Tag: UIO: You Inside Out

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Putting Body Image Into Perspective

Body image, the topic of Episode 4: Your Body Image Inside Out,  is a bugbear for most of us throughout life but during the teen years, it is exacerbated by all the focus on looks, fitting in and so on.  Continuing our efforts to tune into girls, week four of our UIO social media campaign, kicked off with an attention getting inspirational quote about self-love from Personal Trainer Laura Miles, who has shared her own story to do with body image throughout the podcast.

Also, leading up to Christmas, we featured Laura, a hot tip from her and over the Christmas weekend and beyond we jumped into some important conversations to do with body image. We couldn’t resist promoting and sharing the Girl Scouts invaluable resource on body image, Yes Your Daughter Just Called Herself Fat. It not only points out that body image problems start early, as early as age 10, but also offers helpful tips on how to manage such issues.

The other conversation that we found refreshing had to do with sports. While girls sometimes shy away from sports because of worries about body image, girls in the Basketball Inspiration Programme found the court a place where they felt confident about body and self. How refreshing!

On Sunday, we featured a a former Girl Guide, who continues her journey in Guiding as a leader. Ines suffered from body image problems from an early age but at age 22, has learned not to worry about society standards, a path to a happier, healthier her.

If you missed anything, check it out @uiopodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and join us in #tuningintogirls. Oh, and if you didn’t hear the podcast, it’s not too late to listen right here. Also, you can listen on iTunes, Stitcher and Tunein.  Stay tuned for next week’s round up on Hair.

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A Review of Your Body Inside Out

Last week we continued our UIO social media campaign with inspirational quotes and a hot tip from Episode 2: Your Body Inside Out with personal trainer Judit Ressinka. How wonderful to not only feature Judit but to also put the spotlight on the importance of exercise and nutrition in a lifestyle changing way. Not to mention sleep, which Judit points out sharpens the brain cells and makes life more manageable.

UIO’s expert on body and nutrition

Also, we jumped into a couple of conversations on related matters, one with Women in Sport, on getting more teen girls in the UK interested in P.E., as featured in The Guardian.  The other chat we engaged in was from LiveStrong.com suggesting ways for teen girls to lose weight but let’s be clear—no gimmicks and yo yo dieting there or here, for that matter. It’s all about lifestyle.

On Sunday we featured budding chef Olivia, attracting loads of attention to this savvy teens approach to nutrition and well-being. What a week but that’s not all.

UIO’s budding chef

We received some illustrations from the talented author Heather Moulson, who sketches for fun and here we feature the first one. Such a fresh and modern approach, I couldn’t help asking Heather to help us continue tuning into girls. She said yes, so watch this space.

In the meantime, see our week in review @uiopodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and join us in #tuningintogirls.  Oh and if you missed the podcast, it’s not to late to listen right here on our webpage or on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Soundcloud.  Just search UIO: You Inside Out podcast and tune in.

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Recap of UIO Confidence Inside Out Week

Mid-week last week we kicked off our UIO marketing campaign and what a week it was, featuring inspiring quotes and a hot tip from Episode 1 UIO: Your Confidence Inside Out with Cheryl Grace. What a great opportunity it was to feature such a celebrated business woman.

We launched with lots of cheer from the cheer team of Dougherty Comprehensive High School, Albany, Ga, and proudly put one its very own, Zaria Davis, in the spotlight during the week.

Zaria Davis @ Homecoming

Finally, we joined a couple of key conversations online. From Priyanka Chopra’s conversation on being confident to the highlights of Miss Amazing’s pageant for girls and women with disabilities.

See our week in review @uiopodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and join us in #tuningintogirls.  Oh and if you missed the podcast, it’s not to late to listen right here on our webpage or on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Soundcloud.  Just search UIO: You Inside Out podcast and tune in.

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UIO Makes Noise With Ten Week Campaign

Lately, we’ve been making a little noise at UIO: You Inside Out, the new podcast for teen girls—announcing our new look, and our new social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and most recently Instagram.

But you ain’t heard nothing yet! Today we kick off our UIO Marketing Campaign to inform and interest you the teenage girl and get you listening to the podcast series and talking about it, too. From November 29 to mid February, we will be promoting UIO with inspirational quotes, hot tips, original pics, and some real honest chat.

So whether you’re looking for practical tips on hair and skin or want to learn more about body image or sex and sexuality, UIO is the place to be. Hence, it’s about to get noisy up in here.

It’s a ten-week celebration—join us at UIO Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to help raise the voice of teenage girls.

Meanwhile, listen to your favourite podcast on our webpage, iTunes, Soundcloud, Tunein and Stitcher.

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UIO Launches Instagram Page

More excitement to cheer about at UIO: You Inside Out, the podcast for teenage girls.  Today, we launched our Instagram business page @uiopodcast. Follow us, like us, join us on Instagram.

This page follows the recent launch of our Facebook and Twitter pages.

With three dedicated social media pages, UIO aims to celebrate what it means to be a teenage girl today while advocating and campaigning on their behalf.

We’ll highlight great inspirational quotes and hot tips from our special guests—women featured in the podcasts: Cheryl Grace, Judit Ressinka, Jenny Hawkins, Laura Miles, Joy Miller, Jane and Molly Goldberg, Jenny Garrett, Rachel Gardener, Helen Lewis and Natalie Savvides–as well as creative photographs of teenage girls from both the US and UK.

Again join us, follow us, like our posts. Message us directly @uiopodcast or email UIO@sonjalewis.com. See you on Instagram.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for more UIO news.

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UIO Gets Dedicated Twitter Page

So many exciting things in the pipeline for UIO: You Inside Out, the new #podcastforteengirls. From the launch of ten episodes over the spring and summer to the unveiling of our first dedicated social media page on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, UIO is growing.

This week, we introduce UIO Twitter, user name @UIOPodcast, on which we look forward to joining important conversations to do with teenage girls and leading on some too.

Via our social media, we aim to celebrate what it means to be a teenage girl today while advocating and campaigning on their behalf. Thus, whether it’s to do with self confidence, values or peer pressure, we’ll be talking about it and listening, too.

In addition, we’ll highlight great inspirational quotes and hot tips from our special guests—women featured in the podcasts: Cheryl Grace, Judit Ressinka, Jenny Hawkins, Laura Miles, Joy Miller, Jane and Molly Goldberg, Jenny Garrett, Rachel Gardener, Helen Lewis and Natalie Savvides.

So join us, follow us, re-tweet our tweets. Message us directly @UIOPodcast or email UIO@sonjalewis.com. See you on Twitter.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for more UIO news.

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UIO Gets Dedicated Facebook Page

Earlier this year when I launched UIO, the new podcast for teenage girls, I was bouncing off the walls with passion for the project. Not something necessarily to be proud of, as it was annoying for some—the persistent phone calls, asking for this and that, the constant nattering about it all the time.

Thankfully, however, for many, including the ten women who agreed to an interview, it was a really good idea, something they wanted to see take off, too.

One thing that we could all agree on, to paraphrase one of them ‘anything for teenage girls.’ We’re all connected to a teenage girl or two in some way. And as women, we’ve been there done that and can relate to many of the growing pains.

And here we are months later, announcing our first UIO social media page on Facebook. Others are soon to follow. Until then, any and everything UIO can be found here, including a little background.

On that note, as I watch my niece grow into a young lady, seemingly under a misty day, I can’t help feeling that I owe it to her and her generation to not only try to put a few things right that are ever so wrong but also to stand along side them as they clear up the mist, if you will.

With UIO, I have chosen a single sex platform to give girls a space to deal with issues that are either exclusive to them or impact them disproportionately. For example, research shows that girls are sexualised earlier and more often than boys.

But I do think boys can enjoy the podcasts, too. They are just not aimed at them. In any case, UIO relies on Christian ethics and principles. My faith is at the engine of the podcast. Nonetheless, UIO is not solely for Christian girls. Listen to Prelude One for more on UIO’s roots and to hear more about my desire to support all girls.

The idea is to celebrate what it means to be a teenage girl today while advocating and campaigning with a view to influencing positive change. I call it straight talk because so many of the subjects are hush hush, even if the world has become more explicit. Most people don’t want to talk about tough topics such as sex, sexuality, body image and so on. At UIO, it is the real deal.

To this end, we invite you to like our page, join in the conversations, listen to the podcasts, tells us what you want to hear about, suggest a guest—anything you can think of that serves teenage girls. More podcasts are to come in 2018. In the meantime, check out the 2017 series.

 

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The UIO New Look Is Out

UIO: You Inside Out announces a new look , emphasising the voice of teenage girls.

Created by Dominque Ozturk, an accomplished designer who has years of experience in working with girls of all ages, the new look will be featured across all platforms where the podcast is aired, including iTunes and the UIO dedicated podcast page.

Also you can see the new look and listen to the podcast via Libsyn   Stitcher, Tunein and on Google Play music.

Created as a versatile medium for teenage girls with their input, UIO relies on sound principles and values, and offers a safe and responsible platform to provide insight into topics relevant to teenage girls today.

The 2017 pilot series includes ten shows, featuring a range of talented women with special interest, experience and expertise on a particular topic:

Episode 1 – Your Confidence Inside Out with Cheryl Grace

Episode 2 – Your Body Inside Out with Judit Ressinka

Episode 3 – Your Skin Inside Out with Jenny Hawkins

Episode 4 – Your Body Image Inside Out with Laura Miles

Episode 5 – Your Hair Inside Out with Joy Miller

Episode 6 – Your Mind Inside Out with Jane and Molly Goldberg

Episode 7 – Your Values Inside Out with Jenny Garrett

Episode 8 – On Sex and Sexuality with Rachel Gardner

Episode 9 – Your Family Inside with Helen Lewis

Episode 10 – Peer Pressure Inside Out with Natalie Savvides

Stay tuned for more UIO announcements in the coming days and for new episodes in 2018.

‘I find the subjects and experts are good for parents to hear too, said one listening parent. ‘The podcast raises many points  for conversations with my daughter.’

For more info or enquiries about UIO, write to info@sonjalewis.com

 

 

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Live Life Wherever You Are

Depending on who you ask, autumn is closer than you think.  While astronomers maintain that fall begins September 22, meteorologists say its tomorrow–the first day of September. I vote for the latter for a number of reasons. From fresher days to earlier nights, there is a newness out and about. Even if one isn’t fortunate enough to see it in the colour of bright leaves falling, it is in the air–the whiff of newness that begins with new beginnings. Back to school, back to work, back to life after a long summer holiday, old ways, whether local or global, seem a bit stale. Time to look ahead.

That’s me! After taking off a month or so, I am looking ahead to next week’s official return to my desk. In the meantime, I have a thing or two the say about life as an expat. In short,  Live Life Where You Are (as written about in latest Huff Post blog)…Seems like an obvious thing to do, doesn’t it? But living life to the fullest when transitioning to a new city, a new country, for example, isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

Undeniably, so much has been left behind both physically and mentally. At least that is the way I felt when I moved to London nearly twenty years ago, but holding close to my chest some savvy advice from my brother, a Retired US Airforce Chief Master Sergeant, who had already travelled the world, I got looking ahead fairly early on instead of always looking over my shoulder.

See the thing is: looking ahead doesn’t always mean forgetting the life lived previously, but it does mean adding to it and living life in the present.  Read more in the Huff Post about making a smooth transition from one country to another.

And follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Sonjalewis.com as I continue and complete my podcast series, You Inside and Out, dare to write more perceptive commentary and transition into a the next phase of living life to the fullest, right here in jolly old England.

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What Really Matters to Teen Girls

Reflecting upon my own teenage years, I remember valuing what I wore to school, the condition of my hair and its length, and what car my parents would use to collect me after cheerleader practice. Likely, the latter came from feeling embarrassed when my dad picked me up one day in an old collectors car that he had purchased out of obsession. Never mind that it was cool to him and probably would be worth a lot of money today, I was thrilled when he finally sold that ole blue thing; I think it was a Chevy.

Of course, these are all superficial values and on some level they were influenced by the signs of my time. Still, much of what I cared about has stuck with me til this day, particularly my obsession with the condition of my hair. These days I don’t mind so much about the length but to some degree parts of even my most superficial values have found their way into core of my existence. For example, the hair value has to do more with what’s health nowadays, as well as how it looks.

On a deeper level, however, I valued friendship, honesty and actually doing the right thing. I did not like the idea of doing the wrong thing, whatever that meant to me. And when I fell short, it haunted me for days, if not for years. And until this day, I am still a bit pollyannaish.

A few years ago when I was doing some work for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, I remember pointing out the bright side of a dire situation and a colleague saying: you have an answer for everything, don’t you. Never mind

The point is this: our core values tend to form early on in life and can steer us from the teenage years—often chalked up as a time of discovery and rebellion—to adulthood during the best and worst of times. Thus, knowing what really matters is important.

In my latest podcast with awarding winning coach Jenny Garrett, UIO: Your Values Inside Out, Jenny points out that it was her strong values that likely saw her through her teenage years.

In retrospect, I have to agree. Often when facing tough decisions or even life changing situations, what it came down to for me is: what really mattered to me, not what everyone else thought mattered.

To listen to Episode 7, click here or check it out on iTunes, Stitcher, Tunein or Soundcloud. Truly, there is no better time than the present to think about what you really value for a happier healthier existence. UIO: Your Values Inside Out explores the topic for today’s teenage girl.