My guest today is Nathalia Freitas. Nathalia is the creator of Loving My Dots, a space she created to promote connection among diversity. Nathalia was born with Congenital Melanocytic Nevus, which is a non-genetic birthmark that can form on a person’s body. This left a birthmark covering 40% of her face plus moles all over her body. Her case is an example of a giant nevus, which occurs only once in 500,000 births. From ages nine months to 13 years old, Nathalia had many surgeries to remove her facial Nevus.

 In 2018, Nathalia began sharing her story on social media, leading to a number of collaborations with various publications. She was also chosen to be featured in a documentary by the British news agency Barcroft TV. 

The first 10 minutes or so of the episode Nathalia gives an overview of her story

We then shift into exploring more detailed parts of her journey including:

- When Nathalia remembers first becoming aware of her condition 
- The challenges related to looking and feeling different than others 
- Nathalia’s conflicting narratives regarding her surgeries as a child
- How the relationship with her mother played a role throughout this journey
- How Nathalia supports others going through similar situations

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Nathalia’s Website: https://www.lovingmydots.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovingmydots/

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Connect with me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mentallyflexible/

Explore the website: https://mentallyflexible.com/

Check out my song “Glimpse at Truth” that you hear in the intro/outro of every episode: https://tomparkes.bandcamp.com/track/glimpse-at-truth