Living with psoriasis has taught me how strong I am as a person.

It taught me that no matter what challenges I'm faced with, that I'm able to get through them.

My name is Shatoya. I was raised in Michigan. I've been dealing with psoriasis for the last 30 years.

Some of the things I like to do for fun: I enjoy taking walks in the park. I love nature.

Every Sunday, me and my sister, we get flowers for ourselves. I'm a flower girl. She's a flower girl. So every Sunday we just make sure that we pour into ourselves.

When I first got diagnosed, I was around the age of eight. I actually got diagnosed incorrectly. They actually diagnosed it as a ringworm. I was in elementary at the time, and all of the elementary kids thought that it was contagious. Not until I was like around the age of ten, I got properly diagnosed.

Psoriasis used to hold me back. It really impacted on a lot of my decision making. I was so insecure to do a lot of things because of the illness. I got picked to be a cheerleader and everything, but I didn't go to the first day of practice because of it.

Dating was another thing that was very, very hard for me. I wouldn't get close to anyone because I wouldn't want to tell anyone about my disease that I had.

I have—I was so embarrassed and so self-conscious of my legs that it could be 90 degrees outside and I would still have on long pants or a long dress.

When I started having it in my scalp, it was very flaky. A lot of flakes and dandruff. My hair was actually starting to fall out a lot.

One of the areas I'm currently dealing with is, like, getting out of isolation. I have been in isolation mode for years because of the illness. Some days I don't even talk or answer my phone.

I have more good days than bad days, but some days it's hard to even get out of bed.

My sister has been, like, my biggest support when it comes to dealing with psoriasis.

I can remember a time where we were having, like, an all-girls swim vacation at a lake, and I was just so, so embarrassed of just wearing a swimsuit.

My sister was so supportive, letting me know that, “Hey, Shatoya, this disease or illness does not define who you are.”

She gave me the confidence to be able to go out there and not feel ashamed or embarrassed.

Some of the things that has helped me is really going within and loving myself, and just learning more about me. I have done a lot of inner work on things that just make me happy, and learning who I am as a woman with psoriasis.
So one of the things that I first did was take on that, “Hey, I have a disease that I need to accept and deal with.”

I would most definitely tell my younger self that, “You are not alone. There are people out there that know what you're going through physically and mentally."

And now that I'm getting older, I'm learning myself more and loving myself more. I'm starting to slowly but surely get out of that isolation stage.

Psoriasis is a part of our story, but it does not define us.