Friday Feature: Mandy

Hold on to your hats for this stone cold fox, my friends.

Also, grab a tissue, cuz this one is a roller coaster ride.

The first email I received from Mandy went like this:

"Hi Nisa,

I’d love to try out this boudie thing.

Here’s why:

I’ve never loved my body. I have always felt I was too fat, too unlikable, too introverted, too scared, too traumatized, too ugly.

Until November 2016. I had my second brain surgery. I thought I was going to die. Convinced. I wrote letters to my children apologizing for dying; expressing my unconditional, unwavering love for them. They had to know that their mother only ever wanted to be a mom and they made all my dreams come true. They had to know they are loved beyond measure and I was (am!) so proud to have the absolute honor to be their mother. "

Well... I was crying, for like 17 reasons.

And I also knew that we were going to team up and ROCK A BOUDIE SESSION SO HARD.

And we did, friends.

What are your day-to-day roles? (in life, family, jobs, etc?)

Firstly and most importantly, I'm a wife and mother. My children are 9 and 11 they're absolutely the light of my life. My husband and I are coming up on 13 years of marriage. We're high school sweethearts and he's my bff. I work in an amazing all-women optometry clinic. I'm an optometric technician - which is just a fancy way of saying the doctor's assistant. I'm famous for knowing every word to almost every 90's song, and belting them out in the bathroom while I curl my hair. I love to sing- not saying I'm good at it, but that doesn't stop me. Music is really important to me. If I start out my day with some good tunes it really sets the mood for the rest of the day.

Why did you want to do a boudoir shoot?

To prove to myself that I am strong, beautiful, and sexy. I felt like I needed to.

How did you feel before your shoot?

Stupid nervous, but also stupid excited. EVERYTHING causes me anxiety and this photo shoot had my nerves buzzing! I had butterflies in my stomach for days before!

How did you feel after?

Like a m-f'ing supermodel. I could have conquered the world. Seriously. So hot.

Would you recommend this to other women/why?

Absolutely. If you want to remind yourself that you're a freaking bombshell, do a boudie shoot. Guess what? I've had 2 c-sections, breastfed babies, survived 2 brain surgeries, life has done some shit to this bod. But- I looked like a million dollars and felt even better. I needed a confidence boost like that more than I even knew. And I'd be willing to bet that you do too.