What This Project Is
Why I started "A Broadway Body: Continued Conversations," where it's heading, and how I see this project impacting the world
Why I Started A Broadway Body: Continued Conversations
I’ve been up body image’s butt since 2021 when two things happened. One, I came to a head with my own body image journey, and two, I embarked on writing and producing a short film all about my experience battling body dysmorphia and disordered eating during my time in college.
I chose to crowdfund money to finance the short film, and during that process, people (both who I’ve known and did not know) opened up to me about their own body image struggles and how much they believed in the message of my project. The idea for this Substack series began as a way to continue these conversations in a more public way.
Everyone has a body image story to tell. We all do, whether we’ve spoken it aloud previously or not; whether we’ve struggled with an injury or an eating disorder or we’re just simply existing in today’s cultural climate. Regardless of if you exist in creative spaces, athletic spaces, corporate spaces, or educational spaces (to name a few), we all have a body image story. And my mission is to bring those to the forefront of the conversation. In a society that prioritizes appearance over soul, I believe that the more we speak about our own personal trials and tribulations with our body image, the more we heal the collective.
Where I see A Broadway Body: Continued Conversations Heading
The Substack Series: The idea for starting a podcast centering around body image conversations started in 2022. It then took me roughly 3 more years to bring it to fruition. Now that I’ve had 12 conversations on record, I only see this project amplifying as time goes on. I have a running list of people I plan to sit down to chat with, and I cannot wait to continue to share these conversations with you here.
Conversation Facilitation: Ultimately, my desire is to facilitate conversations with those in creative spaces at the middle school, high school, and university levels. I also have hopes and dreams of bringing these conversations into acting schools and corporations in the greater Los Angeles area. This is just a very broad and generalized idea of where I see this work leading me.
Substack » Book: I have ideas… ;)
My Hope For A Broadway Body: Continued Conversations’ Impact
So much of my struggle with body image stemmed from my upbringing and young adult years, especially those spent in theatrical spaces. I want to use this project to help younger generations learn to see their bodies as so much more than simply how they look so they can hopefully avoid some of the struggles that I and so many of my millennial peers went through.
I also hope this project can be a means to educate educators. That is not to say “I know more than educators do",” no. This is to say that we’re all human, and there’s a lot of nuance that comes with body image in educational spaces, especially those where students’ bodies are creating physical art (like dance or theatre). I feel compelled to open up the conversation around what it means to hold space for healthy body image while teaching our future generations how to use their bodies to express their art because, when I was younger, I so desperately needed educators that held this topic with much more grace and refinement.
I also truly believe that the impact of these conversations has waves that can reach so many general people. If we all have a body image story and struggle with our body image in our own various ways but we’re not talking about it openly, we’re all just silently suffering. I hope that by sharing these conversations with the world via Substack megaphone will inspire others to begin having their own versions of these conversations, which I can only hope will scratch the surface on our collective body image healing.
The reality is, we all struggle in our own ways, no matter what body you exist in. And by sharing an array of varying people’s stories through this platform, my hope is for more and more of us to feel less alone in our own struggles when it comes to how we relate to our bodies. I have faith that when we share our own stories and speak out on these topics and hardships we experience individually, we really truly can shift our cultural narrative and vision a new way forward.
xo
While I’m not a licensed therapist, registered dietician, or medical health professional and cannot speak to body image topics from a clinical, trauma-informed place, I am an expert of lived experience. I’m an academic of my own body, and I’m passionate about facilitating conversations with other humans about their relationships with their bodies. I believe it’s important to continue conversations about healthy body image in creative spaces as a means to heal individuals as well as the collective whole. But just know the information presented in this medium is not professional mental health advice or medical advice, and any questions or concerns you have should always be directed to your health providers.