Vanessa Bong

Why is Locker Room Talk important to you?
The world is changing so fast in so many ways! We are more connected than ever, but at the same time, even more separated! Locker room talk is important to help individuals realise that they aren’t alone in their insecurities, uncertainties, doubts and journeys. This can give us comfort and can help us have more compassionate towards ourselves and to others.

If you had the chance, what’s something you’d like to tell your 16 year-old self?
I would say, hi 16 year old Vess, get braces so you don’t need to use Invisalign when you’re older. And then I would say; so, even though everything feels like it’ll stay the same forever, the one constant in life is change. But don’t get scared! Even though things change, you’ll change with it, and you’ll get stronger, wiser and braver with every small step you take.

What's something you'd like to see in your dream locker room?
I’ve never really been into sports, like not at all! So I’ve never really spent much time in a locker room except for when I went swimming in primary school. From that experience, I would say that my dream locker room would definitely be heated, like really warm and cosy!

How can we, both as individuals and as a society, help encourage body positivity?
This is something that I’ve been thinking about lately. As I’ve gotten older my body doesn’t look the same that it used to when I was like, say 20! I’m a little rounder on the edges and things are getting a little saggier! But I try to tell myself, hey body, you loved eating all of that delicious food, and thank you sweet body for being strong and helping me do what I need to do! I suppose, moving away from my body’s looks, but being grateful for all that she does for me. And the other idea is that, when I was younger, I never judged people by their looks. Instead, I saw all people as carrying an interesting story. And it was up to me to uncover it. I suppose then, body positivity can be encouraged by placing less value on what our body looks like, but instead valuing the usefulness of our bodies and place greater value on the human stories that they carry. This is not easy though!

In society, I honestly thinks that there has to be some transparency when it comes to marketing, celebrity and  On an individual l
Talk about it more openly. Being generous to ourselves and to be kind to ourselves. Talk about the things that do make us feel insecure so we can see that we all experience similar feelings and that we aren’t alone. To be brave enough to love the things that we are uncomfortable or embarrassed about.