Carre Otis

Just as young people absorb all kinds of messages from the media, young girls learn what it means to be a woman by watching the older women in their lives.

I did some great work with my Calvin Klein ads on the motorcycle. It was really groundbreaking because people hadn't seen a woman actually riding a motorcycle before.

My parents were both from the East and had moved to San Francisco only so my father could go to law school there.

I was born in 1968, just eighteen months after my sister Chrisse and just one year after Dad passed the bar exam.

From the time I started school, it was clear to everyone that I wasn't learning at the same pace as other kids.

Though my parents assured me over and over again that I wasn't stupid or slow, I sensed that my dyslexia was now a stigma on all of us.

Motherhood has brought me many joys and insights, but the new perspective it granted me on the role I had inadvertently played in young women's lives for the 2 decades I spent in the modeling industry was downright sobering.

Eating disorders, body dysmorphia and a general dissatisfaction with one's life and body seems to ail too many young people.

The doctor asked what my diet was like and I had to sit down and realize it's not normal, and hadn't been normal for about 20 years.

I didn't know what to do with calories.

When you become a parent, it's not all about you anymore.

I've learned to surround myself with women who lift me up and leave me feeling nurtured rather than drained.

Just because you're a different size doesn't mean you're sitting on the couch eating bonbons all day long watching TV.

But I would assert that despite the wide variety of yoga options and individual preferences, there is one universal element: the union of consciousness and movement, breath and awareness.

I bicycle 12,000-foot mountain passes, run, cross train, skate-ski, hike and mountain bike.

I believe that as women, we must commit ourselves to sustaining the progress made by our foremothers who fought so hard for women's equality and liberation.

There comes a moment as a parent when you realize you will no longer be the center of your child's universe.

Being born and raised as a Californian, I somewhat ignorantly had taken for granted the diversity and liberal mindset that shaped my childhood and adult life.

Life is full of change and uncertainty. We know this. We experience it on a daily basis.

I grew up on antibiotics. Every ailment - sore throats, earaches, flus - warranted a trip to the doctor and in most cases some kind of prescription.

I've found that balance is key. I'm no longer an extremist in any one direction.

In the past, I often found that when I reached out for a fast cure it led me down a slippery slope of more medications, hopeful dependence on the next prescription and ultimately a much longer drawn-out illness.

My days are jam-packed with carpools, classroom assistance, tending to chickens, dogs and seven acres of olive trees!

Exposing any subject that is unpleasant or controversial means risking judgment and making some people feel uncomfortable.

I think that we can't deny the public's want for balancing out the images that are out there depicting women. Not all of us are 17 and a size two.