Jade Beall—The Healing & Transformational Power of Photography

Jade Beall is a proud mother and a Tucson, AZ based world-renowned photographer specializing in truthful images of women to inspire feeling irreplaceably beautiful as a counter-balance to the airbrushed photoshopped imagery that dominates main stream media. Her recent work "A Beautiful Body Project" has touched 100,000's of women's lives and garnered global attention from media outlets including the BBC, The Huffington Post & beyond. Jade's book series and media platform feature untouched photos of women alongside their stories of their journeys to build self-esteem in a world that thrives off women feeling insecure. Jade's dream is to inspire future generations of women to be free from painful suffering from years of feeling not enough and embrace their sacred beauty just as they are in this precious moment.

Jillian Bessett: The voice in the intro and outro belong to songwriter Jillian Bessett. Jillian Bessett is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose evocative lyrics and welcoming stage presence have endeared her to audiences throughout the southwest music scene. Jillian is currently writing music and gigging with her new favorite instrument the Boss RC-505 Looping Station.

Referenced in the interview:

In The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf wrote: "“A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”

Jes Baker is an author, international speaker and blogger with a background in mental health where she's worked as a BHT, Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist, Arizona state credentialed Peer Support Specialist and Educator. Her two books are Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls, a bestselling handbook created for those who are beginning their body acceptance journey and Landwhale, a memoir-esque exploration of the complex conversations that arise while navigating the world as a fat woman.

Sonya Renee Taylor is the Founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology, a digital media and education company promoting radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tool for social justice and global transformation. Sonya’s work as a highly sought-after award-winning Performance Poet, activist, and transformational leader continues to have global reach. Sonya is a former National and International poetry slam champion and author of two books, including The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love. She is an educator and thought leader who has enlightened and inspired organizations, audiences and individuals from board rooms to prisons, universities to homeless shelters, elementary schools to some of the biggest stages in the world.