RECENT Event

Tess Holliday is a pioneer of the body positivity movement and is continuously paving the way for inclusivity across all industries. She was the first plus size model of her size and height to be signed to a major modelling agency, is a world-renowned speaker, podcast host, designer, author (The Not So Subtle Art of Being a Fat Girl), and activist. Tess is committed to spreading the message that beauty goes further than size, race, gender, abilities or social class and she created the viral hashtag #effyourbeautystandards that has been shared over 4.9 million times on Instagram alone, which led to her being named one of the most influential people on the internet by Time Magazine. 

TESS HOLLIDAY

Originally from Windsor, Canada, BOA began doing drag six years ago and recently competed on Canada's Drag Race! BOA's quirky personality, hilarious mixes, fierce looks and goofy banter makes BOA a versatile performer! BOA uses her platform to showcase her creative looks, impressive performances and activism for LGBTQIAS+ community. As she said when she entered the workroom dressed as a cow being abducted, this powerhouse really is not like UDDER queens!

BOA

Aysha Harun is a Canadian, Los Angeles based beauty and lifestyle creator. She acts as a voice for a largely underrepresented audience of women by not only being a hijabi, but also a woman of color. Frequently speaking to inclusivity, diversity, and body positivity, she is an inspiration through all aspects of her content from beauty, fashion, lifestyle, and health and wellness. Aysha celebrates her Ethiopian culture, and being a first generation in her family, she is passionate to normalize women's education in her culture and beyond. She has appeared in Buzzfeed, PopSugar, FLARE, People, as well as being named one of YouTube's "Women to Watch" in 2017. 

AYSHA HARUN

Tajia Reed is a 31 year old Beauty Content Creator. She started her journey almost four years ago and has since amassed a following of almost 400k on TikTok. She strives to continue building a platform based on transparency, honesty, and being a safe space for people who look like her, as well as holding brands and the like accountable for diversity and intersectionality. She has been featured in Allure, Tribe Dynamics and PureWow. 

TAJIA REED

Alex Light is a body confidence and self-acceptance influencer, journalist hailing from London, England. After struggling from various eating disorders, Alex’s virtual platform transitioned from beauty and fashion content to a safe space for anyone in the grips of an eating disorder or bad body image. She’s anti-diet, and has appeared in a number of publications for her criticism of the way in which media portrays bodies. She’s not afraid to call out trolls online and discuss the harms of diet culture on her platform and her Podcast, The Light Show which features guests discussing their personal body image journeys.

ALEX LIGHT

Dubbed “One Of The Original Plus-Size Influencers” by Forbes, Chenese Lewis has been on the front lines of the body positive movement for over two decades before blogging was relevant and pre-social media era. She is a multi-media personality, actress, speaker, and an in-demand host for major fashion and beauty events across the country. She has been an expert commentator on Dr. Phil, Huffington Post Live, and featured on numerous media outlets including E! News. Her podcast, The Chenese Lewis Show, made history as the first podcast created for the plus size industry, established in 2008. Her impressive bio is full of accomplishments that span twenty years of breaking barriers as a woman who didn’t fit into society’s narrow beauty standards and has solidified her spot as an industry trailblazer.

CHENESE LEWIS

Clarissa started her Instagram page as a way to feel more confident with her body. Since then, Clarissa has transformed her page to be a safe space for everyone to also feel their most confident self regardless their shape and size. She has been to several events and partnered with many brands as an influencer and is proud to show more body diversity in the fashion industry. Her content creation goes well beyond fashion. She is also a filmmaker, and outdoor enthusiast who loves to travel. She hopes to always inspire others with her page and documenting how she is living her best life. 

CLARISSA THOMPSON

Lilith Fury is a Latina, Indigenous, Queer and Disabled actress known for appearing in over 30 films to date. Her love for the horror genre has extended to her modeling career as well, as she was the first plus size model in her size category for goth brands Killstar, Too Fast and Sourpuss, etc. She's made it her mission to help provide representation to those who otherwise go unacknowledged. Her goal is to bring body positivity to the world of horror.

LILITH FURY

Darius McKiver aka NeonMUA is a makeup artist, enthusiast and content creator based out of North Carolina. His style focuses the combination of avant grade concepts with everyday wearable makeup and his mission is to help bring awareness to the way beauty is represented for black creators, especially black beauty boys and other queer bodies. Through this journey he has been able to create a lot of positive change in the community, include co-creating the #ColourpopMeBlack movement to help Colourpop discover new black talent, and creating the Dusk to Dawn Face palettes with Midas Cosmetics. His goal in this industry will always be to create a lane for black creators to flourish and be successful in while also helping to make sure that any black body that loves makeup can truly feel beautiful.

DARIUS MCKIVER

Brandi Leifso is the founder & CEO of Evio Beauty, a Canadian clean beauty company that is redefining luxury beauty to be kind, conscious and affordable. At the age of 21, Brandi was living in a women’s shelter where she created the concept for a cosmetics brand, and the rest is history. She secured a spot as an alumni member of the esteemed Sephora Accelerate program in 2018 and was also selected as one of Chatelaine Magazine’s 2018 Women of the Year. She believes change can happen through small, conscious, consistent actions, and EVIO continues to show their dedication to this through their myriad of charitable initiatives and actions for change including the Break Things podcast and the Did I Make Myself Clear Campaign.

BRANDI LEIFSO

Kristin is a freelance beauty, travel, fashion, and lifestyle editor and writer based in Los Angeles, and she is a proud graduate of Berklee College of Music. She has written for Elle, Elite Daily, Architectural Digest, Glamour, Billboard, and many more. Kristin previously worked as a lifestyle staff writer for Elite Daily, in the charts department at Billboard, and on the social media team at INSIDER. She loves jetsetting around the globe, her German Shepherd, Frankie, and a perfect pinky-brown nude lipstick. 

KRISTIN CORPUZ

Renée Tse is a Toronto-based writer, editor and digital content creator. Find her works published at The Kit, The Star, FASHION Magazine and Elle Canada, and in The Kit Chinese edition where she's currently the handling editor and catch her occasionally on CTV’s The Social as an on-air beauty expert. You can follow her @tseparfait on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest, where she creates and documents style, beauty and food content for her 12K+ followers.

RENEE TSE