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Evening Speakers (7-9pm)
Kate Dillon
Kate
struggled with anorexia for seven years, while working as a top print and
runway model. She was
underweight, yet was still told by photographers to lose more. Working with a nutritionist to
change her unhealthy eating habits, she gained weight. Her agency and clients were not
happy.
When
her agent accused her of not trying hard enough to lose weight, she had a
life-altering realization. “I
don’t have to do this and never have. She quit modeling and moved back to San Francisco where she began working on
improving her body image. “I
started trying to accept my body.
I realized I can fight it, or I can forget it and focus my energy on
something more productive.” This new attitude was a major
turning point in her recovery. “I
gave myself the freedom to be who I was, the freedom to be smart, goofy, or
whatever – the freedom to be myself.”
After
a two-year hiatus from modeling, she made a comeback as a “plus-size”
model and with the Wilhelmina Agency.
She is a spokesperson for the Eating Disorders Coalition for
Research, Policy, and Action, and appeared in the PBS documentary series NOVA,
“Dying To Be Thin.”
Ron George
Ron is
a founding member of the Voices
– Not Bodies organizing committee. He spent 30 years in the high-tech
software before retiring to open a printing establishment in Arlington. He and his wife Sally recently
celebrated their 33rd anniversary and live in Alexandria,
Va. In 2000 they lost their
daughter Leslie to an eating disorder.
Since
then, Ron has spoken about eating disorders at several college campuses and
rallies. In 2002, he spoke at a
rally on the lawn of the US Capitol in support of the Mental Health
Equitable Treatment Act.
Ron
and Sally have founded the Leslie George Memorial Fund for Eating Disorders
Awareness at James Madison University, where Leslie was a student at the
time of her death.
Joy Kasmarcik
Joy’s
battle with compulsive overeating began at an early age. Sexual abuse and the constant moving
of her parents helped create the body and image issues she suffered
from. Joy has come to accept
herself as she is, not how the eating disorder
said she should be.
Barb Michael
Barb
is the founder of Halt Ephedrine Abuse Today (HEAT), a group dedicated to
educating the public about the dangers of ephedrine, an ingredient in many
diet pills*. Barb founded HEAT
in 1998 after a synthetic ephedrine product caused the sudden death of her
24-year-old son Kristopher. She has been interviewed by Good Morning America, Court TV, Fox Sports Net, Washington
Post, New York Daily News,
and People Magazine, and testified at both the state and
federal levels.
(*The sale of ephedra in America has since been banned by the FDA.)
Crystal
Crystal is a single mother, whose eating disorder and ephedra addiction led her to a suicide attempt.
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