Today we’d like to introduce you to Lily Pierce.

Hi Lily, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

For as long as I can remember, I have always struggled with anxiety, and I have always felt emotions very deeply. Having deep sensitivity is a strength. However, it can also make sorting through difficult experiences all the more complicated, and it causes me a lot of panic. In high school and college, I suffered from various mental health issues that at times were debilitating. Many of my struggles manifested into an eating disorder that I used to cope with trauma and extreme emotional settings. It became the thing I was most dependent on, and in the process, became the thing that isolated me from my loved ones, and all my hopes and dreams. Halfway through college, my eating disorder took hold of everything. I was consumed by the overwhelming pressure to create a way to “like myself” and to me, that meant to change my body. Growing up with today’s media is extremely challenging because we are taught that certain bodies are more acceptable than others. I thought that if I changed my body enough, I would feel accepted and like I mattered. But nothing was good enough for my eating disorder. Before I knew it, I was living under someone else’s control. It was like I did not have a mind of my own. I was totally trapped. I just wanted to feel good enough, and I was living with a mindset that told me I wasn’t all the time. Eventually, I had to take some time off school with the exception of one course, and I entered a treatment facility to continue my healing journey. Healing from my eating disorder was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I have gone through a lot of hard things. I write a lot of painful breakup songs, but the biggest heartbreak I have ever experienced was my eating disorder and the relationship I had with myself. In treatment, I started remembering what mattered to me, and for the first time, I felt seen. I did not feel “crazy” or completely alone. I worked very hard with my therapists and companions to break away from this illness… this voice—that had taken over my life. Eventually, I opened myself up to new ways of thinking and understood that no matter how much I did to change myself, none of it was ever going to change the reasons why I felt so insecure. I had to battle other internal dialogues and messages that I grew up with, which were an even more pressing issue that my eating disorder had worked to bury. It has been a hard journey, and I still have hard body image days or anxious times around food, but I am living the life that I have always wanted because I know what is important to me, and can handle challenges without giving in. I am currently working to achieve my dream of becoming a popstar. I am releasing music and, performing as often as I can, and studying hard in school about the music industry. Now that I have worked so hard to overcome that loud voice that bullied me and controlled my decisions and self-esteem, I am able to focus on my career and am always thinking about what next steps I need to take to make my dreams come true.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

I mostly answered this in the previous questions. A major struggle was breaking such a drilled-in habit. My eating disorder was second nature. Whenever I got upset, anxious, scared, or depressed, I would just go to it. How do you break a habit you have been using your whole life? It is harder for me to unlearn than it is to learn, especially when it is something that is so deeply connected to myself. But I worked hard to understand that yes, it is a habit and a coping mechanism, but it is not an identity. And I had become so wrapped up in it that I totally blurred that in my mind. I thought that my eating disorder was my identity because it was the only thing I was living with. Making those distinctions and coming to terms with painful truths is a very hard process, and it is even harder to start to apply them to your life. It took so much repetition for me to really start to see myself as more than just an illness. My eating disorder is part of my story. If I am being honest, it still is slightly a part of my life because it shows up sometimes, but that decision to choose a different path and value myself more has come, and I do my best to continue down that road. I do not have to make the same choices that I did in the past, and there is so much more to me than my struggles..

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

Right now, I am a senior at New York University. I am majoring in Theatre with a double minor in Business of Entertainment and Media industries, and Producing. I started school with the intention of becoming a film actress. That is still something I want to pursue. However, I have had a heavy change of heart towards music. I am best known as an independent music artist. I have released four songs so far and performed in over 40 venues across different states so far. I have only been professionally pursuing a career as a music artist in addition to being an actress for a little under a year and a half. I have been loving every second of it. I am also taking many music business courses to learn more about different sectors of the music industry. My music is known for its quirkiness in describing situations of heartbreak and approaching complex feelings about how to view yourself and relationships that have hurt you. I think the way I describe my experiences sets me apart from other artists as well as my efforts to create the narrative that it is okay to feel confused and out of control sometimes. It is extremely human to struggle to process hardships and judge ourselves for our emotions. The important decision is that you aren’t alone. Someone else out there is feeling that way too. Along with music, I am known for my activism in the eating disorders field. I work as an ambassador for the non-profit organization Project Heal, which aims to spread awareness for eating disorders and provide resources for those who cannot afford treatment. I am very passionate about music and mental health awareness, and I have a goal to intertwine the two to make a difference in the world. I am currently working on a song about my eating disorder recovery that I intend to release to uplift those who need hope during times of fear and confusion with their mental health journeys, as well as to raise awareness for how eating disorders truly feel. because there are a lot of misconceptions about them. I am most proud of myself for everything I have done for the eating disorder community, all I want is to help people so they never have to struggle alone. And I am very proud of my new music that I have released/am planning to release, I think 2025 will be an exciting year for me. Also, I am just proud of myself for being brave and going for what I want. Everything I have achieved so far, I have made happen for myself and that is something I can look back on, smile, and let out a big happy sigh.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?

One of my favorite memories was my first-ever acting class. I had to audition to join the class. It was the first time, as a kid, that I felt a deep desire to really invest in something so heavily. I have always been a hard-working kid, but this meant so much. I had to sit and talk to a person in my life about a situation, and once I felt an emotional charge, I would read a monologue. I was finally given a space as a kid to explore my personal emotions in an intimate and artistically expressive way. I had grown up singing and performing music, but this type of acting required me to dig into my personal psyche. I surprised myself because I bravely opened up about a situation that was hard for me, and then the rest just magically happened on its own. I made the words of the monologue my own. I saw my scene partner in front of me, even though it was an empty seat, and I felt a huge weight come off my chest. The scene I did enacted a feeling in me that I had never acknowledged before. I felt safely vulnerable for the first time, even though I was crying in a class in front of a million kids. I was accepted into the course by the woman who auditioned me, who is now my amazing acting coach and mentor, Sandra Turner. I studied in her advanced acting class for five years before entering into Tisch Drama, and she and her course helped shape me into the artist and woman I am today.

Pricing:

• I just released a new single called “Stuck Here, Writing Sad Songs”!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lilypierceofficial.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilypierceofficial/profilecard/?igsh=ZHVvdnl6OTUyOWp5 https://www.instagram.com/lilypierceofficial/profilecard/?igsh=ZHVvdnl6OTUyOWp5
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19KaivEbzK/?mibextid=wwXIfr https://www.facebook.com/share/19KaivEbzK/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-pierce-5aa9b5252 https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-pierce-5aa9b5252
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@lilypierceofficial?si=myYIs6JJ5DVUHyVt https://youtube.com/@lilypierceofficial?si=myYIs6JJ5DVUHyVt
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/wrapped/share/share-c6778ffae3b74bbda7a0e74f0862ae3f?si=GoL5XY1aSieMY_eW3sBTDw&artist-id=3DCNZWubNBweZ259SijD4l https://open.spotify.com/wrapped/share/share-c6778ffae3b74bbda7a0e74f0862ae3f?si=GoL5XY1aSieMY_eW3sBTDw&artist-id=3DCNZWubNBweZ259SijD4l

Image Credits

Jason Valley
Layla Pluhowski