Women Who Swaay Podcast

Lisa Opie, founder of Vizcaya Swimwear, co-founder of Lady Code, and official swimwear sponsor of the Miss United States 2016 national pageant, has a background story few people believe.  "I ended up being bullied because I was so socially awkward [that] I didn't know how to talk to people because I was homeschooled, so I had to drop out of that. I went back to homeschooling." When she re-enrolled in school, the bullying continued, but she decided she wasn't going to take it anymore. She enrolled in pageants because she wanted to prove her bullies wrong. "I can be better than this; I can be beautiful."  Pageantry prevented Opie from going down a self-destructive path that most people take to cope with bullying. "It helped me build confidence. It helped me stay in shape. It made me just focus on what I wanted out of life, and not what other people thought.” While she didn't place in Miss Virginia, she had such a good experience that she wanted to continue competing. Because she couldn’t afford to buy one, s