“That’s what I find beautiful about other people (...) their souls, and their energies, and their laughs, and stuff. To me, that’s what being beautiful is. Their uniqueness.

Having alopecia has made me a really good, kind, strong, resilient person, and when I feel a sense of weakness, I have to remember my strengths. It’s something that’s a journey always, but I think it’s about checking in with myself. Does this feel good? Does this resonate with me? And also just knowing my truth.”

Those who know dancer and actress Katie Reese know that she is a bright light: a beacon of positive energy who always manages to make the people around her laugh. Originally from Sterling Heights, Michigan, a city just outside of Detroit, Katie started dancing competitively at a very young age. But while she knew she wanted to dance professionally, her dancing journey has been fraught with challenges, after being diagnosed with alopecia, a disease that causes hair loss, at 10 years old.

Struggling with her confidence and self-esteem, she traded dance for sports, before returning to the art form after watching a friend’s competition. Still, there were challenges. She parted her hair in certain ways to try to hide it. And then, at 25, after she had graduated from college and spent her first few years in Los Angeles, she lost all of her hair, and began wearing a wig. 

“Being a dancer, your image is so important. I just never felt like the definition of what the industry portrayed as beautiful: long, flowing hair. (...) It was like, ‘How am I going to show up bald and book these jobs?’ I didn’t feel comfortable, so I always hid it, but it is something that has affected me so much. I’ve been in situations where I’ve been alienated. I did my first job with Reebok in 2014, my first sports campaign, and they found out I had alopecia, that I was wearing a wig, and I was singled out. (...) That experience then really made me go into being scared to be myself.”

While her alopecia is always on her mind, Katie’s path to acting helped her embrace her own uniqueness. As she dove into the art of storytelling, she realized that alopecia was a part of her story and that, by focusing on the characteristics she loved about herself and the things she loved to do, she could find peace and tie her self-worth to qualities outside of her appearance.

“At the end of the day, I’d rather be so confident with who I am. In the sense of: I’m beautiful because I trust myself; I’m beautiful because I’m talented; and I have this body that gets to move. Just all these things that are really special about me.”

Embracing the elements that make us unique (whatever they may be) can be a challenging (and ongoing!) journey. Katie’s advice to those of us dealing with self-doubt and insecurities? Journaling, self-reflection, protecting our energy, and a healthy dose of all of the things we love (for Katie, this is spending time in nature and walking her dog, in addition to acting). 

Maybe we need to curate our social media feeds to invite content that leads us to inspiration, rather than comparison. Maybe we’d benefit from creating distance in relationships that bring us down. And at the heart of accepting ourselves for exactly who we are is getting to know ourselves deeply and checking in with ourselves: something Katie does often and inspires each of us to do.

“I have to ask myself: What do I love about myself? And how do I want people, when they say ‘What do you think about Katie?’ How do I want them to answer? [And then] asking myself [when I’m around others]: How do I feel when I’m around this person? Is this person uplifting? Are they listening (...) or are they making it about themselves? Are they making me feel a certain way? It’s just really [important to recognize] how you feel in certain situations and how you feel around other people.”

This is the very power of reflection and awareness: these practices allow us to tap into our true feelings and use those learnings to create a life that feels the best for us. To fill our time with the people (and things!) that nourish us and help us celebrate who we are. 

For others with alopecia or anyone putting in the work it takes to embrace their uniqueness, Katie shares a last note of encouragement: “If you have anything different with you, [allow] yourself to handle it the way that feels right for you.”

Remember that you alone are the writer of your story.