years later, she has used that video and those hurtful comments as motivation to become an advocate against bullying.  She credits her parents and the positive attitude they instilled in her to be able to move past the hurt and forgive the person who uploaded the YouTube video.

Lizzie is such a huge inspiration to me because she turned such a defeating time in her life into something so positive.  She now has her own YouTube channel, has given her own TED Talk on defining one's own beauty, is a motivational speaker, author and now star in her new documentary.

To me, Lizzie is a beautiful person on the inside and out and she inspires me to be a better person.  At just 26 years old, she's made a world of difference to so many people already.  The director of 'A Brave Heart', Sara Hirsh Bordo, had this to say about Lizzie: "Her experience of triumphing adversity and making it to the other side of a painful experience is universal."

In my life so far, I've been fortunate enough to meet a few people on my 'Bucket List', such as Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jason Aldean.  Lizzie is next on my list of people I'd love to meet.  I just want to hug her and tell her how beautiful and special she is and how she's inspired me and so many others.