Magali Amadei has appeared on the covers and pages of virtually every fashion magazine in the world. But at the height of her career she was depressed, lonely, and bulimic. She took a break to take care of herself and became the first top model to tell her story on behalf of an eating disorders organization.

Claire Mysko is a writer and an expert on girls' and women's issues. Throughout her teens she starved herself and binged and purged while devouring the picture-perfect fantasies in the pages of. She got help and went on to be the director of the American Anorexia Bulimia Association.

Together, they are the founders of Inside Beauty and 5 Resolutions, which aim to re-educate the beauty industry, media and people about healthy bodies and healthy body image. Not a small task!

1. You have chosen a career dedicated to positive media images of women in support of strong self-esteem and body image, how does that relate to your core "values" in how you approach life and what you want to share with others?

Claire: For a long time, I let an obsession with my weight and my appearance speak for me. When I learned to truly use my voice, I began to see that I could make positive changes in my own life and in the world around me. There's so much strength to be gained from speaking up- it gets you in touch with an inner force that's so much more powerful than any number on a scale. That message is the thread that runs through my life and my work.

Magali: Yes, and because disordered eating, body image issues, and low self-esteem are so often shrouded in silence, using your voice is such an important part of getting healthy and transforming from a sufferer to an advocate. It's amazing how telling the truth about your experience creates connections, too. I was shocked when I first started talking openly about my struggles with bulimia. All of a sudden, people I had known for years opened up and started sharing their stories of how they suffered with an eating disorder or someone close to them was suffering. To me, that's the definition of an epidemic, and that's what's keeps me motivated in this work.

2. When you look at the impact your career has had on people around you, what makes you the most proud?
Magali: People feel comfortable talking to us not just about eating disorders, but also about their dieting disappointments, stress about gaining baby weight, etc. There's so much "bonding" that tends to happen over negative body issues. But when we have these conversations in our personal and professional lives, we try to take them to a more positive place. We ask questions, we challenge people to think about body image in a different context, and we connect people with help and resources. I have worked hard to make peace with my own body, and I am most proud when I think about the fact that my daughter is now absorbing that self-acceptance. As a model, I was constantly judged on my appearance. As a mother, my goal is to raise my daughter with the knowledge that what she looks like is not who she is.

Claire: I love to hear the words, "Wow, I didn't know that!" or "I never thought of it that way before." We have done a lot of outreach work in schools, and while girls are becoming more aware of the practice of retouching, they usually have no idea how frequently and extensively it is used. Most young people still think of retouching as a fix for a blemish or a fly away hair. It's so fulfilling to show them real examples and talk about the kind of extreme Photoshop makeovers that are par for the course in the fashion and beauty industries. I'm proud that we are able to give girls and women that kind of knowledge.

3. Was there a "defining moment" when you knew that this was what you wanted to focus your professional energy on?
Claire: Meeting Magali ten years ago (God-has it been that long?) was a real eye-opener and it definitely changed my perspective. At the time I was working at an eating disorders organization and feeling a lot of anger about the role that unrealistic images of beauty had played in fueling my own past disorders. I was also managing a hotline where we would get calls every day from people expressing that same frustration. Then along came this top model who wanted to work with me to go public about her battle with bulimia. I was not exactly receptive, to say the least. But she was persistent and we ended up meeting for dinner. Over the course of a few hours, I really came to understand how our shared experiences of disordered eating, low self-esteem, and perfectionism connected us much more than all our obvious differences could have divided us.

Magali: Oh, yeah. Claire was tough on me. After that first meeting, I decided that my work wasn't just going to be about telling my personal story of recovery, but that I would have to tell some tough truths about my industry. I wanted to encourage people reach out for help, but I got the message loud and clear that I could also educate people about how to separate fantasy from reality in the worlds of beauty and fashion. When Claire and I realized that we were reaching people, and against all odds our duo had tremendous chemistry and success, we knew we had to keep working together.

4. In your personal life, what is the "cause" to which you dedicate the most time / energy / money? Magali and Claire: Our work is about promoting healthy beauty. Through Inside Beauty and our 5 Resolutions initiative, we aim to make changes within the fashion and beauty industries and empower consumers with information about how they can promote healthy beauty in their daily lives. As part of this mission, we are passionate about supporting programs that give girls the tools to be change agents. Eating disorders and body dissatisfaction are affecting kids at younger and younger ages. That's why feel it's so important to get an early start on prevention and outreach.

5. Why? Has it touched your life somehow?
Claire: We both spent so much time absorbed in our body hatred. It's tempting to wallow in the idea that it was wasted time, but when you are able to draw from your own experiences to help others, it gives purpose to that suffering. I am still very connected to the insecurities and fears that led me to my self-destructive behaviors. I know how to handle them in healthier ways now, but I understand what it feels like to think you'll be stuck in a damaging pattern forever. I used to clip pictures of ultra-thin models (back in the days before "thinspiration" became a buzzword). Today I am working with a model to give girls a reality check when it comes to fashion.

Magali: I have worked in the fashion industry for seventeen years. Yes, I'm an old model! In the early part of my career when I was appearing on the covers and pages of all the major fashion magazines, I internalized so many negative comments about my body. I let criticism wipe me out. I already had an eating disorder when I started modeling, but being in the fashion industry was the worst place for a girl like me to end up, and it certainly made my problems worse. After I took time off to get healthy, my outlook on the industry shifted. I still work as a model, but now I am driven to raise awareness and push for changes. The industry needs regulations and protections to ensure the health of models. That's not something I'm going to shut up about.

6. What do you do - personally or professionally - to support that cause?
Magali: Since I've been so open about my own eating disorder, people in the industry are more likely to be candid with me about their own struggles and I've been able to give referrals and guidance to agents and models who have come to me for support. As advocates, Claire and I are working to get industry leaders on board with the 5 Resolutions. We have connected with everyone from editors and casting directors to the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America).

I also use images from my modeling portfolio to start discussions about retouching. I've had my teeth straightened and whitened, my waist trimmed, and I've even had ‘digital breast implants.' I think when people understand how retouching works and how it can drastically change someone's appearance (my own mother has been unable to recognize me in a few pictures!), it minimizes that urge to compare ourselves to what we see in magazines. The truth is that those images are not real.

Claire: I'm on a personal crusade to eradicate perfectionism from my own life, and I believe it's one of the root causes of our cultural body image crisis. When we feel like we're never good enough, it's easy to get drawn into the myth that having the perfect body or the right look will give us the validation we're so desperately seeking. But it doesn't work that way, so we end up spinning our wheels and chasing after an ideal that will always be elusive. Unfortunately, younger generations are getting caught up in this cycle. A recent Girls Inc. study called "The Supergirl Dilemma" shows that girls are feeling more pressure to be perfect and please everyone than ever before. My book for girls, Girls Inc. Presents You're Amazing! A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self comes out July 1, 2008. I hope it helps readers give up the quest to be supergirls and start celebrating what makes them amazing girls.

7. What do you wish people understood about your cause?
Magali: When it comes to talking about body image and disordered eating, things often degenerate into a blame game that goes nowhere. I want everyone to understand that these are complex issues and finger pointing is not the solution. If we want to bring about real change, we're all going to have work together.

Claire: I think it's important to talk about the extremes of anorexia and bulimia-they are very real and widespread illnesses. But we also have an epidemic of disordered eating in this country-those gray areas of chronic dieting, emotional overeating, and obsessive exercise that don't get an official diagnosis. There are millions of people who are not able to enjoy their lives because of their relationships with food and their bodies. The behaviors are very normalized in our diet-obsessed culture, but I wish everyone could take a step back and see what a huge problem we've got on our hands.

8. If you had a magic wand, what would you do?
Stop all body bashing talk. Reveal the power of words to everyone. Put a large disclaimer on all images in magazines stating: "This picture has been digitally enhanced. What you're seeing is not a real person." Force health insurance companies to cover eating disorders and mental illnesses. Empower every woman to confront her own body issues before she becomes a mom.

9. What organizations support your cause that we should all know about?
Girls Inc. is an organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. We also love Girls for a Change , Step Up Women's Network and About Face .

10. Can you think of an example of a really innovative approach to solving this problem - either one that someone else did or that you would like to see someone do?
Dove is the first beauty company to build their brand around a message of positive body image and self-esteem. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty "Evolution" video was a viral sensation when it was posted online, and we were thrilled at the idea of so many people clicking on that link to get a glimpse into how the industry creates the illusion of perfection.