Follow me on Instagram @carolinegleich
When I was in my early twenties, I spent six months living in LA pursing a dream of becoming an actor and a model. After a few months of going to auditions, I got tired of type-casting. It seemed like there were no roles for a petite yet sturdy-built, young, blonde woman. I was too small to be a model, too young looking to play a wife, and not shapely enough to play the girl next door.I wanted to play a strong heroine, but I couldn’t find any complex roles to audition for. I played an extra as a surfer girl for a kid’s show. I grew weary of living in LA and of the roles and expectations for women in film there. I moved back to Utah to focus on my skiing and realized I could write my own story of personal achievement through a feminine lens in my photos, videos and writing.This photo shows my knee scar eight weeks after surgery. Climbing Everest without my ACL was a moment in my life where I felt like I finally was able to step into the role I always wanted to play. Being able to share my story with you on social media has allowed me to write the script I always dreamt of. I’m grateful for you and your support, and for how our society has changed in the last ten years since I lived in LA. But we still have a lot of work to do to create a world that is inclusive where people are free to be the best, complex and nuanced versions of themselves.Tomorrow, I am re-launching my Everest/Chomolungma #ClimbForEquality video and will be releasing a behind the scenes video series a week after that. Stay tuned for more to come…Photo: @thehearnes
