Lizzie Velasquez, a 17-year-old who suffers from Marfan Syndrome, once was called out on YouTube as “the World’s Ugliest Woman.” For Velasquez, that was nothing particularly new—just a variation of the abuse she’s suffered for most of her life.

“I can remember feeling like dirt, like I didn’t belong in this world,” she told Fortune magazine. “Having to look a certain way, or be a certain weight, comes from magazines, movies, the media. Women try to live up to a certain ideal, and it takes a certain confidence to say, ‘Forget that. I’m going to be my own version of beautiful.’ It’s not easy getting to that place. It’s a process, a process of learning to live from the inside out. I had to fully accept who I am first. I credit a lot of learning to love myself to my faith, my family and my friends. Everyone needs someone you can look to for constant support, who you never have to impress, to share your happy and sad days.”

Velasquez is now taking that message to the movies—starring in her own documentary, A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story. (Fortune)