Speaking

What might the presentation cover?
Virginia spent the first decade of her career writing about food, body image, weight and dieting — often from the perspective of how to do it all better. As a health and lifestyle journalist, she had an inside track on the rise of “wellness” based diet culture, reporting on “foodie” trends like clean eating, detoxing and baby led weaning for national magazines. But when her newborn daughter stopped eating during a medical crisis, Virginia spent two years teaching her how to feel safe around food again — and in the process, realized just how many of us are struggling to do the same thing. She began to see how the pressure to feed our kids and ourselves perfectly stems from a patriarchal cultural narrative that disconnects us from our bodies by creating unrealistic standards around food, weight and health. Virginia’s presentation explores how we got here — and how we can get back in touch with our eating instincts. She weaves research, personal narrative and analysis of diet culture together into an insightful and provocative talk.

Who can benefit from hearing Virginia’s story?
Anyone who has struggled with an eating disorder personally, or is close to someone who has; parents of picky eaters; people interested in learning more about how diet culture affects us all; people interested in examining their own relationship with food and eating; students studying food and food systems; diet and wellness professionals.

Great! When can she talk?
You can contact Jin Auh of the Wylie Agency (jauh@wylieagency.com) to ask about booking Virginia for your event.