'Still Lolo': How I Learned To Appreciate True Beauty

Knowing true beauty is a deep struggle our society faces everyday. It's something I've dealt with all my life -- and even more so after the propeller accident last year.

On Dec. 3, 2011, a 16th of an inch of steel changed my life forever.

A fractured skull and collarbone, a scar down my face, cracked teeth and a missing eye and hand. These were details I couldn't keep ignoring.

Almost every woman in her early 20s has aspirations and dreams of the future. At that point, I had a jumpstart to my career -- two incredible New York internships under my belt and a promising beginning as a fashion journalist, being the founder and editor of LOLO magazine.

Like any woman would in my situation, I worried about my career. I worried that no guy would find me attractive again. I worried I would never have the guts to walk out in a tank top with my new prosthetic hand and eye. How would I ever go rock climbing again? Or water-ski? How in the world would I drive with one eye and hand?

Unlike how the media labeled me, I was not a model, and I didn't perceive myself as one either. I was a fashion journalist.

My world was filled with art, and I was still on a journey of finding the true meaning of beauty. I was someone who loved to balance the outer exterior of personality with the inner. But at the same time, just like the rest of the world, I fought with the habit of judging by exterior qualities. This was no exception to how I viewed myself many times.

During my hospitalization and my recovery, I now know much of the media has dehumanized what me, my family and friends went through and were still going through. My new book, "Still Lolo," gives us a voice and offers a raw, truthful encounter that will offer life lessons for almost anyone.

Waves of shock had spread when news hit each family member and friend: I was struck by a propeller and was in critical condition.

By Jan. 17, I had been weaned off all my pain medication, and I was no longer the upbeat girl my family and friends had seen at the hospital. Depression hit me hard.