2023 Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt to bring ACTIVATE event to Wodonga

Ms Brumfitt is inviting Years 7 to 9 student leaders, sports captains, and passionate change advocates from Albury-Wodonga and surrounds to join her for a free, fun-filled day where they will learn to move, nourish, appreciate and be kind to their bodies.

The long-standing body image campaigner is on a mission to help one million young people learn how to embrace their bodies at a time when 77 per cent of young Australians report being in body image distress.

Her visit comes on the back of a devastating rise in the prevalence and severity of eating disorders on the Border and North East and a resounding cry for better access to treatment and recovery services in local communities.

The ACTIVATE event on November 22 is designed to create change in the environments where young people live, learn and play; Wodonga is only the third city to be included in a national tour.

Ms Brumfitt wants to empower young people to lead the charge, arming them with information and inspiration that will set them up "for a lifetime free of judgement and shame about their bodies".

And she is acutely aware of the need to remove barriers in rural and regional areas - to "motivate and mobilise" young people to share these messages close to home in their own communities.

The Border event will include an exclusive screening of her Embrace Kids film, which explores the relationship children have with their bodies and covers topics including social media, disability, gender identity, representation and diversity.

The day will also feature stakeholder engagement sessions for parents, educators, sporting club coaches and community leaders.

Ms Brumfitt is no stranger to the Border, including Albury on a whirlwind seven-day bus tour in September, 2018 to promote the release of her book Embrace Yourself.

At that time the director of the award-winning documentary Embrace was embarking on the next chapter of her mission to get women to be more comfortable in their own skin.

She became an overnight sensation in 2013 when she posted two unconventional photos on Facebook to raise the spirits of female friends bemoaning the state of their bodies.

The "before" photo was of a svelte Brumfitt posing at a body building competition and the "after" a photo of her embracing her natural, curvy and gorgeous body.

The post went viral; it was seen by 100 million people and sparked an international media frenzy.

Suddenly, a woman loving her "imperfect" body became revolutionary - at a time when social media platforms are fostering increasingly unrealistic body image expectations.

And it catapulted this bubbly mum of three into a global crusade to end the body dissatisfaction epidemic.

In September, Ms Brumfitt, who has been working on improving Australia's body image for the past 11 years, led a high-energy ACTIVATE event for 1000 kids and 100 teachers at Adelaide's AFL Max.

The Wodonga event is being made possible thanks to the support of the Hume Bank, Women's Health Goulburn North East, Indigo Shire Council and Border Trust's Give500 fundraising program.

Young people who attend the event will be involved in the creation of a large-scale art piece to leave a lasting reminder of the Embrace message in the local community.

There will also be the opportunity for these body positivity warriors to share Embrace Kids resources in classrooms, helping to lead change for hundreds of other young people around them.