This article is the second in a series examining the impact of women in the wellness world. You can find the first article here. Singing the National Anthem at the 2016 Super Bowl is Lady Gaga's well-deserved accolade to young women whose star wattage rests beyond the strength, breadth and depth of her powerful voice.
What many people do not realize is how Lady Gaga's path toward health and wellness includes overcoming an eating disorder and battling intense sadness as a result of depression. She has been open to the public about the effects of both diseases and the tolls they have taken on her health. In a letter to fans, she credits these women and men who face their own private battles as the source of her strength and joy.
"You are brave, strong and accepting not only of yourself but of others through your experiences," Lady Gaga wrote in a letter to fans. "You are proud to be born this way, and brave in your vulnerability with this community.
Watching you all create a safe space online for people to be compassionate is the greatest gift you could ever give me. My weight losses and gains since I was a child has tormented me. No amount of help has ever healed my pain about it.
But YOU have. "Eating disorders are the bane toward getting on the path of health and wellness. Through careful examination of her priorities and her journey toward giving back to others, she found her path toward healing her core issues that created her disorder.
To be a warrior women in wellness equates to digging for one's own real truth in her business, faith, family, and philanthropy. Lady Gaga made a choice to beat the food anxieties with a simple acceptance of her body wherever her weight lies. The support of her family has helped her overcome many trials and tribulations; she always refers to her father as her hero and shares half of all her earnings with him.
Her path in life has been tumultuous-some of her own doing, other times her own choosing, such as when she wore a dress made out of raw meat. No matter the controversy she creates, her heart's song is to reach young adults with her personal messages of strength and conviction with her lyrics.
While on tour, she chooses organic food whenever possible, seeking food items such as organic peanut butter and organic tortilla chips and salsa when she is on tour. "It is evident Lady Gaga speaks to women of many generations," noted Jonathan Edelheit, Editor-in-Chief, Corporate Wellness Magazine.
"She is edgy and her reinvention and commitment to her personal wellness the last few years makes her a great candidate for this award." Lady Gaga has succeeded in the entertainment business as a young artist-her net worth currently at $110 million and quite steep for a 29-year-old-and according to national press, she nailed the National Anthem at the February 7, 2016 Super Bowl 50 featuring the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers.
Her philanthropy stems from her passion to help younger people and she founded a non-profit organization called Born This Way Foundation in partnership with Yale University on speaking to young people's emotional wellness. Although she has a Catholic upbringing, her faith does not rest in her own abilities but rather her ability to recognize she needs her faith to do everything she wants to accomplish.
I want to salute Lady Gaga for her dynamic ways toward wellness and health and nominate this musical powerhouse for the 2016 Warrior Women in Wellness Award for all her efforts to embrace and create change in her own workplace. Her fans adore her, and so do I. To nominate a woman you know as a Warrior Women in Wellness Award, click here.
About the Author
Contact Jenny Dodson at 561.790-1176 x 810 or email her at Jenny@EmployerHealthcareCongress.com
