Hello. A little about myself. My name is Rachel Gunn and I am a legal secretary/model. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and resided in such cities as Cleveland, Ohio, Hollywod, California, and Chicago, my hometown forever. I moved to St. Louis when I was 18. I only had a suitcase and myself and rode the Amtrak ready to start my new life. I wasn't planning on staying in St. Louis but I've been there ever since. I have 2 daughters who are my life, 2 great stepchildren and am married. A little about why I began modeling: I suffer from Ugly Duckling Syndrome. Ugly Duckling Syndrome is when a presently attractive woman spends her childhood and high school years being unattractive. To compensate for that she develops a good personality, big heart, and soul because that is all she has. She carries this feeling with her into adulthood even though she has developed into a beautiful woman or at least what society considers ?beautiful?. This is me even though I cringe when describing myself as beautiful. I didn?t grow up pretty. I was overweight, had acne, wore glasses. I wasn?t popular or part of the in-crowd. I wasn?t a cheerleader, class president, or homecoming queen. The boys didn?t like me and both the boys and girls teased me. My own best friends told me I was ugly, called me thunder thighs, told me no boys would ever like me. Boys yelled out of their car ?Jenny Craig is that way!? I was called pizza face. I hated myself, despised myself, was ashamed of myself. I let others dictate who I was and how I felt about myself. To this day I?ll never feel pretty and that is the honest truth. No matter how vulnerable that makes me appear or how many haters it attracts knowing that I?m an easy target for criticism I have to tell you the honest to god truth of how I feel. If my suffering can help one person out there know that they are not alone then my job is done. Life has been a definite struggle. I have been lied to, abandoned, dumped, lost houses and cars. I?ve been abused emotionally and physically and those scars will last a lifetime. I?ve been forced to give up dreams and found myself empty and desolate because of it. What I have found though is these setbacks, these stumbling blocks, can be used as tools to build yourself higher than you?ve ever been, to achieve those goals you had never thought you could accomplish. My favorite quote is ?when you are going through hell keep on going?. You have to keep on going to get to the other side ? the good side. Looks don?t determine who you are. Looks fade. When I am an old woman peering through my thick bifocal glasses staring into the mirror examining each, wrinkle, each crevice, each crease who has made me who I am it won?t be my big boobs, my blonde hair, or a cute face staring back at me. It will be my heart, my soul, my character that will be staring back at me through that mirror. This is what lives eternally ? the spirit of an individual. I am most proud of my big heart, not my big boobs, and anyone who encounters or gets to know me always tell me that I have a big heart. Modeling is my passion. It is my art. Art is that which makes you feel less alone and modeling and writing do that for me.