Growing up, I always wanted to be a Disney Princess. My mother introduced me to them when I was just a few months old, and as each princess film was released, the more infatuated I became. When I asked her what I liked so much about them, she told me that the princesses created a fantasy that I could escape to, I loved the colours on the screen, and as I got older, I loved the songs and the dresses. I could dress up to be Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, and Jasmine when I was younger. One of my earliest memories of wanting to become a Disney Princess was when I was four. I used to dream that a horse drawn pumpkin carriage would arrive and take me to my prince, just like Cinderella. When I was six, I wanted to be a mermaid like Ariel. When I was eight, I would paint with all the colours of the wind, like Pocahontas. I was completely lost in the princess world, I had the dresses, the tiaras, the shoes, everything I needed to emulate my heroines. My mother told me that as Cinderella, I would dress up and pretend to go to the ball, as Jasmine I would pretend my favourite teddy was Rajah the tiger, and as Belle I would pretend to be studious and read books. The princesses enabled me to develop my imagination and be a different person in a different world. This experience is echoed by Emily Zemler (2022) who wrote Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara, a book sanctioned by Disney. She explains: