By Emilie Ng
SYDNEY Catholic woman Judi Limbers hopes young Brisbane women can fight a culture of negative body image with help from her homegrown business, All.u.re Workshop.
The educational organisation, formed in 2011, offers interactive and holistic beauty, friendship, social media and identity programs to schools and youth groups, primarily targeting 13 – 15 year old girls.
As chief executive officer Ms Limbers said the organisation’s concept grew from a passionate discussion between university friends on “the tidal wave of negative influences”.
“But we all shared this common idea that we didn’t want to just be people who complained about how bad society was and then did nothing about it, or just always be the bearer of bad news, regurgitating negative statistics,” Ms Limbers said.
“We thought about starting something just casually for our friends, just talks about positive topics like body image, body shapes.
“That snowballed in to what it is now, running workshops primarily for school-aged children, helping them to really understand or rediscover their self-worth and their uniqueness.”
Ms Limbers said the organisation’s title tried to emphasise a greater need for women to be comfortable with “all you are”.
Although based in Sydney, the team will be expanding across the East coast, with plans to begin Workshops in Brisbane Catholic schools next year.
“Come 2015, we’re going to have regional teams in Wagga Wagga, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Wollongong, with people based in these cities to run presentations for us,” Ms Limbers said.
All.u.re Workshop will hold a national training session in January next year for young women interested in being workshop facilitators in Brisbane.
Ms Limbers is also working on programs for male high school students called Valour Workshop.
Next year All.u.re Workshop will also launch their online educational hub providing subscription-based resources designed for “time poor” teachers. Teachers will have access to activities that can be downloaded and used in the classroom.
Brisbane Catholic schools can book All.u.re Workshop by visiting www.allureworkshop.org.
