Meet Julia Sylvestri, the woman behind this fundraising and awareness initiative with an upcoming fitness competition in Austin, TX.

Her dedication to fitness and mental health awareness comes from her own personal battle and what she has done to fight through it. In her own words, she says “I started experiencing a lack of self-worth when I was about 14 years old. I didn’t know how to cope with it at the time, but I looked towards fitness as my outlet. These feelings manifested into anxiety and depression for 11 years. When I turned 21, I lost my dad to cancer, and that completely changed my life. I felt as if there was no reason for me to go on. But if I learned anything from my father, it is to fight. He was one of the strongest men I knew and I felt that I needed to continue on his legacy. I also watched my sister and brother battle the same for many years. We are all on the continuum, it is not just about the labeled disorder. It’s hard to go through it yourself but to watch your loved ones also go through it is even tougher. If it wasn’t for fitness I would not be as physically strong and have the emotional resilience I have. Fitness has pushed my siblings and I to be stronger than we were yesterday. And it beats us down in order to pick ourselves up again”. 

Click on her photo above to read more about her story.

Instagram: @j_ulezz for more information about Julia’s perspective on mental health.