I'd be lying if I said it wasn't Cassy's striking blue hair, arm tattoos and sense of style that grabbed my attention. I was meeting Scott, my new friend from Instagram, at Tokyo Smoke and the minute I saw her standing by the counter I knew I wanted to take her portrait. But my interest went beyond her appearance. It was more of her character, how she carried herself and interacted with her environment. I asked myself, what's her story?

Unfortunately, I didn't really get to talk to her. Scott and I were too busy fighting off this wasp that was totally crushing on me. Luckily, I found her on Instagram and sent her a message. I simply asked if she wanted to share anything to go with her photos, and this is what she replied:

"I hit bottom in January. I became exhausted of living a chaotic and destructive life. I was a nightmare of a person to be around, I caused a lot of damage, and felt as if I barely resembled a human being. The past seven months, I have been working diligently on myself, on giving myself a life worth living for, and every day I am finding more and more reason to fall in love with being alive again."

I usually have to break the ice and start a conversation before I get a person's story but the fact that she opened up through a direct message blew me away. When I look at these photos now, I see more into the confidence and gracefulness she embodied.

Thank you, Cassy. Thank you for your bravery not just in your own personal journey but in sharing it with me. Although our encounter was short and I don't know the entire story (not yet!), I want to let you know that you are beautiful inside and out. I'll be seeing you around! :)

Portraits of Toronto: Cassy