ABOUT
Creating a world
free from judgement and shame about
our bodies
Creating change in all of the places where all live, learn and play
The Embrace Collective is a DGR1 registered health promotion charity dedicated to building better body image to help people achieve optimal physical and mental health.
Led by 2023 Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt and international body image expert Dr Zali Yager, The Embrace Collective brings together the best of science and creativity for impact. Our global network of researchers, experts, advocates, and lived experience advisors inform our programs, advocacy and campaigns that change the way the world thinks and feels about bodies, weight, and health.
Through our suite of age-appropriate Embrace Kids programs and resources, we get in early to teach the message of body appreciation to young people and support the adults around them to create a culture of kindness and body inclusion in all the places where young people live, learn and play to build better body image, now and for generations to come.
Our vision: A world where people are empowered to thrive, free from feelings of pressure, judgement and shame about their appearance.
This is needed because building better body image has the power to prevent eating disorders and depression, help young people achieve optimal health and wellbeing, and ensure that they are free to reach their full potential.
Our mission: To build better body image from the beginning, so all people can be happy, healthy and thrive.
Taking a holistic, multi-layered approach, we are driving change through programs, settings, and policy change, and by leading a national conversation about bodies, weight and health that has the power to shift social norms in ways that benefit health and wellbeing, now and for generations to come.
Where it all began
We started The Embrace Collective because we couldn’t ignore what we knew…
We — Taryn Brumfitt and Dr Zali Yager — had the lived experience, the research and the stories that made one thing clear: too many of us who grew up in the diet culture-ridden ’80s and ’90s were at war with our bodies. The shame we carried cost us our joy, our memories, our time, our energy and our dollars. It held us back from living life to the fullest — and we were determined to make sure our kids wouldn’t grow up feeling the same way.
As parents, professionals and people with a deep drive to change things, we both had moments when we thought: This isn’t okay. And it doesn’t have to be this way. So we joined forces and took action.
The Embrace Collective was born from a shared belief that all young people deserve to grow up feeling comfortable, confident and safe in their bodies. We knew that early intervention and support could prevent years of pain, and that a more inclusive, kind and supportive world was possible if we reached children early and empowered the adults who care for them — so we made it our mission to create this world.
Our approach
Evidence-
based
programs
Informed
by lived
experience
Changing professional practice
Advocating for change
Supporting young people — in all of the places where they live, learn and play — to build better body image from the beginning. We blend the latest science with creative approaches to produce programs and resources that are safe, effective and have epic impact.
Our team, advisory networks, and clinical advisors inform our approach by bringing the voices and stories of people who have experienced body dissatisfaction, eating disorders (clinical and subclinical), depression and mental health concerns, as well as those living in larger bodies and those who identify as culturally diverse, neurodiverse, gender diverse, and disabled.
We educate the adults around the young people — in home and family, education, and sport and movement settings — to create cultures of kindness without the criticism, comparisons and comments that fuel body shame.
Our collaborative advocacy efforts have driven change in school curriculum and health policy, to ensure a focus on health, not weight.
The Team
Founders
Taryn Brumfitt
Taryn Brumfitt is an award-winning filmmaker, bestselling author and internationally sought-after keynote speaker. Awarded 2023 Australian of the Year, she is a fiercely passionate advocate for social change and her message has reached more than 200 million people around the world.
Taryn is the founder of the Body Image Movement, director of the inspiring documentaries EMBRACE and EMBRACE KIDS, and author of four books. Her global crusade to help people embrace their bodies has seen her recognised by UN Women, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls and the Geena Davis Institute. Taryn has delivered more than 100 keynote addresses, and her talk at Google HQ in Silicon Valley was live-streamed to every Google office in the world.
In 2018, she was recognised in the Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence awards and received the SA Award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership from Women and Leadership Australia. She was also crowned EY Entrepreneur of the Year, South Australia, and has been named among GE’s highest-rated speakers.
With a powerful, universal message and unwavering commitment to her cause, Taryn Brumfitt is a true force to be reckoned with.
Dr Zali Yager
Dr Zali Yager is an internationally-recognised expert in the body image space, known for figuring out ‘what works’ to help people feel better about their bodies.
Zali is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Institute for Health and Sport at Victoria University, with a background in health and physical education.
In 2021, Zali was awarded one of 10 Westpac Social Change Fellowships. She received a Creswick Fellowship to spend time at Harvard and Northeastern University in 2018, and a Leverhulme Fellowship in 2011 to complete her postdoctoral work at the Centre for Appearance Research in the UK.
Zali co-authored the Embrace Kids book with Taryn Brumfitt from the Body Image Movement, and was the body image expert advisor on the EMBRACE KIDS film. She is ridiculously passionate and driven by the desire to create a safer body image environment for the next generation.
Diverse Voices
Sara Shams (she/her)
Policy and Project
Pharmacist, Speaker,
Disability Advocate, Model
Yemi Penn (she/her)
Speaker, Researcher, Engineer, Author and Filmmaker
Emily Unity (they/them)
Intersectional Lived and
Living Experience
Consultant
Lacey-Jade Christie (she/her)
Fat, LGBTQIA+,
Neurodivergent Activist, Content Creator and Public
Speaker
Sam Bloom (she/her)
Author, Speaker, Para Athlete
Amy Marks (she/her)
Disability Advocate and Freelance Filmmaker
Chevese Turner (she/her)
CEO, Body Equity Alliance; Founder & Former CEO, Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA)
Janu Dhayanathan (she/her)
Senior Analyst, Living with Neurofibromotosis and Ambassador for the Children’s Tumour Foundation
Henry Hughes (he/him)
Deaflympian
Trustee, Board Member & Social Advocate
Kylie Burton (she/her)
Academic Advisory Network
Dr Marilyn Bromberg (she/her)
Director Higher Degrees Coursework, The University of Western Australia Law School
Dr S. Bryn Austin (she/her)
Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Director, Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders
Dr Beth T. Bell (she/her)
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of York
Prof Nichola Rumsey (she/her)
Professor Emerita, Centre for Appearance Research, UWE Bristol UK; Health Psychologist
Dr Jo Doley (they/them)
Lecturer in Psychology, Victoria University
Dr Marilyn Metta
(she/her)
Director, The Metis Centre
Rojina Parchizadeh
(she/her)
Law/Psychology Student at Macquarie University
Dr Yves Saint James Aquino
(he/him)
Research Fellow, University of Wollongong
Dr Liz Dale
(she/her)
Worimi woman, Clinical Psychology Registrar, and Senior Lecturer and Health Researcher in Indigenous Health, University of Wollongong
Dr Fi Willer
(she/her)
Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, QUT; Senior Research Assistant at the UQ Centre for Community Health and Wellbeing; Board Director, Dietitians Australia; Director of Health, Not Diets
A/Prof Nina van Dyke
(she/her)
Principal Research Fellow & Health Lead, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University
Dr Lyza Norton
(she/her)
Paediatric Dietitian; Research Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne
Dr Angela Hinz
(she/her)
Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast
Vanessa Coulbeck
(she/her)
Doctoral Researcher at University of Toronto and Director of Research Project Management for the ReThinkSport Project
Youth Crew
Angus Murray (he/him)
Youth Crew Co-Lead, Law and Arts Student
Rhea Werner (she/her)
Youth Crew Founder & Co-Lead, Economics & Philosophy Student
Abbey Williams (she/her)
Health Sciences Student
Rachael Burns (she/her)
Matilda Ruchs (she/her)
High School Student, Dancer and Musician
Ella Roper (she/they)
Psychology Student and Inclusion Support Worker
Amalea Halls (she/her)
Psychology Student and Mental Health Advocate
Tahlia Hohaia (she/her)
Family Support Worker and Peer Advocate
Isabella Blake (she/her)
Pre-Service Primary Teacher
Lucy Flynn (she/her)
Founder of The Freedom Movement and Youth Intersectional Advocate for Mental Health and Chronic Illness
Maya Pepper (she/her)
Mental Health Advocate, Student and Aspiring Nutritionist
Emily Wright (she/her)
Pre-Service Primary Teacher, Netball Coach and Disability Advocate
Izzy Berry (she/her)
Steel Fabricator and Advocate for Mental Health, Disability Inclusion and Body Acceptance
Claire Bayley (she/they)
Advocate for Equality, Disability, Neurodivergence, Mental Ill Health and Domestic Abuse
Board of Directors
Dr Zali Yager (she/her)
Executive Director
Adjunct Associate Professor, Victoria University
Taryn Brumfitt (she/her)
Executive Director
Founder of the Body Image Movement
Dr Ivanka Prichard (she/her)
Founding Board Member
Associate Professor in Health & Exercise Sciences, Flinders University, SA
Damon Hunt (he/him)
Board Member
Senior Advisor at FTI Consulting
Annabel Rattigan (she/her)
Board Member
Coach and Facilitator at Our Community
Who we are collaborating with
Be a force for good
Partner with us to empower young people and those around them with the inspiration, research and resources to build better body image, now and for generations to come.
Advocacy for Impact
- ADVOCACY, SPORTS
IMPACT STORIES
That’s when we smile!
Hear from the inspiring stories from professionals and the community.
IMPACT STORIES
That’s when we smile!
Hear from the inspiring stories from professionals and the community.
