25-year-old Youtube vlogger Gloria Shuri Nava and her boyfriend, 22-year-old Ali, have been bullied a lot. All because Nava is overweight and Ali is not.
If you've ever seen a couple walking down the street and judged them for looking like an unlikely pair, then you're about to feel really bad.
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Ali and Nava have been in a long-distance relationship since 2009 after meeting online. The couple will finally be living in the same area when Ali moves to California this summer. There is definitely going to be an adjustment period though, as Nava gets looks when they're walking down the street from random bystanders. She has also experienced intense bullying from both friends and strangers for not looking like her boyfriend. Nava recently wrote an essay on Yahoo.com describing how Ali makes her feel beautiful and has even improved her health–resulting in a 40 pound weight loss!
Nava has a YouTube beauty channel called glowpinkstah where the worst comments regarding her relationship have come from random commentators. She says she's heard it all, ranging from comments such as "Is he blind?" to "He's only with you to get a green card" and "How do they have sex?"
Nava says that she's been overweight her whole life and has been made fun of since she can remember, but she's always been smart enough to ignore such comments. When she and Ali officially met in person, she was glad that his family accepted her despite what she looked like. She'd had the awful experience of former boyfriends' parents who didn't accept her because of her looks.
Nava says his support has encouraged her to lose 40 more pounds and to feel more confident in her skin. Ali's love even inspired her to create a video called "The Beauty Adjustment" intended to encourage others to see that beauty and relationships come in all shapes, colors, and sizes.
I'm proud of Nava for standing up to her bullies and not letting them get her down. After all who are they to judge her relationship ? If she and Ali are happy together, it's best to leave them alone because they aren't out judging other couples who don't "match." I hope her new video project shuts up the bullies and lets people realize that beauty comes in various ways.
Embedded content: http://youtu.be/DmOOub9Ys3U
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