The Chubette Era

CHAPTER 2: FAT, FRIENDS, FAMILY & FANTASIES (AGES 7 to 13)

C-suite executive. Founder. AI pioneer. Mother. Grandmother. Badass.

Those M&Ms were just the beginning. The Chubette department became a reality. Then an abusive second-grade teacher, traumatic gym classes, colorful relatives, and a boy named Barry who pushed me into a bush.

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Between seven and thirteen, every kid is basically a sponge. You absorb everything: the good stuff, the painful stuff, and the stuff that takes decades to fully process. I was no different.

What I didn't know then is that every humiliation, every creative escape, every weird neighbor and difficult family moment was quietly building the person I was going to become. If any of it sounds familiar, that's the point.

During those years, we go through a process called “synaptic pruning.” Although our brains are basically adult-sized by the time we turn six, over the years that follow, we start to lose what we don’t use and become better at “assembling things.” But this isn’t a science lesson. (We’ll talk about that stuff at our first “Nervy Gang” gathering. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’re already gang-approved!)

But now, what you really came here for…

Why I Got Chubby (and What Came After)

MOMENT 1: The Chubette department

According to the family albums, I was a pretty thin kid until I hit seven. My whole family was fat, and food was a big part of our lives...when we were celebrating, when we were sad, when we were neither.

Thankfully, I wasn’t the fattest girl in my school, but unless you’ve been the chubby girl, you can’t really see the world from chunky eyes.