Storyteller.
Advocate.
Creator.
Brena is an intersectional storyteller, using her own Lipedema story to shine a light on the lives of deeply intersectional people’s experiences in the Medical Industrial Complex. Rooted in the rich tradition of Southern storytelling, she empowering patients to share their truths. Brena champions not just awareness but the transformative power of patient voices.
Intersectional STORYTELLER
FAT.
BLACK.
QUEER.
CIS.
DISABLED.
WOMAN.
My first attempt to get a lipedema diagnosis ended when the doctor, looking at photos of cis-gendered, non-Black women with lipedema, said, “You don’t look like any of these people.” Despite her inexperience, she was right. I didn’t see myself in the images of this disorder.
Despite the lack of representation, immigrant, Black, Asian, Latinx, and white women, trans men, non-binary people, and those assigned female at birth have lipedema.
Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality highlights how race, class, gender, sexuality, and other identity markers intersect to shape experiences. Crenshaw introduced this to address the overlapping discrimination faced by African American women, showing that these identities are interconnected.
Intersectionality is core to my advocacy, storytelling, and coaching.
Intersectional Speaker, Coach & Advocate
FAT.
BLACK.
QUEER.
CIS.
DISABLED.
WOMAN.
My first attempt to get a lipedema diagnosis ended when the doctor, looking at photos of cis-gendered non-Black women with lipedema, said, “You don’t look like any of these people.” Despite her inexperience, she was right. I didn’t see myself in the images of this disorder.
Despite the lack of representation, immigrant, Black, Asian, Latinx, and white women, trans men, non-binary people, and those assigned female at birth have lipedema.
Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality highlights how race, class, gender, sexuality, and other identity markers intersect to shape experiences. Crenshaw introduced this to address the overlapping discrimination faced by African American women, showing that these identities are interconnected.
Intersectionality is core to my advocacy, storytelling, and coaching.We are all intersecionally-impacted human beings whose life conditions are enmeshed. This is the perspective from which I live, speak, advocate, and tell my stories.
keep up kiddos
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ADVOCATE
Lipedema Awareness
I was 38 years old before I learned the name of the thing shaping and growing my body. The tender thing that made me wince when my dog would stand on my thighs. The thing that formed the big buldges that hang above my knee. The thing that makes the texture I can feel under my skin. The thing I thought was a shameful amount of cellulite. The thing that makes my legs so damn heavy, my skin so loose, my arms so big. The thing I thought was me. I was just a girl who grew into a young lady, who grew into a mature woman with Lipedema.
Advocate
Lipedema Awareness
I was 38 years old before I learned the name of the thing shaping and growing my body. The tender thing that made me wince when my dog would stand on my thighs. The thing that formed the big buldges that hang above my knee. The thing that makes the texture I can feel under my skin. The thing I thought was a shameful amount of cellulite. The thing that makes my legs so damn heavy, my skin so loose, my arms so big. The thing I thought was me. I was just a girl who grew into a young lady, who grew into a mature woman with Lipedema.
creator
THE BLOG: MY LIPEDEMA STORY
Follow my Lipedema journey as it unfolds in real time. On my blog, you’ll find candid stories from my life as a fat, queer, Black, cis femme living with stage 4 Lipolymphedema. I explore plus-size fashion for those over a 3x, accommodating Lipedema in the arms and legs and a “b-belly.” Read my insights as a single, peri-menopausal woman navigating the world, seeking love, joy, and success in a Lipedema body.
