How a Teenager Refused to Let Bullying Get to Her and Took a Photo to Conquer it Instead

When 14-year-old Carleigh O'Connell heard that a gibe about her body had been spray-painted on a cement block for her whole town to see, she responded in the unlikeliest, but most awesome of ways: She snapped a photo while posing proudly with the graffiti.

According to her mum, she was upset when she first heard about the graffiti from kids at school that was aimed at her. A cement barrier in her hometown of New Jersey was labelled "Carleigh's Ass".

She was determined to "make something good out of it".

She shared a photo of her posing with the graffiti on her Instagram and asked her mum, Daryl, to share the picture too.

Her mum made the below post on Facebook:

Carleigh said the below about her experience: 

"The biggest message I want to get across is just to be strong, and that anyone who is experiencing bullying and anything like that, that they're not alone and there's people there for them - and I'm one of them."