Our Team: Beyond the Surface

Hi! My name is Emily Castillo!

I first joined Beautifully Loved back in 2016/ 2017 and participated in the yearly fashion show! I had so much fun meeting the other kids there as well as the volunteers. I continued to participate in future events and when I graduated high school in 2020, I became a volunteer myself and have been helping with events and projects ever since. I am a recent college graduate from Texas State University and plan to work with children and working with and improving their mental health.

I was a quiet and shy individual and Beautifully Loved helped me find my voice and be confident in who I am. I am so happy to be a part of this program and give back and I hope to help others the way the community of Beautifully Loved helped me! 

Hello! My name is Maggie Diaz!

I go by Maggz most of the time. I am a non-binary, they/ them pronouns, and I am the new Community Outreach Officer. I was diagnosed with Von Willibrand’s Disorder Type 1 in high school, during that time I met one of my best friends Cami who let me know about the 2nd fashion show Aysa was putting on and decided to join. At that time Beautifully Loved was not an organization; I had the pleasure to help Aysa build this wonderful organization from the ground up that gave me such a wonderful family.

I have also been diagnosed with several Mental Health Issues throughout the years such as Treatment Resistant Depression, Anxiety, Autism, and ADHD. I remember the mental things starting around 10 years old and I only had one person in my life who understood, who I later lost. Mental health is still something taken for granted and still needs so much research, finding people who know what going on is rare these days. Being non-binary, I try bringing more neutral designs and ideas. Making people feel comfortable with their identity is big for me, and I wish to make kids feel safe. I am also an avid nerd from video games to anything Star Wars. I love fantasy things from books to movies, my favorite author being Neil Gaiman. I'm a musician and wish to release an album one day, I play guitar mainly but can hold a good drum beat and know some keys. I am a very eccentric/ eclectic person and try my best to make people feel safe around me. I've always been so proud of our work, and I am happy to be joining with more hands-on projects. I can't wait to meet you at one of our events and uplift these patients that I know need it.