The truth of matter was, stories were everything and everything was stories. Everybody told

stories. It was a way of saying who they were in the world. It was their understanding of themselves.

We've grown up surrounded by beauty ideals that promised confidence, but often delivered shame.

In a special episode of a millennial mind, I sat down with Nicola Adams to explore how appearance-based compliments and body talk shape our self-worth without us realizing it.

In partnership with the Dove Self-Esteen

project, we unpack the tools to change the conversation for ourselves and for future generations.

Listen now and download the free Body Confidence Journal at Dove.com forward slash Y2K.

One day, I'm come home from school.

I was in sixth grade, I was 12 years old.

It was towards the end of third grade for me.

I can kind of remember my mom telling us, like, right when she picked us up from school.

And I'm just sitting at the table, my mom, we start talking, And she said, so we're probably going to have to move soon. Hey, we're moving. And tomorrow's your last day of school. And I said, okay? I told my friends, just real casual. Like, I'm leaving. I'm moving. Where are you going? I don't know where I'm going, but this is my last day at school.

I remember just sitting there, like I didn't know what to say, and she sort of instructed me, this is what you have to tell people, this is what it's going to be like, we don't know where we're going to move yet, we're going to have to change our last name, and we're going to need to do in the next few days. I didn't understand the full scope of what was going on at all.

I understood that we were leaving.

I didn't understand, like, not coming back.

It didn't hit me.

My mom explained to me that they were working for the government.

She was working with the FBI.

The FBI was like a family to us.

They knew my kids.

They grew up with my kids.

My kids grew up around them.

...