Being called the World’s Ugliest Person was definitely not an easy time for Lizzy Velasquez. Velasquez saw a YouTube video that got 4 million views, but it also received tons of rude comments calling her the “World’s Ugliest Person”. Lizzy was just seventeen years old at the time and says that all of the comments shattered her. “When I saw it my whole world just felt like it crashed at that moment,” Velasquez tells to People Magazine.

Her experience has inspired a new documentary called A Brave Heart, which premiered on Saturday March 21, 2015. “I thought, how in the world can I ever pick myself up from this?” Velasquez picked herself up by deciding to become an anti-bullying activist and a motivational speaker.

“If I ever see that person [who made the video] I would jump on them and give them the biggest hug in the world and tell them, ‘Thank you for bringing the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life, ” she says. “That video changed everything and it has given me the platform that I have now to be the voice for anyone who’s ever been bullied – and not just myself.”

After giving a talk that went viral, Velasquez was approached by the group Women Rising and their director, Sara Bordo. She asked Velasquez if they could document her daily existence and efforts to petition for the countries first federal anti-bullying bill. Velasquez also gained the attention of YouTube star iJustine who is an executive producer of the film.

“I’ve met so many people who have come up to tell me their personal stories, and a lot of them express the same feelings that I have, especially reading things online,” says Velasquez. “Hearing those stories really validates what we’re doing.”

Her goal is for people to know that in order for you to be able to do anything, you first have to learn to love yourself. “I experienced bullying as early as the first day of kindergarten and there were times where I wish I could escape out of my body,” says Velasquez, who is also blind in one eye. “But I have the most incredible support system in the world,” she says. “They let me have those times when I just want to cry. But I give myself a deadline and say, today’s my sad day, but tomorrow when the sun comes up it’s done.”