Meet Denise Hamburger,
Founder & Executive Director, Be Real USA, NFP
A few years ago I was guest lecturing in a 10th grade health class in a high school north of Chicago. As I entered the classroom the teacher told me that 4 kids—of the 24 kids in this class—had already been diagnosed with an eating disorder. That was twice the appalling, national average for a mental illness with one of the highest mortality rates out there! “What is going on?” I asked the teacher. “We are fighting an epidemic of body image problems without any tools,” she replied. “The kids are on social media all day long, seeing highly-edited, curated pictures of ‘perfect looking’ people. They feel flawed in comparison.”
I trained as a body image facilitator hoping to help this generation of kids suffering from rampant body image distress. I understood what body dissatisfaction was, having grown up with it myself in the 1970s. Back then we had beauty narrowly defined by the rail-thin women on TV. It was easy to feel “flawed in comparison” to the actresses on Charlie’s Angels, and they were only on our televisions once a week! Our kids have more pressure to look like an ideal growing up in today’s appearance-obsessed diet culture. They are bombarded with thousands of images of digitally altered, “perfect looking” people coming at them in a constant stream on their social media feeds.
I founded BE REAL to address kids’ body dissatisfaction—considered “normal” in this culture—by promoting culture change. We have education resources that teach educators how to create body confident schools. We give educators our free, research-based, tested body image curriculum Be Real’s BodyKind. In this way, we are changing culture teacher-by-teacher and student-by-student.
SPEAKING on Body Confidence
“Denise Hamburger is one of the best presenters I have heard in years. The depth of her knowledge was apparent, and I would love to hear her again.”
“This should be shared with everyone in the school system. This was an excellent opportunity.”
“Thank you for your knowledge on the subject and your passion for creating a shift in our society!”
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Eating Disorder Prevention Incubator, STRIPED, for the National Association of School Psychologists, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Healthy Schools Division, Washington DC
United States Department of Agriculture for the Food and Nutrition Service Division, Washington DC
Amazon Body Positive Peers, Seattle, Washington
Minnesota Department of Health Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP)
Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut
Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE), 2022 Youth Health Equity Advocacy Conference, Washington DC
Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE), 2023 Annual Conference, The New Age of Civil Rights, Advocacy & Equity, Atlanta, Georgia
Quad Cities Eating Disorder Conference, Keynote Speaker, Bettendorf, Iowa
Eating Disorder Coalition of Iowa, Educators Conference
Pleasant Hill, Iowa
Iowa School Nurses Organization Conference, Storm Lake, Iowa
BBYO Women’s Leadership and Advisory Council, Washington DC
BBYO Midwest Conference, Youth Presentation, Deerfield, Illinois
BBYO Midwest Conference, Parent Presentation, Deerfield, Illinois
Brooklyn Center Community High School Teacher Training, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
MN Shape Conference, Lakeville, Minnesota
St. Paul District Health Teachers’ Professional Development, St. Paul, MN
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan
The Marist School, Atlanta, Georgia
Silver Creek High School, Longmont, Colorado
Madison-Champaign Educational Service Center, Madison, Wisconsin
JMG Professional Services Client Group, Oakbrook, Illinois
Sante Fe BOCES, La Junta, Colorado
Project Maria, Rock County, Wisconsin
YogaRoots, Petoskey, Michigan
Art Impact Project, Lake Bluff, Illinois
The Nourished Girls Project, Raising Nourished Girls Interview Series. Santa Rosa, California
Schuylkill Intermediate, Mar Lin, Pennsylvania
West Central Indiana Educational Service Center, Greencastle, Indiana
Strive Prep Schools, Denver, Colorado
Glencoe Public Schools, Glencoe, Illinois
Chicago Lab Schools, Chicago, Illinois
Professional Development Alliance, Joliet, Illinois
Administrator Academy, West40 Regional Office of Education (ROE), Hillside, Illinois
West40 ROE, Hillside, Illinois
New Lennox Schools, New Lennox, Illinois
New Trier High School, BodyKind, Winnetka, Illinois
ROE 3, Vandalia, Il
ROE 11, Charleston, Il
ROE 12, Robinson, Il
ROE 13, Mount Vernon, Il
ROE 20, Harrisburg, Il
ROE 21, Benton, Il
ROE 26, Macomb, Il
ROE 32, Champaign, Il
ROE 39, Decatur, Il
ROE 41, Edwardsville, Il
ROE 44, Woodstock Il
ROE 48 Peoria, Il
ROE 56, Joliet, Il
ISC South, Chicago Heights, Il
New Trier High School, Winnetka, Illinois
Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois
Deerfield High School, Deerfield, Illinois
Libertyville High School, Libertyville, Illinois
Stephenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois
Glenbrook North High School, Northbrook, Illinois
Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, Illinois
New Lennox Schools, New Lennox, Illinois
Women’s Exchange, Winnetka, Illinois
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