The Girl to Woman Festival is back this summer to ask the question ‘Whose Role Model Are You?’
Now in its third year, the Girl to Woman Festival is becoming an iconic summer community event in Northern New South Wales. On January 22nd 2017, the one day festival returns to Lennox Head Community and Cultural Centre to celebrate the young women in our community and deepen the conversation around girls and young women’s health and well-being.
With the theme ‘Whose Role Model Are You?’ the program will not only explore the media and its impacts, social media and its rise but will also explore the very real impact we can all have on each other when we embrace the fact that we are all role models all of the time.
Celebrity culture, fashion with its often embedded pro-anorexia message, the increasingly blurred line between porn and pop culture and the rise of self-made ‘social media stardom’, means that our girls and young women are being raised with an unprecedented level of noise and imagery.
But do we question these images or simply ‘like’ and scroll to the next?
What are we doing as a community to support girls and young women in a society that is quick to exploit the natural beauty and power that girls and young women bring?
And what of girls and young women themselves? Where are their voices in the sea of noise?
The Girl to Woman Festival provides forums, workshops and discussion groups for girls, young women and the whole community to come together and look at the issues that are affecting us all, by virtue of the fact that they are impacting the young women in our communities.
This year we explore the power we each bring as role models to turn the tide on the prevailing pressures that have become the ‘new normal’ for girls as they grow up. At the same time, a number of all-ages activities on the day will provide an environment where young people can come and parents can bring their children to simply enjoy a day connecting. Perfumed body cream making workshops, face painting, a singing and expression workshop, beading, a nail painting station, a pamper and nurture tent (great for both adults and kids) and a number of other popular activities will be provided on the day.
And forget the fairy floss, super tasty treats and nourishing food will be available from the Belle General & Belle Central cafes and Nourish Bulk Health Organics at special Girl to Woman Festival prices (read: affordable for families).
The Girl to Woman Festival is supported by a number of businesses around the Northern Rivers and interstate as a way of giving back to the community. The major sponsor of the event is Esoteric Women’s Health, founded by Natalie Benhayon.
For more program information and bookings visit girltowoman.com.au
Rebecca Asquith – co-director of Real Media Real Change
About Rebecca Asquith
Festival presenter Rebecca Asquith is a web professional, media educator, producer and writer with a passion for supporting girls and young women as they grow up in an age increasingly saturated by media and social media influences. She feels there is a great power in media when we understand its effects and claim back our representation to empower ourselves. She is a co-director of Real Media Real Change.
Natalie Benhayon – supporting the Girl to Woman initiative.
About Natalie Benhayon
Festival MC and presenter Natalie Benhayon is the founding director of ‘Esoteric Women’s Health ~ Health from Within’ a sponsor and supporter of the Girl to Woman Event. Working as a complementary therapist and presenting internationally on the importance of understanding and re-defining health and well-being, she is considered a role model by many and passionately supports the Girl to Woman initiative to inspire young women to embrace who they truly are and not conform to the many pressures of “fitting in”.
See: esotericwomenshealth
