Page 3 - Success Story Newsletter Spring 2018

How Author Keah Brown Is Taking On Negative

Body Images, One Word at a Time

When you read a piece
from Keah Brown, you
realize a few things.
The first is that she is a
tremendously talented
writer. The second is
that she has a unique
perspective that brings to
life stories and experiences
that need to be shared. We
were privileged enough to
interview her to discuss
her thoughts surrounding
media, negative body-
images, and disability.

The 26 year-old Lockport,
New York native has cerebral palsy and has used her platform as a journalist and writer to share her
personal ups and downs, as well as her views and opinions, with audiences around the globe. She’s been
published in Harper’s Bazaar, ESPNW, Glamour, and Essence Magazine, and her work is colored with her
trademark charm and accessibility that draws you in to her words.

“One of my essays is called, ‘The Freedom of a Ponytail,’ and it’s about how I learned to put my hair up in a
ponytail unassisted and how long that took me to learn,” she explains.

“The Freedom of a Ponytail” is a personal, intimate, and raw look at Brown’s struggle with a small task, and
how overcoming it had such a profound impact on her. The essay was so powerful that it was published on
both Lenny Letter and Yahoo!’s Lifestyle page.

But Brown wasn’t always the internationally recognized writer she is today.

“I wrote in secret for a long time – Bad songwriting, columns, things like that. It wasn’t until high school
that I thought, ‘Maybe this could be a career,’” she says.

“I’m a naturally nosy person, I like talking and asking people questions, so I decided I wanted to go to
college for journalism. And somewhere around my junior or senior year, my English professor at the time
said to me, ‘You should think about writing professionally, you’re really good at it.’ She sparked that light in
me to pursue both being a journalist and a writer.”

And pursue it she did. After graduating from The State University of New York at Fredonia, she dove head
first into her career as a writer and journalist, just like she planned. But what she didn’t plan on was a
surprise social media hit that would launch her into the spotlight.

“I had spent so much of my life feeling down on myself and not liking my body, and getting past that took

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