Lots of people might recognise you from the uplifting videos of you dancing around the city of London. You recently learned that this form of movement is called somatic therapy, which has helped you heal from PTSD.

Can you talk to us about this journey and how movement and dancing have helped specifically?

I’ve always been a bit of a mover and groover, but little did I know in my adult years how crucial it would become to my well-being and my healing journey from medical PTSD. About nine months after my trauma, back in late 2019, I had this sudden urge to dance around my living room in my knickers. This is something I always did as a kid and teen. It felt really good, so I kept doing it. It became a daily activity for me.

I eventually started experimenting more with my body and my fitness levels. “Can I move my body consistently for a minute?”. A minute turned into a song, which turned into an album. Some days, I’d cry, but most days, I’d feel so unbelievably alive. I recorded a lot of this and put it on my Instagram, as I couldn’t really remember what my body was doing, and I didn’t have a mirror. Turns out, dancing had become a meditative state for me. A follower DM’d me in 2020 and said, “What you are doing is called somatic therapy”. I had never heard of such a thing, but with a quick Google search, I learnt it means ‘therapy of the body’. At this point, my body remembered more of my trauma than my brain did. So, by dancing, without me knowing it, I was releasing the trauma. Dance and what I call ‘flowing’ on my Instagram have significantly minimised all of my PTSD symptoms. Yes, I know this sounds wild. I would not have believed this either unless I had lived it.

When I reflect on late 2019 and ask myself, “Why did I start dancing in my knickers in my living room?” I remember it was from within that told me to do that. I just listened and followed my intuition. Nearly four years later, I have learnt so much, but most powerfully, that your body is constantly trying to communicate with you. You just need to listen to it. I haven’t stopped dancing. Especially in my living room and especially in my knickers.

In June this year, you celebrated two years of being signed to your modelling agency.

What is the most significant thing you have taken away from this experience, and are there any changes you would like to see in the industry?

Getting scouted and signed as a model has changed my life on multiple levels. I am so grateful that it happened.

Firstly, I never imagined myself modelling or saw it as a possible job due to growing up in fatphobic Australia. I never saw plus-size representation, so when I got my first job, actually my first full year of modelling, it all felt super surreal. I was probably in a state of shock for a lot of it.

The most significant thing I’ve taken away from it? The ripple effect of how important inclusivity and representation are. I do a job and get countless messages saying ‘Thank you’, ‘I feel so seen’, and ‘I bought XYZ because I saw my body shape represented’. I model for younger me. I model for every fat kid who grew up thinking they were undesirable and not perfect just the way they are. I see modelling as activism, and I always will.

Are there any changes I’d like to see in the industry? Absolutely. Hire more fat models. Hire more trans models. Hire more disabled models. Hire more black models.

You use your platform to talk about many important and relatable topics, including body image and mental health, but the thing that shines through in all of your content for us is your mission to find joy.

What role does joy play in your life, and has that changed over time?

My first memories of purposefully seeking joy were ignited by my mother. My mother is the most joyous person I know because she constantly and consistently seeks joy. From a young age, she would stop and make me smell the flowers or look up to the moon. Midway through our conversation, she would say, ‘Deep breaths, aren’t we lucky to be alive’. My mother is full of gratitude and a zest for life.

Many of my joy-seeking traits are from being raised in such a whimsical environment. I also aim to seek joy every day because there have been moments in my life where I had zero joy. I genuinely believe you can only know true light if you’ve experienced true darkness. I went through an experience that stripped me of everything. I learnt from this that when you have nothing, you are unbelievably grateful for all you once had.

A great example of this is when I was sick in the hospital. All I longed for was a job. If I hadn’t had the privilege of working taken away, I would never have seen something like ‘a job’ as a privilege. Joy is all around. Sometimes, you just need a new perspective to see it. I aim to encourage this on my social media.

What is one thing you would say to your younger self?

Life is going to throw you from every angle possible, but you will always land. Often in a better place, but you won’t see that or want to see that at first. But one day, you will eventually see after you land, you always bloom.

Where is your favourite place to swim?

Whale Beach Pool, NSW, Australia. At 5:56 pm on a warm summer’s day or 10:01 pm (just after the lights turn off) at Palm Beach Pool, NSW, Australia skinny dipping.

What is your favourite Youswim suit?

The Aplomb high waist two-piece in Stretch I. I have it in multiple colours! I’m obsessed.