I was destined to be short . . . thats what I tell myself. My sister is 5'6" and I am barely 5'2". My whole life I wore 4" heels, was ashamed when I was standing next to a taller girl, and still (oddly) hunched over to prevent from being noticed. You would think a short girl would stand up straight. I tried everything to make myself appear taller (and thinner) my whole life. And now, in my 40's - I'm trying to rewrite my mind chatter and find all the reasons why I LOVE being short.

That's what our #LiveYourLetter campaign is all about - to love your shape, your height, so much that you OWN IT and LIVE IT unapologetically! I think about the time and energy I could have saved if I didn't obsess over my body shape, my height, or my aging body. It would be years added to my life!

This is what I want my brand to stand for... Creating clothing that is beautiful, fashionable, and comfortable. I want my clothing to be EMPOWERING. I want whoever wears an Allison Izu piece to feel confident in yourself, in your body - to not only accept it, but to love it! I want everyone to experience that feeling when you put on the right top or pant and it makes you stand a little straighter, taller and you notice yourself in the mirror and can't help but say DAMN - I look good! LOL!

I don't want someone to feel ashamed to make an empowering statement about themselves. I'm working to leave all of the insecurity, all of the self doubt behind me. I've wasted too many of my years obsessing over it all. I'm stepping into my 40's with unabashed freedom, to say - "this is me world, my curvy hips, my soft mom belly, and my short daikon legs" (that'a turnip for those of you who don't know, its not usually a compliment to have "daikon" legs).

I hope that in some small way, this will encourage you to look at yourself in the mirror today and find those parts of you that you love (or at least like) and start telling yourself, how amazing they are. I started with something small, like my eyes (no pun intended). Every morning, I would look in the mirror and say, 'Hey Al, you have some really nice eyes." And I did it until I started to actually believe it, until I stopped rolling my eyes afterwards at myself LOL. Then I moved onto the next part. My only advice - keep it positive and say it often. Because, my dear, you have wasted too many minutes cutting yourself down, why not use those minutes to lift yourself up!