What if the worst moment of your life became public without your consent?

In this deeply moving episode of The Life Shift, author and journalist Kaila Yu shares how one traumatic experience in her early 20s shattered her sense of safety, identity, and trust – and how she found the strength to reclaim her voice. For years, Kaila dissociated from the memory, pretending it never happened. But when the incident was made public, she was forced to face what she had spent so long trying to forget. This conversation explores trauma, cultural silence, coerced consent, and the long road back to self-worth.

📚 Guest Bio

Kaila Yu is a luxury travel and culture writer and on-camera correspondent based in Los Angeles. She has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Condé Nast Traveler, National Geographic, and more. Her debut memoir, Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty, was released August 19, 2025, from Penguin Random House's Crown Publishing.

🔗 Follow Kaila Yu

Website: https://www.kailayu.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kailayu

Book: Fetishized (purchase wherever books are sold)

⏱️ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:00 Growing up in a silent household

8:30 First exposure to modeling and coercion

21:00 The moment everything changed

27:00 Dissociation, shame, and addiction

35:00 When the video surfaced

46:00 The road back to self-worth

52:00 A message to her younger self

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