Elna Baker

Baker was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in what she describes as a "half-Mexican, half-Mormon" family. After age nine, the family moved to Madrid, Spain. Gary Baker ran Ural Boeing Manufacturing (UBM), a titanium factory in Russia, and then Boeing Tianjin Composites Company (BTC), a composites factory in China. Impressed with Baker's talent, Swados encouraged her to perform her stories live. For the rest of the semester, Baker would go over Swados's home on Fridays to learn about storytelling, a mentorship that continued for the next seven years. In her memoir, Baker recounts being overweight growing up, Friends and family told her she would never be able to reach her dreams of being a wife and actress as long as she was "fat." A year after college, however, she went to a weight clinic, began a deprivation diet, and took phentermine that her doctor prescribed. She lost 110 pounds, and says she was startled and saddened to receive much positive attention she had not received before. Within a month, she got a job as an usher on David Letterman's show on CBS with the responsibility of seating people according to their physical appearances. ==Writing==

Baker's writings and humor often relate to her experiences in New York City, coming of age as a Mormon, and the resultant abstinence from premarital sex, drugs, alcohol, and profanity. After an article she wrote for Elle magazine, she was offered the chance to write a book. In 2009, she released a memoir called The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, named for the annual Mormon singles dance held in New York City. People magazine gave the book four stars, calling it a "wicked-funny debut." ==Personal life==

Baker has had cosmetic surgery to remove excess skin from her weight loss, She suffers from idiopathic craniofacial erythema, or chronic blushing, and for years used scarves and turtlenecks to hide it. In a 2017 episode of This American Life, she recounted losing a television role because she looked "too nervous" on camera, an incident that made her want to get surgery to correct the problem. After learning of the procedure's side effects and moderate efficacy, however, she backed away from the idea. At 24, she got engaged to a fellow Mormon and moved to Utah to live with him, but called off the wedding when she realized she could not have the life she wanted there. She left the LDS Church after the publication of her memoir. Baker married designer Mark Sikes in 2016. The couple later divorced. ==References==