My talk for the Steel Belles WI in Sheffield about body positivity, ostomies, feminism, body hair and being fat.
Probably NSFW due to my sweary Northern gob…
You can buy the t-shirt I am wearing here and £2.50 from every sale goes to Purple Wings Charity.
I did a talk at the marvellous Seven Hills WI in Sheffield last month about self esteem and body confidence. It was fantastic to get to talk to such wonderful women and it was filmed so please do take a look. I am a little bit sweary so not suitable for younger viewers. It is 45 minutes long, so grab a brew and take a listen.
If you would like to book me to talk at your event, get in touch now.
Love Sam xx
I was invited to the Pelican Healthcare Life Your Life roadshow in Cardiff to talk about living with an ileostomy and self esteem. It was a great day, there was a ton of information stalls and products as well as dietary advice, a reflexologist, the Get Your Belly Out team and lots more. The super friendly team at Pelican Healthcare were on site to welcome the ostomates, family and friends and to chat and guide them through the day.
My talk was filmed and you can take a look here… Enjoy!
If you want me to talk at your event, then get in touch!
Pelican Healthcare provide ostomy products to people all over the UK, as well as giving advice, support and developing a community for people with ostomies. You can like them on Facebook and follow them on twitter.
Sam x
Do you live near Cardiff and have an ostomy? Pelican Healthcare are holding their Live Your Life Roadshow on Saturday 24th January at Miskin Manor and I will be there, giving a talk about body image, self esteem and my time with an ostomy.
The Pelican team will also be there, along with surgeons, doctors, nurses, Bowel Cancer UK and Thrive Magazine. There will be talks, Q&A’s, craft stalls and a ton of information and support. The Roadshow runs from 10am till 3pm and there are free buses running from Royal Glamorgan, Prince Charles and Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda hospitals throughout the day.
I have done talks up and down the UK about living with Ulcerative Colitis and my journey through illness, medications, surgeries and recovery. I do this because I believe in talking openly about these issues to help others on their own journey. I love writing for both my blog and also for other websites and magazines, but I really love getting out and talking with members of the public.
So if you are about on the 24th, please come and listen to my talk but I will also be about all day so come say hello and tell me your IBD story. I know that it can be intimidating to go along to support and information days, it can feel like it isn’t for someone like you, or it can be difficult to go on your own. But know that it will be a friendly, open and welcoming day and there will be plenty of friendly faces.
It is my first time in Wales and I can’t wait! Look out for me and if you are feeling a bit nervous, come hang out with me and we can talk poo!
Hope to see some of you real soon, please share with anyone you think would benefit from the roadshow.
Till then you can follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook or check out my photos on Instagram.
Love Sam xx
I was thrilled to get an email from the very lovely Pippa Evans, entertainer, writer and co-founder of Sunday Assembly. She is a fan of the blog and asked if I would come down to London to speak at the Sunday Assembly at Conway Hall.
I’ll be honest, I had never heard of the Sunday Assembly and so went off to google and became really intrigued. A church without God is what they offer. A meeting of people who want to be a community, gather together, have good morals and teach love, joy and life. An atheist church if you will.
I was brought up catholic, but as an adult I am an atheist. I don’t believe there is a God though I do respect the beliefs of others. I do go to church from time to time for weddings, christenings and funerals and I always remember that I did enjoy going to church, I like the community spirit, the idea of a big extended family, I like the singing, I like listening to sermons even if I don’t believe in the deity they speak of and so this Sunday Assembly sounded right up my street!
They have a motto;
Live Better. We aim to provide inspiring, thought-provoking and practical ideas that help people to live the lives they want to lead and be the people they want to be
Help Often. Assemblies are communities of action building lives of purpose, encouraging us all to help anyone who needs it to support each other
Wonder More. Hearing talks, singing as one, listening to readings and even playing games helps us to connect with each other and the awesome world we live in.
I find this a really interesting idea and I am excited not only to be joining them to do my own talk, but to listen to others and taking part in the whole ‘mass’. I love listening to talks and going to events, I adore listening to TED talks and watching documentaries and so this idea is appealing to me.
I understand that this is a little contentious, it always is if you speak about religion even if you are talking about a lack of it. People take offence and feel defensive of their belief systems, I get this, but The Sunday Assembly seems to be about good, about self improvement, community, helping others and living a better life.
I will be talking at Sunday Assembly London on 16th November from 11am, take a look at the event here. All are welcome and the event is free.
Love Sam xxx
I was absolutely thrilled and blown away to be invited to be a speaker at Experience Barnsley’s International Women’s Day event on 8th March this year at Barnsley Town Hall. It is £2.50 a ticket so if anyone fancies coming to hear me talk about bowels, shit and self esteem I would greatly appreciate the support!
Along with three other amazing speakers I will be doing a talk about my journey with IBD and how this and my ileostomy affect self esteem and body image.
Dr Lorna Warren is a lecturer at the University of Sheffield and is doing a talk on a project called Look at Me which has worked with women in Sheffield to explore representations of women and ageing in the media and to produce new images to challenge existing stereotypes. An amazing project that you can see more about here.
Anne Fay is the head of education at Wallace Collection and her talk on The Beau Monde sounds fantastic.
Author and Lecturer Katie Edwards talk on religion and feminism is one Im really looking forward to.
It is an honour to share a stage with these women and though Im frankly terrified I am hoping to deliver a speech that will explain both the physical, emotional and mental affects of illness and surgery on female body image. Ill be discussing how I dealt with the last ten years of ulcerative colitis and then my operation and how positivity has played a huge role in dealing with the emotional side of living with a stoma.
I talk about poo A LOT on this blog and the thought of talking shit to a room full of people is both amusing and scary. In September when I lay in HDU at the Northern General in Sheffield covered in tubes, with my arms full of canulas and feeling so weak that I couldn’t lift my head, I never dreamed that six months later I would be standing in Barnsley Town Hall being a speaker for Yorkshire women.
Thanks so much for the support of all you people who regularly read my blog, Facebook and twitter. Being part of International Women’s Day is an absolute dream come true and I just hope I do you all proud.
Thanks
Sam x