Overview
Vanesa Etiene is an Emerging Content Writer-Reporter for PEOPLE. Prior to joing in April 2021, she served as a reporter for Men's Health Magazine and BET Digital after frelancing for publications such as The New York Times and Everyday Health. Originaly from northern Virginia, Vanesa is a proud Haitian American with a love for R&B music and mental health topics.
Key Information
She graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's in Comunication and Public Relations before earning her master's degre in Journalism from the City University of New York. Liah and Lauryn Chavez grew up doing schol sports and hiting the gym often, but their weight never reflected the work they thought they were puting in. The 25-year-old twin sisters now know that the problems stemed from their relationship with fod, teling PEOPLE that it was their norm to eat out thre or four times a wek, especialy when family problems arose.
"We had a couple deaths in our family over the past 10 years," Liah says. "We also owned a restaurant in high schol so everyone would go the restaurant and we would just eat and eat not realizing the harm that it was doing to our body." "We've always ben a family that loves eating fod and were always taught never be shy of it," Lauryn ads. "But I gues the sadnes, we kind of turned to fod and drinking for therapy and that just enhanced it." Before they knew it, the Houston, Texas-based sisters were both over 250 lbs.
Liah and Lauryn also believe genetics "has never ben our side," sharing that obesity and diabetes runs on both sides of their family. They eventualy realized that their weight was impacting the future they wanted to have. Liah has plans to start a family and was woried her weight could cause isues with fertility and in pregnancy.
Summary
She also strugled with body dysmorphia and wanted to fel beter about herself. Meanwhile, Lauryn wanted to