Healthy, Strong, Brave Emma Valentina

Meet the brand's very first model, Daisy Von! You've seen her face and image all over our website and social media, and now it's time to get to know the woman behind the editorial shoots. Spoiler alert: she's also one of my dearest friends. And together we believe there's nothing more powerful than women getting together for good. During America's 2020 Presidential election week, being a force for good is all we're trying to focus on!

 

So here's a question: can you honestly say that you love yourself, that you love your body? Have you ever felt that way? If you have PCOS or endometriosis, how would you describe your relationship with your body as its changed?



Daisy has over come it all - extreme weight loss, trauma, weight gain, a shocking PCOS diagnosis, and having her body critiqued by photographers at her job. And its through this experience that she's developed the mental fortitude to keep loving herself in spite of it all. Such an inspiration!



📌  What else we cover:

-  No one is the pinnacle of health, so its all about learning to love yourself and accept each fluctuation as it comes

-  How Daisy went from a career in microbiology to fine art modeling

-  The body's response to experiencing trauma can sometimes include weight gain, and that's ok. 

-  Losing your sense of identity with a chronic diagnosis, and the power in letting your past self go. 

-  The negative impacts of birth control on the body - it's not a cure!

-  You can't change your body for other people, but you can take your control back.

-  Viewing your body on a spectrum and loving it during times when you're unhealthy. 



✨💛 The world needs a lil more love right now, and in this episode we decided to help fill that void💛✨



👇

Where to find Daisy:

https://www.instagram.com/daisyvonmodel



🎗

Where to find us:

https://www.emmavalentina.com

https://www.instagram.com/emmavalentina/

https://twitter.com/_EmmaValentina_

https://www.facebook.com/healthystrongbrave

hello@emmavalentina.com



🔥

Get on the waitlist for our heating pad, cramp-friendly pants!

https://www.emmavalentina.com/shop/persephone



💌

want to be on the next episode? DM us on insta or shoot us an email, we would love to have you!

Here's some facts: yes, preteens and teenagers can have endometriosis. And no, periods should not be painful. But that's not what Noora's doctors told her at the young age of only 12. Instead they insisted that she "has a low pain tolerance" and "that's just the way it is; women just have to deal with pain."



And it was this dismissive attitude from her doctors that led Noora down a heartbreaking path - one full of questions and very little answers. It took 7 more years for the pain to become so excruciating that it led her to the emergency room, where she finally met a doctor that understood her condition and insisted she have surgery to remove the endometriosis. 



What would you say to your younger self? What do you know now that you wish you knew then? How do you confront the medical trauma that dismissive doctors create? Does New Zealand have a better system for managing women's health care than the rest of the world? Join us as Noora answers these questions with her contagious, uplifting spirit in the face of such tough topics!



📌  What else we cover:

-  Noora's experience with her first period, knowing it shouldn't possibly be this painful

-  Birth control is not a cure

-  "What if the doctors are right, what if this pain is all in my head?"

-  Modern sex education fails to recognize women's health as more than sex, STDs, and pregnancy

-  The need to dispel the taboos surrounding women's bodies in early education

-  The role public and private healthcare systems play in diagnosis, surgery, and treatment

-  Mental health and its complicated relationship with endometriosis

-  How to practice staying positive; speak to yourself the way you talk to others

-  Listen to your body. Fight for your health. Fight for your rights.



👇

Where to find Noora:

https://www.instagram.com/noorasendojourney



🎗

Where to find us:

https://www.emmavalentina.com

https://www.instagram.com/emmavalentina/

https://twitter.com/_EmmaValentina_

https://www.facebook.com/healthystrongbrave

hello@emmavalentina.com



🔥

Get on the waitlist for our heating pad, cramp-friendly pants!

https://www.emmavalentina.com/shop/persephone



💌

want to be on the next episode? DM us on insta or shoot us an email, we would love to have you!

Ok... wow. In our very first interview on the podcast we speak to Anastasia, founder of the instagram account @EndoHackPlan. Her story from start to finish left us speechless, and her in-depth knowledge about the vast intricacies of endometriosis should put (many) doctors to shame. 



For Anastasia, her endo pain began at the age of 14 years old. She was living in Russia at the time and lived through the Chernobyl explosion when she was 5, so she was convinced that her pain was a side effect of this trauma. The doctors simply told her "that's just the way it is with women" and shared her assumption that her pain was due to Chernobyl. 



Two years later - at only 16 years old - her doctors diagnosed her with PCOS and told her she was infertile. 



She then moved to the United States at age 29 and "learned how to live with the pain." But five years later an unexpected trip to the emergency room led her down a different path. Her endo changed for the worst, and she could feel it. 



What happens next nearly left Anastasia dead from sepsis after the doctors at the ER diagnosed her incorrectly. She walks us through her path to (finally) getting a diagnosis more than 20 years after her first symptoms and what she does now to hack her endo into nonexistence.



📌  Some topics we cover:


-  Teetering on the edge of suicide due to the pain
-  Is birth control good or bad for endo - and how much should we trust our doctors?
-  Life as husband and wife, and where endo fits into that. Or does it?
-  Her grandmother's advice that changed how she looked at the relationship between diet and the body
-  Does Russian medicine view endometriosis differently than the United States?
-  Yoga. Is. Not. A. Cure.
-  Leaky gut
-  Liver damage
-  Infertility
-  The role your lymphatic system plays
-  Can the simple act of walking ease your pain?
-  How to stay positive in the face of tragedy with a loved one.
-  What does a comprehensive approach to endometriosis look like?



👇

Where to find Anastasia:

https://www.instagram.com/endohackplan



🎗

Where to find us:

https://www.emmavalentina.com

https://www.instagram.com/emmavalentina/

https://twitter.com/_EmmaValentina_

https://www.facebook.com/healthystrongbrave

hello@emmavalentina.com



🔥

Get on the waitlist for our heating pad, cramp-friendly pants!

https://www.emmavalentina.com/shop/persephone



💌

want to be on the next episode? DM us on insta or shoot us an email, we would love to have you!

Hi goddess! Let's get the first episode nerves out right away, shall we?

In the first episode of the Healthy, Strong, Brave podcast you'll hear how Hannah Rose, the founder of Emma Valentina, went from being diagnosed with endometriosis to founding her own fashion line dedicated to designing fashionable solutions for women's bodies. 

 

💛

Part One: If you're convinced something's wrong, but your doctor tells you you're fine, listen to your ovaries.

Hannah first felt something was going wrong internally around the ages of 18, 19 years old. The first doctor she saw put her on birth control that sent her to the emergency room. The second doctor ignored her pain, did the surgery anyways, and didn't find endometriosis. So what do you do if your body is screaming at your that something's wrong, but the doctor's convinced you can't be right?



💛💛

Part Two (16:00): The life-changing magic of ... finding a doctor who listens.

"Hey, guess what. You're not crazy. All that chronic pain? Yeah, it's endometriosis. And we found it during your second surgery." - the incredible Dr. Schlafstein, probably.

In this section, Hannah finally receives the diagnosis she knew all along, and it's because of Dr. Barry Schlafstein in Savannah, GA. The miracles he worked simply because he listened, empathized, and believed her story came during a time of deep depression and despondency. 

Side note: Isn't it crazy to think that finding a doctor that **listens** can be life-changing in Women's Health? That's a problem for another podcast. 



💛💛💛

Part Three (27:45): "You just need to learn to live with it"

It takes an average of 7.5 years for a woman to receive a proper diagnosis of endometriosis. In Hannah's case, that was exactly right. But that's only the beginning; it's the maintenance, upkeep, and lifestyle changes that Hannah explores in this section. Also, yes, another terrible doctor. That's 3/4 doctors who were terrible along this journey, and only one that saved Hannah's life. 

PS: expect to hear "life-changing" a lot during this episode. There's a lot to unpack here.



💛💛💛💛

Part Four (36:30):  When everything finally clicked (in the shower, of course).

Sometimes your best ideas come from the shower. But during this one, Hannah found her calling.



🎗

Where to find us:

https://www.emmavalentina.com

https://www.instagram.com/emmavalentina/

https://twitter.com/_EmmaValentina_

https://www.facebook.com/healthystrongbrave

hello@emmavalentina.com



🔥

Get on the waitlist for our heating pad, cramp-friendly pants!

https://www.emmavalentina.com/shop/persephone



💌

want to be on the next episode? DM us on insta or shoot us an email, we would love to have you!

Three words take on new meanings as we navigate the world of women’s health and chronic illness.