Beauty-Wellness Talk from The Beautywell Project The Beautywell Project

Hafsa Farah’s interview on her experience graduating from the Young Women’s Wellness and Leadership Initiative (YWWLI). As well as Hafsa’s experience of working in the YWWLI program as student intern and being member of Beautywell’s Youth Advisory Board.


Hafsa Farah is an alumni of the Young Women’s Wellness and Leadership Initiative (YWWLI). She is currently student intern for the Young Women’s Wellness and Leadership Initiative and member of the Young Advisory Board for Beautywell. 

Our Beauty-Wellness Talk interview with Jam Lorenzo on the impact of colorism, skin-lightening practice and chemical exposures in the Philippines. We want to highlight how these issues are impacting many communities of color globally and find ways we can collectively combat colorism, skin-lightening practice and chemical exposures. 

Bio: 
Jam has been with BAN Toxics since 2016. He studied BS Community Development in the University of the Philippines – Diliman and is currently taking his Master studies in Urban and Regional Planning (Major in Environmental Planning). He’s also a classic Tetris fan.

The toxic influence of social media and society standards cause many people, especially women to develop body dysmorphia and eventually an eating disorder. The goal of our project is to eliminate the stigma around eating disorders and body dysmorphia in the East African community. In our video podcast, we dismiss common misconceptions most people have about Eating Disorders and Body Dysmorphia. This video includes a spoken word piece titled “Digesting Hidden Truths”.

Interested in learning more? 





How Organ Systems are affected by Eating Disorders



Cardiovascular System: How the heart pumps and regulates the circulation of blood within the body is dependent upon the amount of calories that is consumed. With fewer calories, the heart has less fuel for its activities. 


Digestive System: Gastroparesis which is known as slowed digestion occurs. 


Neurological System: The brain consumes one-fifth of the calories the body makes. When actions like fasting, dieting, self-starvation, etc… are occurring,  enough energy will not be delivered to the brain. This can cause difficulties in concentration and sleep. 


Endocrine System: The body hormones are made from the fat and cholesterol we intake when eating. Lack of these nutrients can cause detriments to hormonal levels. 







Statistics





 BDD is more common than disorders such as schizophrenia or anorexia nervosa.
Approximately one in fifty people are diagnosed with BDD.
The common misconception that black women are less susceptible to eating disorders is false. In fact, studies have found that Eating disorders in the black community develop at the same or higher rate when compared with white women.
Black teenagers are 50% more likely than white teenagers to have bulimic behavior, such as binge-eating and purging.
Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) with eating disorders are half as likely white people to be diagnosed or receive treatment. 

   


 Links 


US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health-Body dysmorphic disorder
Center for Discovery Eating Disorder Treatment-Common Myths About Body Dysmorphic Disorder

US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health-Prevalence of Eating Disorders among Blacks in the National Survey of American Life 
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders- Eating Disorder Statistics

National Eating  Disorders  Association  Common Health Consequences of Eating Disorders    




Meet the People Behind the Project: 




Asha Omar is an intern at the Young Women’s Wellness and Leadership Initiative. Asha wants to employ her education in something beyond a degree: fixing disparities in  women’s health. She hopes to one day open up a community clinic for uninsured women in her community.  In her freetime, Asha enjoys sewing and reading novels. For excitement, Asha loves to visit cafes and restaurants she’s never been to. 




 Raida Ismail is an Intern at the Young Women’s Wellness and Leadership Initiative. She has a passion for making a positive and progressive change in her community’s outlook on mental health. As a future St. Catherine University student, she plans to pursue a degree which will help her fulfill her morals and passions. In her free time she likes to read dystopian themed science fiction novels and try out new baking recipes. She would also like to convince her mom to get her a pet cat one day (not that it's going to work but it's worth a try).




Alia Bereka is an Intern as part of the cohort at the Young Women’s Wellness and Leadership Initiative (YWWLI). She is currently a high school senior at Ubah Medical Academy, and plans to attend the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities in Fall 2021, majoring in Human Physiology. Alia would love to work as humanitarian, in her home country (Ethiopia) and in other foreign countries-with humanitarian need. In other terms, Alia is a science nerd-(more on the anatomical/psychol

Amira Adawe interviewed Sonya Lunder about chemical exposures from cosmetics, small cosmetic companies formulation of these ingredients, the myth about organic beauty products and how all of these impacts our environment and human health. 


Bio:
Sonya Lunder is the Sierra Club's Senior Toxics Advisor for the Gender, Equity & Environment program. Sonya leads work on a range of toxics issues, particularly health impacts to women and children. Sonya has a Master's degree in Public Health from UC Berkeley, where she studied toxicology and risk assessment. Prior to joining Sierra Club in 2018, she spent 15 years working at Environmental Working Group. She has worked on toxic substances policy reform and campaigns to improve the regulation of drinking water, pesticides and air quality. Sonya has also worked for state and local government. She led a public health intervention at an active lead smelter and Superfund site in East Helena Montana, and worked for the State of California's environmental epidemiology branch.

Amira Adawe interviewed Safiya Mohamed on her lived experience of colorism.


Safiya Mohamed's Bio: 

Safiya Mohamed is a first-year student at the University of St. Thomas, studying Journalism and double-minoring in Justice and Peace Studies and Interfaith Leadership. She is passionate about writing, social justice work, and fostering an equitable society through honest journalism. She joined the Young Women's Wellness & Leadership Initiative (YWWLI) in 2019 with the hopes of connecting with other young women who are passionate about combatting colorism and fostering change within their communities. Safiya hopes to make the most of her four years at St. Thomas and become an international correspondent, covering different people, cultures, and ways of life to showcase our global shared humanity.

Amira Adawe interviewed Dr. Ronald E. Hall on the issue of colorism and how that is impacting many communities of color in the US and globally as well as his lived experience of colorism. 

Bio: 

Dr. Ronald E. Hall's professional career began as a clinical social worker. He received a BA degree in Psychology from Shaw College, an MA/MCS degree in Correctional Science from the University of Detroit, an MSW degree from the University of Michigan, and a PhD from Atlanta University.

In 1990, Dr. Hall testified as an expert witness in America’s first skin-color discrimination court case between African Americans: Morrow vs. IRS. Dr. Hall later devised the Bleaching Syndrome, to explain discrimination among people of color, and Identity Across the Lifespan, as an alternative biracial identity model.

In 2007, Dr. Hall was invited to Washington D.C., by Congressman Bobby Rush, to lecture on skin color at the Washington Convention Center. Also in 2007, Dr. Hall was an invited lecturer at the Oxford University Roundtable (UK).

In November of 2010, Dr. Hall was Keynote speaker the 2nd Surinam/Dutch Conference on Tropical Dermatology in South America.

More recently, Dr. Hall helped organized and participated in the first of its kind academic conference on global skin color issues at Washington University Law in St. Louis, MO.

In 2014, Dr. Hall launched his own company called HallMarked.