Female. White. English. Irish. Middle Class. Picture her. What do you see? Waif-like? Skinny? Pale? Bones. Hip bones? Vertebrae? Ribs? That's the body you would expect from a white, English, Irish, Middle-Class woman. Right?
When translated from Sanskrit, my name means 'bringer of victory'. It's powerful and empowering, giving me strength when I feel weak and pride when I succeed. But it also speaks to a line that I tread every day of my life: just Indian enough to evoke my heritage, but not so different from the English 'Jane' to be prohibitively different.
I am deeply moved by the concept of inspiration, the juice, dreams and the spark in life. I want to live it with my eyes open.
When I was a teenager growing up, we were all meant to suppress our sexuality and dress down to "protect ourselves from the urges of boys and men". That was what my father used to say to me
I’ve always had two big passions in life; helping others and music. So discovering music therapy was like finding my true calling. Finally, I had a way to use my love for making music to help others. But there was one obstacle in my way: I am deaf.
I have always tried to do everything I was supposed to from a young age. I hated it because I never felt like I fit anywhere. So, I made a friend – a voice inside my head.
___Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
For as long as I can remember, I have had an issue with my body and wanted to change it – to ‘perfect’ it. If my body was perfect, I would be perfect – everyone would love and adore me.
I've spent most of my life trying to be perfect - perfect daughter, perfect student, perfect body, perfect everything - and that ended up making me physically ill.
I'm an abusive relationship and sexual assault survivor turned pole dance performer and instructor. Before I became a pole dancer, my body didn't feel mine.
Early on in my life, my relationship with my body was linked to pain and then violence.
___A celebration of survival and love
We are made up of many stories and identities. This is a snapshot of some of mine; it is filled with tears, anxiety, loss and trauma but is also a celebration of love and new beginnings. A circle.
___I'm here, I'm loved, I'm grateful
I've been everywhere from a size 6 to a size 20 and all in the space of 6 years. After being sexually abused as a 7-year-old, I turned to food and subsequently had a disastrous relationship with my body and myself. I spent my whole childhood trying to diet and change myself.