The "It Girl" Has Scars
Together, Malionne has asked to become partners with Aly to combat the stigma of scars or insecurities that come with fighting for health.
Who's Aly Rae Tanner?
Our founder, Verona, first met Aly while modeling. They were at a photoshoot years ago and she was forever enamored by Aly's story, presence, and her bubbly personality. Her last name "Rae", like the way it sounds, represents her gift of being the sunshine to everyone around her. From the outside, you wouldn't be able to tell the trauma & struggle she's gone through to fight for health. Fortunately for us, we got to speak with Aly to get more information on why she became a BRCA activist and the history behind her scars. Aly has become an author, one of the first women to shoot with one breast in a swimsuit for Glamour U.K., Vanity Fair U.K., & has since pursued acting, & supporting nonprofits. She fights everyday to show that being an "it girl" is more beautiful when you love yourself more than being perfect.
Family History
Aly's no stranger to cancer. Her father died of brain cancer when she was thirteen, and her mother had breast cancer six years later. Luckily, her mother survived through her breast cancer, but had just gone into remission. When Aly found out she was a carrier of the BRCA gene with 89% chance of developing the same disease - she had no doubt in her mind that she was going to have the double mastectomy surgery.
Before & After Surgery
When she was just twenty years old she underwent a prophylactic double mastectomy in order to eliminate her risk of breast cancer. After three major surgeries in just two weeks, she went septic and almost died due to a complication in a previous surgery. She ended up with one breast and was immediately dropped from all her agencies, was told she would never shoot swimwear and was no longer sexy to men. People would tell her they'd rather have cancer than lose their "womanhood", & hundreds of other degrading things.
Aly Rae was persistent and wanted to show women everywhere that regardless of what society deemed as sexy, "you are beautiful". She now has two breasts again, but continues to show women everywhere that you can be beautiful no matter what your body type is, regardless of your breasts, scars, and anything else that society deems “normal”.
