What a year this has been for all of us. With schools remote, summer camps cancelled, and youth groups on hold or meeting virtually, we, along with many other youth non-profits, have had to rethink our programs and our outreach. But one thing is for sure: youth outreach programs are needed now more than ever.

Feelings of isolation, loneliness, anxiety, and depression are rising in young people. We are hard at work behind the scenes redesigning our programs to meet students where they're at now, both…

May 6th marks the NEDA Network’s second national #NoDietDay social media campaign to encourage the rejection of diet culture! This movement promotes fighting back against the shame associated with society's standards of beauty and respect for all body shapes and sizes.

We invite you to join us in promoting healthy relationships with food, movement, and body image!

Take the pledge and find out more HERE!

We're very proud to have Realize Your Beauty's Founder featured on ATTN: Media's new video series- 'Secret Messages with Ashley Graham'.

Please follow this link to ATTN:'s Facebook page to watch!

We're already planning for Camp Realize Your Beauty 2020!

Applications to be released in Mid-January 2020, with special early bird pricing.

Dates & Location below:

July 19th-24th, 2020 ~ YMCA of the Rockies ~ Estes Park, CO 

Girls, Ages 10-15yrs 
Jr. Counselors, 16-18yrs

Your camper will learn acting, play writing & directing skills, 
with a special emphasis placed on developing a positive sense of self! 

Topics addressed at Camp RYB: Self-Esteem ~ Kindness (towards self & others) ~ Anti-Bullying

At our summer camp, we talk to the campers about bullying and practice ways they can deal with the situation should it arise. Bullying is a very real and serious issue, and cyber bullying can be especially difficult to handle. We try to teach the kids to have empathy for the bully- that often the bully is dealing with many serious issues that cause them to lash out. And while finding empathy can help us to deal with our anger and hurt, it doesn't excuse the behavior. We teach them that it is never, ever…

We're so very excited to announce that Realize Your Beauty is a See Beautiful Grant Finalist!

What an honor to be featured along side such amazing organizations as: Every Woman Works, Inc., Empowered Readers, Friends To The Forlorn Pitbull Rescue, Paint Love, Diversify Dietetics, For Life, Inc., Aidan Cares, LOTUS Legal Clinic, Foster Care Alliance, Grow Restored, Puppy Prodigies, Love Not Lost, Georgia Steppers League, YFC Maine, The Peaceful Project, and Care for AIDS.

See Beautiful is a wonderful…

In Memoriam 

______________________ 

Georgia Michalec 

It is with heavy hearts that we share the sad news that our friend and long time board member, Georgia Michalec, has passed away after a long illness. 

Georgia was the Board Treasurer for Realize Your Beauty, and in her time with the organization, she organized several large events in Stafford, CT, including Realize Your Beauty Day events for community youth (an evening of arts, activities and celebration), and a large scale fundraiser in support of…

Our Founder & Executive Director, Stacey Lorin Merkl, was interviewed for this article by the Washington Post. The interview was regarding the work Endangered Bodies International is doing to remove these damaging plastic surgery apps designed for children. As a member of Endangered Bodies NYC, she's working alongside 8 International Chapters that have been petitioning Google, Amazon and Apple to put more restrictions on these apps.

We're hoping the article will get the word out about the petition, and…

Collaboration with Mt. Vernon Youth Bureau!

We are very pleased to be running a series of 12-workshops for Spring Semester with the GEM (Girls Embracing Maturity) Program in Mt. Vernon, NY.

We're so looking forward to working with the GEMs!

CALL TO ACTION!

As many of you have seen, this past week Weight Watchers announced their plans for growth to reach 10 Million members and grow $2 Billion dollars in revenue. Along with this plan? Offering free memberships to teenagers (ages 13-17) this upcoming summer. We believe that we as professionals and advocates for eating disorders, body positivity, Health at Every Size & the anti-diet movement - we can and MUST shed a light on why this is so problematic! Join us for a Twitter Takeover TODAY at 12pm…

Colorado friends:

Please join us at the Arvada Chipotle on 53rd/Wadsworth, TODAY, Sunday- January 7th from 4-8pm for a Fundraiser!

Show this flyer when you check out, and 50% (!!!) of the proceeds will help benefit our programs!

**Keep the poster handy on your phone- remember to show this flyer when you check out!**

Thank you!

On this dedicated day of giving, we invite you to support us as we inspire young people to feel positive & confident in themselves! 

By supporting Realize Your Beauty, you will be making an impact in the lives of hundreds of students per year who take part in our school programs, special events and summer camps! 

Make your tax-deductible gift today and share your passion for empowering youth!

<<SUPPORT US ~ CLICK HERE>>

To mail a check- please make donations payable to: 

Realize Your Beauty,…

Realize Your Beauty has very exciting news to share! The wonderfully passionate, fiercely intelligent, generous, creative and kind, Christy Oliver Reeves, CEO of I AM THAT GIRL, has joined our Advisory Board. We feel very lucky indeed.

Welcome, Christy!!

Happy Body Confidence Day!

We're SO excited to celebrate today with The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)'s Twitter Chat!
Realize Your Beauty will be a panelist in today's discussion, alongside Iskra Lawrence, Matthew Koma and others.

TODAY on Twitter (10/17/17) 2-3PM EST- use #NEDAchat.
We'll be discussing body positivity, diverse role models, and self-care techniques.

Please join us!!

The Girl Scouts just released a guide on how to address body image and fat shaming with your children and we're really happy to share! Lots of great advice in this article. We commend the Girl Scouts for taking on this topic so positively! Overall great article and we recommend for parents, teachers and mentors.

One highlight includes:

"Make sure she has positive body-image role models. Both the red carpet and the boardroom are becoming more diverse in terms of body size and shape, but girls might not see…

This spring I finished my MFA in playwriting, so have been thinking a lot about “Self-care” and how you close one door and open another. How can you be ambitious and move on to your next step while also honoring that you’re a person who just finished something that was a lot of effort! At my writing program I focused so hard on deadlines and writing banging plays, that a lot of times self-care had to come second and that’s why the summer is a great opportunity to reconnect to myself and slow downnn. 

I’m…

Tonight! May 20th, 8pm: Concert Benefiting Realize Your Beauty at Ethical Brew in Teaneck, NJ. This is one of the best venues in New Jersey, and it's sure to be a wonderful evening of music. Our Founder/Executive Director will be making a short presentation before the show, and will also be performing with the band! Headline artist will be Rupert Wates with special guest Jeremy Aaron Music.

Click HERE for more info & Tickets!

A new children's book has been released, the content of which is extremely disturbing. "Don't Call Me Fat: A First Look at Being Overweight", by Pat Thomas is a book that is geared towards children ages 4-8. This book is presented in a way that teaches body-shame and body-hatred to kids. It reinforces harmful stereotypes about individuals in larger bodies and perpetuates weight-stigma.

It's vital that we approach these topics with children in a responsible way. Teaching young children body-shame and…

I don’t know about you, but my summer just started and I am crazy exhausted! I just finished my second year of grad school for playwriting and I feel completely consumed by pressure, my studies and prep for going back in the fall. For a while I kept thinking that summer is the perfect time to OD on hw and cry a lot and think about school. But so much self-doubt and stress can be really triggering and it’s important to remind oneself that the summer can be a perfect time to take some self-care steps and…

Camp Realize Your Beauty
Sleepaway Camp: Girls 8-13yrs, July 17-22nd, Rocky Mountains
Early Bird Pricing Ends Monday!

Located in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, Camp Realize Your Beauty offers a very unique summer camp experience. Traditional camp activities- such as evening camp fire circles & nature walks- will be combined with workshops designed to build confidence and life skills. 

Your camper will learn acting, play writing & directing skills, with a special emphasis placed on developing a positive…