America Ferrera voted U.G.L.Y. celebrity of the year

America Ferrera is the U.G.L.Y. celebrity of the Year 2007. This most prestigious honor was bestowed upon her by the board of Hey U.G.L.Y., the teen self-esteem building nonprofit organization.

America's portrayal of Ugly Betty on the show by the same name, cinched the vote. America is not only turning out to be a great role model, teens actually tune in to watch her and are inspired by her. Additionally, she is human, and is complete with experiences that move her forward in her life and career as well. She can freely let her hair down and that makes her real and an individual teens can relate to. In fact, someone we can all relate to.

America was selected from hundreds of celebrities whose self-esteem building statements are displayed on the Celebrity Quotes page of Hey U.G.L.Y.'s website, HeyUGLY.org. Teens report to Hey U.G.L.Y. that they feel better knowing that celebrities like America, Adam Brody, Ciara, Halle Berry, Ryan Cabrera and so many more, struggle with some of the same self-esteem issues they do."

Low self-esteem is a critical issue facing teens today. It has been proven that low self-esteem affects learning and can lead to such problems as delinquency, unhealthy relationships, eating disorders,substance abuse and suicide. According to most estimates, about 30 percent of today's teenagers are dropping out of high school and every school day 160,000 students miss school because of bullying.

By having the name, Ugly Betty, America is helping to turn that negative word into a positive. Turning negatives into positives is the impetus behind Hey U.G.L.Y. The nonprofit organization choose the name "ugly" because it is a word that teens use to describe others, and most significantly, themselves. When they label themselves ugly or call a fellow student ugly they are unleashing a powerful force of negative energy. When teens learn how ugly was converted to Unique Gifted Lovable You, they start calling each other, and themselves, U.G.L.Y. with a whole new perspective. The negativity is gone and in its stead is empowerment. Recognizing the value of teaching the concept of turning negatives into positives, Hey U.G.L.Y. developed acronym contests, asking teens to take words like Geek, Dork, or Stupid and turn them into positives. One of their contest winners converted "Geek" into Gifted Enchanted Educated Kid and a teen in Texas converted "Loser" into love Others Show Everyone Respect.

Hey U.G.L.Y. Inc., NFP, founded in 2002, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower teens with self-esteem building tools, to help them counter challenges such as eating disorders, bullying, violence, substance abuse and suicide. U.G.L.Y is an acronym that stands for: Unique Gifted Lovable You. The organization helps teens through their website (www.heyugly.org); eM-POWERment Day Presentations at schools (eMPOWERmentDay.org); marketing initiatives; and Hey U.G.L.Y.'s self-esteem and diversity- building curriculum called "eM-POWER." eM-POWER is a character development and emotional learning curriculum that incorporates mandated learning standards in areas such as math, English, music, art, history and social studies. Developed for junior high and high school aged students, the curriculum is free to schools and organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, and Boys and Girls Scouts of America.

America Ferrera explains the pains of high school

The most important thing you wear is your personality.

My high school days were definitely not the best days of my life. I think everything you learn in high school, you have to spend the rest of your life unlearning. A lot of what high school was about for me was not being myself. It was about hiding all the things that made me different and trying to fit in somewhere. I didn't know who I was. The pretty and popular girls just reminded me that I wasn't pretty and popular, and the nerdy and studious ones reminded me that I wasn't smart enough. I didn't conform in high school, wear all the right clothes, or fit in. But I think the truth is that whatever you're wearing on the outside doesn’t change the fact that most people – even beautiful girls – feel the same doubts, fears and insecurities on the inside. CosmoGirl Feb. ‘07

I am all for beauty, and I love feeling pretty, but it's more important for me to look in the mirror and feel good about myself than worry about what other people think. Part of growing up is differentiating between what you do for yourself versus other people. In Style Feb. ‘07

Cameron Diaz is U.G.L.Y. celebrity of 2005

I hated my body, I was extremely, extremely skinny as a child for years I was seventy-nine pounds, and much taller than everyone else. When I was in junior high, people thought I was sick. They used to call me Skeletor, or Skinny Bones Jones and all those other horrible names.