The character arc of Lizzie Velasquez

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 13 March 1989 in Austin, Texas, the eldest of three children, four weeks prematurely and weighing under two pounds eleven ounces. Between then and now sit an extremely rare congenital condition that prevents her accumulating body fat or gaining weight, bullying through childhood, something cruel about her found online in her teens, a decision to answer it by speaking rather than hiding, communication studies at Texas State University, and a career as a speaker, activist and writer. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Lizzie Velasquez?

She found the video. Then she booked a stage.

She was born in Austin, the eldest of three children, four weeks early and weighing under two pounds eleven ounces. She has an extremely rare congenital condition, which prevents her from accumulating body fat or gaining weight, among other symptoms. It is non-terminal and it is so rare that researchers have had to work out what it even is; it resembles several other conditions without being any of them.

The consequence in childhood was straightforward and cruel. She was bullied for how she looked, throughout.

Then, as a teenager, came the thing that would have finished most people. She found a video online about her, made by strangers, labelling her in terms this page is not going to repeat. It had been watched by a great many people. Nobody involved had ever met her.

What she did with it is why she is in this gallery. She did not hide and she did not sue. The record is plain that the cyberbullying is what inspired her to take up motivational speaking, which means she took the single worst thing that had been done to her and made it the opening of her working life.

She studied communication studies at Texas State University until late 2012. She is a Roman Catholic and has said of her faith that it has been her rock through everything, having the time to be alone and pray and know that God is there for her. She works now as a speaker, an activist, a writer and a video maker, largely on how people treat each other.

The moments

Lizzie Velasquez's timeline.

The 1980s

13 Mar 1989

Under three pounds

Setback, and it changed everything. Four weeks early, and under three pounds.

The 1990s

~1990

A condition with no name

Setback, and it changed everything. So rare that the doctors have had to argue about what to call it.

~1994

Bullied at school

Setback, and it changed everything. Years of it, for how she looked.

The 2000s

Jun 2006

She finds it online

Setback, and it changed everything. Strangers had made something about her, and she found it.

1 Sep 2006

Hide, or use it

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: go and speak about it, taken, or stay out of sight. She became a motivational speaker, an activist and a writer, and the cruelty is the thing she talks about.

~2007

She decides to answer it

Milestone, and it changed everything. She turned the worst thing that had happened to her into the job.

Sep 2008

Communication studies

Milestone, and it changed her direction. She went and studied the thing she was already doing.

Jun 2009

The first stages

Milestone, and it changed everything. A teenager, on a stage, talking about what had been done to her.

The 2010s

~2010

Her faith

Everyday. Her own words for what has held her up.

~2014

Writer and video maker

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Four kinds of work, all of them about the same thing.

She is still on stages, still talking mostly to teenagers, still about how people treat each other. What she set moving is the answer to a question every bullied child asks, which is whether the thing that is being done to you gets to decide anything, and her whole career is the argument that it does not.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

Hers turned on finding the cruellest possible thing said about her in public. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

Step through

Draw my own line Explore Character Arc

Lizzie Velasquez: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Lizzie Velasquez's character arc?

A girl born four weeks early under three pounds with a condition so rare doctors still argue about its name, bullied through childhood and cruelly targeted online as a teenager, who answered it by becoming a speaker.

What condition does Lizzie Velasquez have?

An extremely rare congenital condition, Marfanoid-progeroid-lipodystrophy syndrome, which among other symptoms prevents her from accumulating body fat or gaining weight. It is non-terminal, and it resembles several other conditions without being any of them.

Why did Lizzie Velasquez become a speaker?

Because of the cyberbullying she faced as a teenager. The record states plainly that it is what inspired her to take up motivational speaking, which means she made her working life out of the worst thing that had been done to her.

What did Lizzie Velasquez study?

Communication studies, at Texas State University, until late 2012. She had already begun speaking publicly by then, and went and studied the discipline underneath the thing she was already doing.

What does Lizzie Velasquez do now?

She works as a motivational speaker, activist, writer and video maker, largely on how people treat each other. Much of her speaking is to teenagers, who are the people most exposed to what happened to her.

What has Lizzie Velasquez said about her faith?

That it has been her rock through everything: having the time to be alone and pray and talk to God and know that He is there for her. She is a Roman Catholic and was the eldest of three children.

Where does this timeline of Lizzie Velasquez's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Lizzie Velasquez isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

More character arcs

Lives that rhyme with her.

Every Character, A to Z

Sources

Lizzie Velasquez, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Medical literature on her condition, as that biography summarises it.
Her own statement about her faith, as quoted there.
The material posted about her online is deliberately not quoted or described on this page.