Sitting in the tall white chair three feet away from Meredith Viera, I could practically hear my own heart pounding as one of the TODAY Show producers counted down, "Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..." Despite that I was a little nervous, it was probably the most exhilarating experience of my life: on Tuesday morning at 8:19 am eastern standard time, I made my national television debut on NBC's Today Show.

A week earlier, my publicist at Simon and Schuster had sent me an email telling me that a producer from the Today Show wanted to call me to have an "exploratory" conversation about me being a guest during a segment on the pressure on girls to be perfect. I've written a book "Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls" about how the female ideal in Generation Y is more limiting and more demanding than ever before- girls want to be smart, desirable, accomplished, well-liked, and people-pleasing, but doing everything is making girls lose their sense of self and it makes them vulnerable to major mental health issues.

I had a really great hour long call with the TODAY show producer, and the next day the director of publicity for my imprint called me and told me that the TODAY Show was a go and that she'd give me more details ASAP. This meant a few things for me: practicing my talking points, making use of the box of Crest White Strips gathering dust on my dresser, perhaps getting to meet my crush Matt Lauer, and most importantly, getting to talk about my book and my hope for teen girls to be able to live healthier, happier lives on national television.

My mom and I were jazzed to have a towncar pick us up at our hotel in Manhattan on Tuesday morning and to sit in the green room in the NBC studios. I had my hair and makeup done a few feet away from Lily Allen, a very talented singer AND a Supergirl who I write about in my book.

Before I knew it, I was sitting in front of the cameras talking about my book. the segment itself was much faster and much easier than I thought it would be. Meredith Viera was so warm and nice, and because she made excellent eye contact while she asked me questions and I answered them, it felt more like a friendly conversation with an engaged and concerned mom than a news segment on a national morning show!

I feel so completely blessed to have had the opportunity to go on the TODAY Show- it's been one of my life goals since I was fifteen- and I'm so thankful for my family's support and for the amazing team behind my book who put this all together.

And in case you're curious, yes, I did get to meet Matt Lauer!

With that in mind, here's the TODAY Show clip!