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    Last month, I travelled from London to South Devon to a tiny village called Totnes, for the Bodykind Festival, the world’s first festival that celebrates and promotes bodily acceptance.

    Now in its third year, the Bodykind Festival is the brainchild of Dinah Gibbons, an inspiring change maker and former midwife keen to bring women (and men!) together from all parts of the country to celebrate beautiful bodies irrespective of disabilities, curves or skin conditions. Dinah, who describes the core values of the 2 day event as promoting inclusivity, celebrating diversity, illuminating and challenging non acceptance and meeting fear and shame with sensitivity and kindness, first hosted the festival in 2017 when she invited guests such as Megan Crabbe (a.k.a Bodyposipanda) and Harnaam Kaur (the bearded lady) to speak about their journeys in relation to bodily self love.

    This year was my first time at the festival. Spread over two days with the core event taking place on Saturday 4thMay, the informative programme was a combination of workshops (puppetry workshop), inspirational talks (Bodiposipanda, Grace Victory), panel discussions (including myself and Sylvia Mac from Love Disfigure), performances and inspirational talks from those who had faced challenges in a society where high emphasis is placed on looking a certain way. The conversations were open and honest with enthusiastic involvement from the audience, who were keen to ask questions and share their own insights into those things they had personally experienced. Whilst the conference was attended mostly by women, it was great to see men in the audience, which is something Dinah is keen to promote moving foward, because after all self care and acceptance affects us all, even though women continue to be the main focus in terms of loving out bodies.

    In the afternoon, I sat on a panel alongside @bopo.boy, @fatandfab88 and @janu_hairy for a session entitled Radical Self Compassion. Chaired by Molly Forbes who recently hosted Channel 4’s, Naked Beach, the 30-minute session focused on how can we practice being kinder to our body’. Each panel speaker had something different to share from the realisation that self-appreciation doesn’t magically happen overnight; to blocking out negative energy and the frequent self sabotaging conversations we sometimes have with ourselves about why our bodies just aren’t good enough. A stream of suggestions and thoughts were shared when asked how we practised self-compassion and with the positive response from the audience, it really encouraged us to open up and share our personal stories that we felt would inspire those around us.

    The day came to a close at around 4:30pm afterwhich I raced off to catch my train back to London as the next day I was flying to Ibiza with a suitcase bulging with new bikinis. That’s me practising self-care right there! The day had an incredible level of energy right from the start and I left feeling content and inspired. Events like these are much needed, as aside from the guests who shared stories with such authenticity, it’s a great way to meet amazing women who are there to support each other. Already I’m looking forward to hearing about next years plans. Watch this space….

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    Press, Radio & TV

    BBC 3 Online Series – Things Not To Say To Someone With Vitiligo

    Last month I took part in a recording for the long running BBC 3 series ‘What Not To Say’. The 6 minute recording featured six of us, all with Vitiligo, tackling and responding to all those crazy questions and statements we often get asked about our skin.

    I was paired with Bashir, and we had an absolute blast! The entire hour in which we recorded it was endless humour, with hints of sarcasm as we openly discussed what it felt like to be asked some pretty eye rolling type questions like “is it because you have one white parent and one black parent” to assuming a way to cure Vitiligo is through simply bleaching the skin!

    We wanted to shut down all those often unanswered questions that normally arise through curiosity and share with viewers exactly why some questions just shouldn’t be asked……

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    Press

    2017 Your Skin Campaign

    This week, Mediaplanet UK launched their 2017 Your Skin Campaign in The Guardian newspaper and online at Health Awareness.

    I was lucky enough to have my story featured; ‘One Vitiligo woman’s story offers hope to others, alongside a collection of motivating stories and insights from experts and thought leaders in the health industry.

    One of my favourite posts, features the work of Medha Iyer, who captures Vitiligo through her love of photography. Incredibly creative and inspiring!

    Check out the website for all things relating to skin and health.

    http://www.healthawareness.co.uk

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    Press, Publications

    Phoenix Magazine: The Skin We’re In: Meet the Changing Faces Ambassadors Redefining Beauty

    The phrase ‘redefining beauty’ is a term so widely used, that its definition should probably be featured in Wikipedia by now! A term used across all media platforms globally; it expands and challenges the idea that beauty comes in many forms as opposed to the images we often see plastered in magazines.

    Since giving myself the freedom to speak about my skin, a number of opportunities with magazines have come my way, allowing me to speak about my journey as a girl with Vitiligo.

    My most recent interview was with Phoenix magazine, a luxury fashion and lifestyle magazine based in London and distributed internationally.

    The interview, carried out by the editor; Hannah Gale, was similar to what I’d done before; visually highlighting my skin whilst documenting my experiences with Vitiligo.

    The interview came about as a result of my role as a volunteer ambassador for Changing Faces. The final feature ‘The Skin We’re In: Meet the Changing Faces Ambassadors redefining Beauty’, included a stunning collection of photos in both colour and black and white and featured myself and two other inspirational women (also ambassadors), was published in perfect time, just ahead of Face Equality Day on Friday May 26th.

    Sometimes when I’m reading back over an interview I’ve given, I read it as though it’s someone else’s story. Bizarrely, It really enables me to appreciate and develop a closer connection with the person I am, as I read it and suddenly think ‘that’s me’….

    The full feature is available at https://www.phoenixmag.co.uk/article/the-skin-were-in-meet-the-changing-faces-ambassadors-redefining-beauty/

    Phoenix will feature the interview in the print version of the magazine later this year.

    Photo: Kaye Ford @ Fordtography

     

     

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    Press

    Interview with London Live

    My first experience at talking to the Media, was an appearance on London Live in September 2014. You can access the VT recording here. Agreeing to be interviewed on TV was particularly daunting as i’d never publicly spoken about my condition before. Why would I!    I wasn’t sure if I was ready to open up about the person I was with Vitiligo. I apprehensively agreed and it turned out to be one of the most liberating things i’ve ever done….

     

     

     

     

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