Accessories and Advocacy: Kathryn Schmid on Mental Health and Making Jewelry

Graphic by Jessica Chen.

TW: Topics surrounding an eating disorder, specifically anorexia nervosa, are briefly mentioned. If you or a loved one need help/resources, visit https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

When Kathryn Schmid received a message on Instagram asking her to make two bracelets saying “Bite Me!”, she laughed, then remembered why she started making jewelry: to give back to what helped her recover from anorexia nervosa.

Kathryn sporting one of the necklaces she made to support a cause she is passionate about. Image via Kathryn Schmid.

“I was in outpatient [treatment], and I was feeling super happy and overwhelmed with this sense of gratitude for all these people I met in the program,” she explains. “I wanted to give back to the people who had given to me and to so many people and to a cause I’m passionate about.”

Kathryn had over 200,000 Instagram followers when she started a new account during summer of this year called Beads For EDs (@beadsforeds), through which she would create custom necklaces and bracelets and donate 10% of the proceeds to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). 

Kathryn’s journey in overcoming anorexia began when she was in high school. When she moved to Los Angeles to model at 18, her eating disorder was “certainly exacerbated.” 

“Eating disorders often manifest when one feels a lack of control,” Kathryn shared. “It came to me in a time when I felt like I needed something to hold onto.”

“Even though I physically may have been present at the dinner table,” Kathryn says, “I was only thinking about my disorder, the food I was going to eat, the food I had just eaten and when I was going to work out.” 

Her mental and physical health declined until her heart almost gave out. Treatment was the only option. She’s proud that reaching out to seek help was always her own decision.  

One of Kathryn's Instagram posts on mental health advocacy. Image via Kathryn Schmid.

Now, at 24 and having gone through multiple treatment programs, she is happy to say she is living the most recovered life that she has ever been. 

“Even when the disease had its worst hold on her, she somehow found the strength to take one step at a time toward the life she wanted,” Rhonda Schmid, Kathryn’s mother, explained. Beads For EDs, according to Rhonda Schmid, allows her daughter “to keep up the good fight and bring awareness and support for the ED community.”

Kathryn modeling for designer Betsey Johnson wearing a Beads for EDs necklace. Image via Kathryn Schmid.

Kathryn Schmid’s life in recovery is one she never takes for granted.

Recovery has allowed Kathryn to be present in conversation and connect with people she cares about, she says. “I could cry every day for the smallest little gifts I now have,” she reflects as she smiles.

Paul Chevallier, a friend of Kathryn’s, noted how much she has grown. “She is so much more than her disorder,” he shared. “Watching her work to overcome it in treatment makes me very glad to see that she’s going to be able to meet the world with what she has to offer.”

Kathryn is a mental health advocate herself. She posts about eating disorder education and validation and shares her struggles candidly because of her desire to “make people happy.” 

Her platform allows her to be seen for more than just her past.“I don’t mind if people look at me as someone who has recovered from an eating disorder, but I am so much more than my eating disorder, and I am so much more than a model,” Kathryn says.

Kathryn candidly smiles wearing one of her necklaces. Image via Kathryn Schmid.

She laughed, then bent down to grab a piece of chocolate, which would have been a challenge for her months ago, she says. When asked what her favorite aspect of recovery is, she beamed. “Well, I’m eating a piece of chocolate, and it’s delicious!”