The journey from Laos to the United States is not so far with March Playmate and lifelong explorer Anita Pathammavong as your guide.

Marigolds fill the pool, and I breathe in the verdant aroma as the florists trim their stems. In front of the lens I can move, flow and express myself completely.

I am naked; all around me, the energy is strong.

The confidence I feel today is the result of an ever-evolving journey of exploration and self-acceptance. Coming from a multicultural background—I was six years old when my family moved from Laos to the Virginia suburbs—I’ve always had a kaleidoscopic view of beauty standards, societal expectations and my own identity.

My dad first relocated to northern Virginia during the Vietnam war, and my mother went to an all-girls Catholic school in Thailand before she moved to Washington, D.C. at 17. I was raised with pretty traditional views surrounding femininity and sexuality.

The American school system wasn’t much help, and my relationship to my body was mostly informed by what I saw on television. It took years of curiosity and community building to get to a place where I felt grounded and comfortable in my own skin. Even now, at the age of 23, I’m still learning new things about my body!