About Ori

Oriana (Ori to her loved ones) is a third-culture kid who grew up between Pittsburgh and Peru. She is an entrepreneur who has developed a profitable tech company and is launching another. In the beginning of a college internship, she was overheard telling her fellow interns (a group of 19-year-old male students) that “she would be their boss one day”. 

Underneath her “always under control and in-charge” exterior, she’s chatty, warm, and empathetic. She went to private school in Peru, where she learned early on that because of her build -- which is unique in Peru, where the average height for women is 5’2 – the way her body looked wasn’t okay. She developed a range of behaviors that included over-exercising (4 hours at the gym every day), severely restricted eating (two plums, a handful of almonds, and a tuna salad for the day on most days), and weighing herself multiple times a day. 

Though she has stopped exercising to her previous extreme and now eats a healthy amount, she has weighed herself daily for 15+ years and sometimes traveled with her scale. She used to hide it in her laptop sleeve so it would not shatter all over her carry-on. 

She had never been treated for an eating disorder, and didn’t believe she had one until later in her life. Her disordered eating habits were normalized in high school, college, and beyond. It might not have occurred to her because she and her family are foodies with refined palates. Her mom baked fresh bread for her and her brother growing up, and cooked them everything from traditional ceviche to complex Malaysian curries.

 Ori herself is a master in the kitchen, creating everything from elaborate three-layer chocolate cakes, perfectly-braided challahs, sauces and reductions of every kind.

 She believes that when it comes to EDs and DE, knowledge is power. She reads ample popular non-fiction about nutrition and fitness, and is quick to drop scientific facts about various ingredients at dinner. She says that spending time at the gym – but in a completely different way from exercising – has helped her recovery. She credits spending time in the changing room. Seeing many different women’s bodies has helped her see that all sizes and shapes are normal, and they are enough.