September 9th is known as the International Day of Beauty — it was created by the International Committee of Aesthetics and Cosmetology (CIDESCO) and was adopted by the World Congress in 1995. What better day to celebrate body confidence, education, health and community empowerment!
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the 2nd annual Body Confidence Canada Awards – A Toast To Curves held at Panorama. The BCCAs created and run by the amazing Aisha Fairclough and Jill Andrew, of Fat In The City, to celebrate “champions of body confidence, positivity and body diversity in Canada”.
Body Confidence Canada acknowledges Canadian based recipients who actively fight against stereotypes that attempt to label marginalized bodies (i.e., fat, radicalized, dis/abled, etc.) as unhealthy, uninspired, and underachieving. Looking around the room that night, there was something incredibly refreshing and empowering being among so many beautiful, confident women of all shapes and sizes. 🙂
The evening began with cocktails and incredible views of the city …followed by inspiring speeches from guest speakers and the winning nominees.
The 2014 BCCAward winners included: Ophilia Alleyne, Jewel Kats (absent from photo below), Stefanie Augusteijn of SexyPlus Clothing and Cindy Baker. A honourary award was also given to Dr. Carla Rice, one of the esteemed guest speakers . Each recipient shared a touching experience, who’s words were not only uplifting but resonated with nearly every woman in the room.
For a sample of one of the speeches click here by Miss Stefanie Augusteijn …and her message and spirit of collaboration in the plus community 🙂
A huge congratulations to all the winners from Petite Plus, Meow!
And now… a few fun snaps of all the fun had by me and the other lovelies in the room…
Me with THE sensational, inspiring, well-spoken Jill Andrews. If you haven’t seen her in action…click here for her TEDx Talk: Fat Shaming and the Thin Epidemic
Events like this help support the body positive movement. If you want to help build this event, please nominate someone that embodies what the BCCAs are all about by heading to the website and nominating someone for 2015.
“EveryBODY has a story” – let’s celebrate them!
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PPMeow! 
What a wonderful piece!! Thank you so very much for this and for ur support. I am purring with thanks;-);-) Ji!!
Oh Jill…. I’m so thrilled you liked the recap. More thrilled that you took the time to comment. I really appreciate it. 🙂