How long have you had alopecia?

AC: I've had alopecia since I was 3, so quite a few years. I grew up with it and it was always very manageable. I only had spots that were [relatively small] so I always covered it up. I was always very embarrassed about it. Even when I was in my 20s, very few of my friends even knew that I had alopecia. I kept it under wraps. I didn't want to let anyone know and I didn't want it to affect my career or the possibility of me getting hired for a job. So I covered up. I got out of school and got some good jobs, but at that point it started getting worse.

There was one point where I was doing a job and we had millions of viewers every week, it was a TV job, and I lost half my scalp and both eyebrows and the majority of my eyelashes. I was covering up in order to look like this character. It was pretty terrifying to have to keep that secret and pretend like I looked this way, that I looked normal when I just didn't. I was doing red carpet events and putting on my eyebrows before going out there and hoping that no one would notice. It's a really weird thing to be seen while trying not to be seen. It's a very strange thing.

So is that the point when you knew your hair was all going to go?

AC: Yeah, I knew that was a possibility but I was terrified of what that was going to look like. I always avoided the way that I look naturally. Also at that period of my life I was being encouraged to cover up as well by certain friends, certain family, certain business people. They thought I should cover it up but it didn't feel right, so eventually – and it took a long time – I got to the point where I didn't care anymore. I wanted to just feel OK with the way that I looked so I shaved my head and I stopped wearing makeup.

Immediately I started booking work, but the work was just a byproduct. The most important thing was that I just felt so good to not have to hide anymore, to own the way that I am and feel really good about it, feel really positive about the way that I look. That took a lot of work. It wasn't an overnight thing. It was very incremental. It took a lot of positivity and a lot of compassion and reinforcement.

I eventually got to this place where I was proud of the way that I look. I thought that it was super cool and unique and strange and different. As soon as I embraced that and started carrying myself in that way, all of a sudden that's how everyone began to see me. So that was great!