Q & A with Ilayra Garcia

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As Global Ambassador for Dames for Dreams I previously interviewed our CEO and Founder Christi Michelle about D4D and her role. You can read that interview by clicking here. In addition, you can find out more about Dames for Dreams by reading my previous blog feature by clicking here. You can also visit their website and Facebook page.

We have decided to bring you a series of interviews with our other empowering and inspiring ladies within our organisation. First up is a fabulous dame, Ilayra Garcia.

What attracted you to Dames for Dreams?

I mentioned earlier that I met Christi at a photo shoot. I actually got pretty much conned into joining that event by one of my closest and dear friends, Cat. She said I needed it for my self worth to join this project and she was not going to take “No” for an answer. The project is Power of She, a body positive movement. And the way we were to do that was by shedding our clothes in front of the camera. I hemmed, hawed but in the end, with my husband’s encouragement (are you sensing a pattern?) I showed up to the shoot…and it was the first time in my life where I found myself surrounded by women who openly accepted me, flaws and all.

And I’m not talking about my fat rolls and stretchmarks. I am talking about my extremely talkative and loud demeanor. Part of it is sheer nervousness (I really hate meeting new people. I end up word vomming all over the place), the other part is a self-defense mechanism to get out all the awkwardness that makes me, Me as quickly as possible so I can save myself the hassle of a drawn-out song and dance that will ultimately end with a broken friendship when someone finds out how neurotic I actually am. You either like me or you hate me and growing up, it was mostly the womenfolk who made it very hard for me.

I grew up thinking women were catty, bitchy, backstabbing, emotional and judgmental. I didn’t have many girlfriends. I always had maybe one or two women I was close with at any point in my life and we’re all the same. Loud, overbearing, hyper-sexed ladies who can make sailors blush with the colorful language or unfiltered shit that crosses our minds. And there I was, surrounded by women whose kindness and strength inspired something in me. I was the first one to take off my clothes – that’s the person I am. I will rip the damn band-aid and get it over with.

I walked away from that event telling Cat that that’s what I needed in my life. I was tired of the ‘Me vs Them’ mentality. I needed a support system so I could get out of the funk that was slowly eating me alive.