- WHO we are

Susie Orbach is a psychotherapist, social critic and activist. Her first book looking at women and bodies was the groundbreaking Fat is a Feminist Issue. She has since written 10 more books. Her latest is Bodies. She is the convenor of AnyBody/UK Endangered Bodies.

Roanna Mitchell is working as Artistic Director for our Endangered Species summit, undertaking PhD research, funded and supported by the University of Kent, and working with the Central School of Speech and Drama on practical solutions to issues of body, image and identity for actors. She also teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Sharon Haywood is a Canadian freelance writer and editor living in Argentina. She is co-editor of Adios Barbie, a website that promotes healthy self-image for people of all sizes, cultures, races, abilities and sexual identities. Sharon was the Buenos Aires Endangered Species Summit Coordinator in March 2011, and now leads the Endangered Bodies initiative in Argentina, called AnyBody Argentina.

Amy Anderson works in Communications for the NHS. Her interest in feminism developed at university where she studied International Politics and wrote her dissertation on violence against women. More recently she has focussed on the issues surrounding body image and body confidence. Deirdre Cowman is an intern with AnyBody based in Dublin. Currently in the final stages of her PhD research in University College Dublin, her topic is disordered eating prevention. She is passionate about promoting positive body image and media literacy in young people. She has organized eating disorder awareness and fundraising events and has recently co-written a children’s book that aims to promote self-acceptance and body image. She is delighted to be working with Bodywhys. Her role involves recruiting and training volunteers and expanding the services that provide support for people affected by eating disorders in Ireland.

Althea Greenan is curator of the Women's Art Library based in the Library at Goldsmiths, University of London and an early member of the AnyBody group. From the start she was swept up by the energy and necessity of AnyBody whose insights and actions for change are shared by so many different contemporary artists. She's looking forward to the ES Summit as an opportunity for artists' work to be seen in the context of body activism and for body activism to be seen to enrich cultural experience.

Ashley Baldwin is a communications specialist for a creative consultancy to International NGOs. A University College London graduate, Ashley moved to Argentina to write her undergraduate dissertation on an inspiring group of female human rights activists, Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. She has lived in Buenos Aires for eight years now, working for a variety of charities and beavering away on the ES Buenos Aires team! An aspiring novelist, Ashley spends her little spare time exploring alternative portrayals of women in the genre of commercial womens fiction.

Jo Harrison has been involved in AnyBody since 2001 as a result of having been struck by the importance of the message in Susie Orbach's book On Eating and wanting to do what she could to help spread that message. She works as a divorce lawyer and couple therapist and brings the experience from these different backgrounds to AnyBody, as well as her experience as a woman who has known what it is like to feel distress in her body and who has been lucky enough to find a way through that, enabling her to enjoy her body and the rest of life. She hopes passionately for change so that the very many girls and women who experience body distress can find a way to live more at peace with their bodies.

Stephanie Ifill is the most recent member of AnyBody and is the Principal designer for the Endangered Species Summit. She is passionate about seeing women reach their full potential. A University of the Arts London Graduate, Stephanie is an Art Director who uses her creative talent to combat the current visual culture. Stephanie has been an influential youth speaker and mentor to young women in the community for over 4 years. Taking delight in combining her creative talent with real life experiences and issue. She continues to deliver workshops, talks, creative sessions and events to young people that inspire change.

Noël Salviolo is Argentine and is in her third year of Journalism at university. After living in various countries around the world she has realized that women and teens all share the same worries and stresses regarding body image. She was thrilled to be able to act as the intern for the Buenos Aires ES team in preparation for and during the March 2011 summit. She is passionate about creating awareness and instigating positive change in how women and teens see and feel about themselves and their bodies.

Cinthia Pacheco is a Canadian-Argentine living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is writer, basketball player, and teacher. She enjoys writing about gender stereotypes, basketball, art, evolutionary psychology, and sexuality. Read her blog at http://pickthegirl.wordpress.com/

Jo E. Harrison is a graphic designer, artist and community project facilitator. She was brought up as a feminist and went on to study Visual Culture at the University of Brighton where she focused on public art, sexual politics and abjection & the female body. She has always been passionate about gender equality and is excited to be combining practical activism with her creative skills.

Alisa Berry-Ryan studied Social Anthropology and Development Studies marking a beginning in her long term interest in Gender and Body Politics. She lives in London and has worked for the Associated Press for the last four years.

Judy Lever was a journalist and award-winning documentary Producer/Director for Thames TV. In 1983, she co-founded Blooming Marvellous, which became the UK’s leading maternity-wear specialist. In 2010 she took over Collier Campbell, a hand-painted fabric design company.