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"EVEN IF HALF THE WORLD STEPPED UP AND COULD USE THEIR BRILLIANT MINDS TO CONTRIBUTE - WHAT WOULD THAT LOOK LIKE?" TARYN BRUMFITT
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The woman who has reached 100 million people TARYN BRUMFITT’s journey from self-loathing to self-love – and kick-starting a global movement – is nothing short of extraordinary. REBECCA BODMAN sits down with her to talk influence, leadership and finding (body) love.
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his is not another story about a woman who wants other women to love their bodies. Well, it is … but this woman has reached over 100 million people with her message. And sitting down with her makes it easy to see why she has cut through. When you talk to Taryn Brumfitt, her energy almost knocks the wind out of you. It’s like she has this great big ball of enthusiasm just sitting in her chest and it’s impossible not to get swept up in it; after all, millions have. As soon as you meet her you just know she is one of those women who was born to be brilliant. You can imagine she would have been captain of the netball team and on the student council, collecting followers everywhere she went. Some people might have called her bossy, but what she is, is a leader – and a phenomenal one at that. Most people are familiar with Taryn’s story. She had just had her third baby, looked in the mirror and hated what she saw. She decided to have a tummy tuck and her boobs done – that would make her happy, wouldn’t it? But gazing at her three children, she wondered how on earth she could teach them to accept and love their body if she was so uncomfortable in hers. She didn’t need surgery. She could do this herself. She joined a gym, worked out like a crazy person and starved herself – she was so fit she entered a body-building competition. Standing on that stage she finally had the body she’d always wanted. She’d be happy now, wouldn’t she? She wasn’t. Something had to change about her body, and it wasn’t the way it looked. It was the way she learnt to feel about it. So she stopped the craziness, gained weight and had an epiphany. “You’re not going to wake up one day and unconditionally love your body. But what you can do, in any given moment in time, is make the choice to embrace your body. It’s like a muscle that grows and it grows over time and it’s something you’ve got to give a lot of love and a lot of energy to, but it’s so worth it,” Taryn stresses.
“I always come back to a story of a woman who emailed me who had suffered from sexual abuse. She’d never shared her story with anyone and walked through life feeling judged by everybody because she was overweight. She wrote: ‘No one knows my story, no one knows that I suffered from sexual abuse, every day I try to keep my head above water, every day I’m trying to keep my emotional and mental health. I know I’m not physically healthy, but I’m just doing the best that I can,’ ” Taryn shares with me as we settle into what I can feel is going to be a conversation that’ll go on well into the afternoon. After the hype of her Facebook photo, Taryn was thrust into the spotlight and soon realised she had much more to say than she could fit into a four-minute TV interview or a 140-character tweet. “I’ve spoken to and met some amazing women with brilliant minds who have so much to contribute to the world, and it’s truly their lack of self-love and self-respect that is holding them back: it’s stopping them from putting themselves forward, from putting their hands up, from being a leader, from being a business owner – whatever it is – because of how they feel about their bodies,” she says. Taryn wants to know what the world would look like if those women found love; body love. “If you’re looking at this from a global perspective, even if half the world stepped up and could use their brilliant minds to contribute – what would that look like? It’s about freeing yourself up because your cellulite, your stretch marks and the number on the scale is not a tragedy. But in the world, there are things that are a tragedy. They need our attention.” Determined to make her impact bigger than a Facebook post, Taryn founded The Body Image Movement, a now internationally recognised crusade that knows the importance of body diversity. It aims to redefine and rewrite beauty ideals by harnessing and facilitating positive body-image activism – yep, that’s a thing. Taryn then set up a Kickstarter campaign so she could create a documentary called Embrace. The Embrace Kickstarter trailer has had over 25 million views and earned the support of personalities like Rosie O’Donnell, Ashton Kutcher and Ricki Lake. It’s the most successfully crowd-funded documentary in Australian history. And if you haven’t seen it yet, well then, you’ve now got plans tonight: download it on iTunes because it is a must-see. Taryn talks to women on the street around the world who all admit they don’t have much love for their bodies. The word ‘disgusting’ is used a lot. I ask Taryn if anyone she spoke to said good things >
‘The internet went insane … People couldn’t understand how she could possibly be happy and heavier.’
ONE PICTURE, A THOUSAND WORDS In May 2013, she posted a photo on Facebook of crazyfit Taryn in a bikini, next to a picture of her new, softer body. She was naked, side-on and smiling – she was happy. It was a ‘before and after’, but opposite to the type you usually see. The internet went insane people applauded her, people hated her, people didn’t understand how she could possibly be happy … and heavier. In response to her photo, Taryn received over 7,000 emails. And now, four years into her journey, those stories still move Taryn to push forward every day. 14 L ATTE BUSINESS CHICKS /2017
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about themselves – sadly, she didn’t find one. “Nope. A few people would say something like, ‘I’m strong, but I hate my thighs.’ There was always a ‘but’. No one ever sat in the space and said I love ‘xyz’. I realised we needed to do a much better job.” Working in an environment where I’m constantly surrounded by women, I couldn’t agree more. Few women can even take a compliment without playing it down in some way. “Take the compliment!” Taryn strains. “Take it. We’ve been wired this way to be small and hidden. Women in general. So when you’re given a compliment, just say thank you.” Taryn spent months travelling around the globe and found that women aren’t just dissatisfied with their bodies, they are repelled. The documentary looks at the fashion industry and the media and what they’re doing to contribute. She talks to women like Turia Pitt, Ricki Lake, Mia Freedman and experts on their experience about the alarming rates of body image issues that are seen in people of all body types. Taryn quite literally bares all to explore the factors contributing to the problem and seeks to find solutions. The documentary took Taryn two years to create – and meant many months away from her family. But now she wakes up every day and pinches herself. “There is so much momentum around this film, there are screenings happening every day. When I wake up there are thousands of new people who have seen Embrace, either in the US or the UK. It’s so exciting.” Embrace is set to become one of the highestgrossing documentaries in Australian history, and through it Taryn has reached 100 million people and counting. She’s also told her story in a best-selling book of the same name. Taryn isn’t the first to share the body love message, but she might be the only to truly create a global movement from the message. She’s an influencer, a bit of a rebel and a leader we can all learn from. During her journey she’s been on the receiving end of a lot of silence and a lot of ‘nos’. But she just doesn’t listen. “One of my mottos for getting people to say yes is ‘polite persistence wears down resistance’. That’s been my life motto since I was a teenager. And I think it’s also balancing your tenacity and your passion. For me it’s always been about what I’m asking people and how I’m getting through to people. It’s really going straight for their heart; it’s about making that connection.” Taryn’s success is also due to the fact she’s not afraid to ask the tough questions and get out of her safe space. In October last year, she posted a photo on Instagram of herself with our Founder, Emma Isaacs, and Lorna Jane Clarkson after a screening of Embrace, along with this caption: ‘I love dynamic, strong and unstoppable women, so it should come as no surprise that I love
and adore these two.’ Taryn’s followers were quick to criticise, pointing out Lorna Jane’s comments at the time on her plan not to sell workout clothing above a size 16. “I would be an ineffective leader if I just comfortably positioned myself and my views in the safety of my community,” Taryn said in response. “Just because someone has a different opinion from yours, it doesn’t mean that you can’t co-exist, it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn something from that person. We could spend the next 50 years talking among ourselves about positive body image and our dissatisfaction for the lack of diversity in retail shops, advertising and the media. And do you know what the result would be – nothing!” Since that photo, and because of Taryn’s conversations with Lorna Jane, the brand has started to show more body diversity on their social channels – exactly what Taryn wants more of. “Change is happening, but change has never happened fast enough for me,” she laughs. People as high energy as Taryn can sometimes find it hard to focus and channel all that oomph. “I always work in an 80/20 space,” Taryn explains. “I have my main project that I’m working towards, but I always keep 20 per cent to keep my other projects moving on. I think this is key for fulfilling your goals and objectives and doing more; you’ve got to have a few things on the side. They don’t have to be big or loud, but at least there’s something happening – and you’re always working towards your goals.”
‘Take the compliment. Women in general have been wired to be small and hidden. So when you’re given a compliment, just say thank you.’
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aryn also acknowledges the huge importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. “Just really positive, bright, smart, witty, charismatic women. My team is all women and filled with integrity – that’s a big thing for me. People who are genuine, authentic and care for people. They’re the women I’m around.” On that topic of women, Taryn stresses this epidemic of body shaming and body hating is not a problem for just women to fix. “It’s a problem for humanity and it affects all.” As part of the work of The Body Image Movement, Taryn spends a lot of time with schoolkids. “It’s pretty heartbreaking what this next generation is dealing with,” she says. One of the exercises she does with young people is asks them to show her their social media feeds. “I ask them to show me their Facebook and Instagram and I ask them, ‘Who is looking back at you every day when you look at your phone?’ Who is that person? Who are your role models? Why are they your role models? But more importantly, I ask them, ‘Does this person inspire you to be a better person? Does > 2017/BUSINESS CHICKS L AT TE 17
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cover story Taryn will be on the Business Chicks stage {we know there will be a few dance moves!} for a seven-city tour starting in June. Bring your bestie, your mum and your teenage daughter. Tickets and details at businesschicks. com/events-tickets. Find out more about The Body Image Movement and Embrace {you can even host your own screening!} at bodyimagemovement.com. If you are needing further professional help and support in regards to eating disorders, anxiety, depression and mental health, contact the following resources: Lifeline lifeline.org.au or 13 11 14. National Eating Disorders Collaboration Helplines nedc. com.au/helplines. Beyond Blue beyondblue.org.au or 1300 22 4636.
this person you’re following make you feel really good?’ And most of the time they say no. Most of the time they’re following someone with a bikini transformation or a hot ass,” Taryn shares. Perhaps this is an exercise we all need to do. “You need to fill up your feed with people who inspire you to be a better person,” she says. And we need to watch how we use that word ‘inspire’, Taryn warns. When Taryn trained for the body-building competition and lost a lot of weight, people would often come up to her and say she was ‘inspiring’. “We need to change our value system of how we value other people. And it should have nothing to do with what someone looks like, it’s to do with who they are and what they do, and how they contribute to the world - how they’re making the world a better place. These are my measurements of a person that is inspirational, it’s by what they do – and it has nothing to do with what they look like.”
THE NEXT STEP
and who they are and how they feel as opposed to what they look like.” As our time comes to a close, I ask Taryn if she ever has off days, or ever looks in the mirror and doesn’t like what she sees, even if just for a moment. “Never,” she’s quick to answer. “Not even a thought, not even a moment. The relationship I have with my body is just pure, 100 per cent love and respect and it’s been years; I can’t even remember the last time I felt something negative about my body and myself.” Sometimes when you talk to people who are out to tackle such a massive issue, you hear goals like Taryn’s and think, ‘Yeah, that’s a nice dream, but it’s not going to happen’. But talking to Taryn you don’t get that feeling. It’s her resolve, her tenacity, her smarts and perhaps her killer dance moves. The universe isn’t stupid enough to mess with this woman. “I’m here to harness and facilitate and inspire people to reconnect with what life is about. And our purpose in life is not to be here to be at war with our bodies. I often fantasise about taking all of that energy that people throw towards a fat person and all that shame and all that guilt that people have for themselves, and actually taking that energy and redirecting it to fight something that’s actually important. Fat on your thighs is no one’s business. Take that energy and do something meaningful with it.”
‘I’m here to harness and facilitate and inspire people to reconnect with what life is about. And our purpose in life is not to be here to be at war with our bodies.’
I hope Taryn has no problem with people calling her inspiring now, because there is certainly no arguing that. And although she’s already made a difference and touched so many people, for Taryn, this is just the beginning. She’s in the process of writing her second book, is planning a second and third documentary, is currently working on something for TV – and of course she’ll be gracing the Business Chicks stage with a seven-city tour kicking off in June. “There are people in every pocket of the globe who feel the same sense of frustration and despair. And now the next step of all of this is to bring us together and I think that’s what Embrace does in part. It’s a really important conversation and it’s the next step of The Body Image Movement – how do we use our collective voices? Because as individuals we are going to endure the messages, but collectively we’re very powerful. We can push back. We can say, ‘No, this is not OK.’ And we can teach the next generation to embrace their bodies 18 L ATTE BUSINESS CHICKS /2017
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