Tulsi Vagjiani suffered tremendous loss at the mere age of 10, losing her mother, father, and brother in a plane crash in which she was the only one to survive from her family. Victim to 45% second and third-degree burns all over her body and face, she was hospitalized for around five months. Today a Pilates rehabilitation specialist and life coach, she is also adding motivational speaking to her roster of talents. Available to hire as a speaker at a range of events, Tulsi tells her story honestly, underlined with the message that beauty does not come in a manicured package, and that her confidence and self-worth does not reside within her scars.
Having dealt with such an unimaginably challenging fate at just 10 years old, Tulsi had to work incredibly hard to build the self-confidence she lost over the years following the accident back up. Undergoing over 30 surgeries to her body by the age of 16, Tulsi says her primary and secondary school peers and teachers were extremely supportive of her. On the contrary, she was met with intense bullying and ridicule by people outside of school, who would stare at her, call her names, and compare her to villains in movies causing her to internalize that she “ugly” whilst growing up. Incidents like these have inspired Tulsi to partner with organisations like the Katie Piper Foundation and Changing Faces as an adult. She was even a part of Changing Faces’ ‘I Am Not Your Villain’ campaign that called out films that insinuated that characters with visible differences like scars, burns, etcetera are villainous or evil.
While she was discouraged by her scars and burns when she had to be in and out of the hospital for a year again upon being diagnosed with kidney failure, she decided that she was no longer going to look at her scars as a drawback, but instead, take stride in them. She reminded herself that it was not her scars that were hurting her, it was the negative mindset that she held towards them. Powering through, she received her BSc in Applied Health Sciences from the University of East London and has been freelancing as a Pilates and massage therapist since 2008, specialising in rehabilitation.
Tulsi has been invited to several podcasts like Skin Deep, The Doctor’s Kitchen Podcast, and The Spencer Lodge Podcast, to share her story. Tulsi is working towards ensuring that everyone feels beautiful, despite what conventional beauty standards dictate. An inspiration to anyone around her, she is now available to speak at a range of events about resilience and building self-confidence and worth. If you are looking for an inspiring speaker with an important message to spread, look no further than Tulsi Vagjiani.
