Katie Piper
I have an older brother and younger sister and for the first few years I was quite a tomboy. We lived in a small village in Hampshire and my brother and I would climb trees and make dens.
At 24 I was a wannabe. I was not a 'former TV presenter' as everybody says - I was a young girl living on a wish, appearing on the roulette channel at 1 am and selling cordless kettles on Channel 953.
I have managed to conquer my fear of fire one fish at a time. I've gone from eating sushi to prawns, to baking sea bass fillets.
I don't want to be an ambassador for too many charities, because it's a far stronger message to be a person with a disfigurement going about their life doing everyday things.
I was standing in the street with people walking past me and I could feel my face evaporating. I thought I was on fire as the acid ate at my skin.
But I like a challenge, anything I can't do it inspires me to learn it.
I was writing for myself, not to be published. I was writing diaries, even letters, to myself or to anyone I was angry at. Sometimes they weren't to a person, they were just to the universe - a bit like penning daydreams or isolated thoughts.
Writing my first book, 'Beautiful,' was the time that I was able to write the truth of it - that I was despairing at times, that I got depressed and felt like I couldn't cope. Writing became about being honest.
If I'm thinking or feeling something, I have to record it somewhere. If I don't, I worry the thought will be lost and I'll never get it back again. I never self-edit and I don't write in one place or in a special book.
Before I was attacked, I would write about the future - just goals, lists and plans. I'd scribble without depth or substance about the things I wanted to do with my life, whether short or long-term, and how I thought my future would be: a successful career in TV and modelling, marriage, a family.
I've had lots of opportunities to do things I'm passionate about and the things I care about and I feel that I can live in a world that doesn't really accept people that are different happily.
People always go on about me being an inspiration, which is nice. But it's an unrealistic pedestal to be put on. There are other people out there who have had things happen to them, not just me.
At home around my husband, I totally forget I'm burnt and how I look.
I really cherish my family life, because at one point I never thought I'd have it.
I've tried to stop reading comments online because if you believe everything, it makes you feel like rubbish.
There was a time when I'd resigned myself to never having my own family, so to fall pregnant with Belle was overwhelming.
Anywhere, you're going to get people who are ignorant or rude but it's not the whole of society. I don't think my life is doomed because I look like this.
I like to tell myself people look at me for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they're staring because they're shocked or maybe they recognise me from TV, or maybe they just like my shoes - especially women, because we all look at each other's clothes and hair.
Not a day goes past when I don't think how grateful I am I survived, that I recovered and that I feel like a young woman again.
My book 'Things Get Better' has normalised the idea that it's OK to fail and it's OK to seek professional help from psychologists.
I have learnt from Simon Cowell that anything is possible if you work hard enough and also that acts of kindness or giving somebody a few minutes of your time can have a massive impact on their life and their future.
The main reason I started The Katie Piper Foundation was because I had treatment abroad that I wanted other burns survivors in this country to have access to.
My biggest source of inspiration is my mum.
I don't have the answer to finding the balance because I think, well, maybe successful people don't switch off.
I was quite lonely because I didn't have a boyfriend or many friends, so I started spending my weekends doing races. Then I progressed to a half-marathon and I actually enjoyed it!
The important things for me are stability, consistency and love, and I have that through my family, so that's a great place to be.
I'm self-sufficient, but it's brilliant to have people in your life that you love, who love you and are important to you.
I enjoy looking good and love experimenting with my hair colour. I've just gone from blonde to brunette, and keep looking in the mirror and not recognising myself!
It makes me very happy that people's perceptions of what's beautiful and attractive are gradually changing.
I think the most hectic time in my house is about six o'clock in the morning, our sausage dog starts howling and barking and scratching to wake us all up - no alarms needed.
I think the loveliest time in our house is probably a Sunday, because usually I don't work, my husband doesn't work, Belle's at home and we're all together enjoying each other's company.
My perfect night in would be lots of bad food like biscuits and chocolate, and possibly an ice cold fizzy drink.
I never watch anything live, I record all my programmes and have a real binge on a Friday night and watch them all.
I feel like I've lived two or three completely different lives. At 33, I'm quite reflective and have the perspective you get in your old age when you have been through the losses of life.
None of my ambitions were serious as a girl. One week I wanted to be a lawyer, the next a binman.
Once my sister was older, she and I would do lots of hobbies together. We took dance lessons and put on shows at home; tap dancing on the granite fireplace, which must have mortified my dad.
My life is written about as though I've had this idyllic ending. But a marriage is something you have to work at.
My younger self wouldn't recognise me at all. She would think I was quite serious, organised and practical, but I've had to be to run the foundation.
There's nothing worse than saying the past is in the past, then dragging it into your kid's life.
I see it as someone who's been burned doesn't have to be put in this box where they can't be glamorous - I try and live that vision all the time and push those stereotypes away. That's all you can do.
Don't wait until there is tragedy in your life. Don't wait until you lose somebody. Don't wait until it's too late. Appreciate the beautiful people that you have in your life now.Collection: Beautiful
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react. There are some things we can't control and some things that do happen to us that we can't take back, but how we deal with it afterwards is our future... I think anybody can do anything they want if they stay positive and determined.Collection: Thinking
Even when you think things can never move forward and you feel so low, there's always a way out.Collection: Moving
Through my work at the Katie Piper Foundation, I've seen how the smallest of kindness can make a difference to someone's life. Even a simple smile instead of a start can lift someone's heart.Collection: Kindness