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Rose of Tralee Elysha Brennan has launched a social media campaign, entitled #insideANDout, which is aimed at empowering teens and young adults to feel good in their own skin and realise their own inner beauty. Former Rose of Tralee presenter, Ray D’Arcy joined Elysha to launch the initiative. Photo By : Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus
ROSE of Tralee, Elysha Brennan has called on young Irish people to stop self-hating and self-shaming, but instead show the world that they are all beautiful #insideANDout.
She has launched a social media campaign, entitled #insideANDout, which is aimed at empowering teens and young adults to feel good in their own skin and realise their own inner beauty.
Elysha, who has been inspired by the Donal Walsh Foundation, was joined at RTÉ by former Rose of Tralee presenter, Ray D’Arcy, to launch the campaign and to encourage everyone to use the power of social media for some good.
Speaking at the launch, Elysha, 23, said: “During my 32 county tour of Ireland I become acutely aware of the struggles of teens and young adults who overtly express feelings of poor self-esteem and negative body image. I noticed a reoccurring theme especially amongst secondary school pupils, that when we would be taking a photo there would be a universal grumble amongst the pupils of ‘I’m going to look awful in this, I hate photos, and I look a mess today’. We must raise awareness, shine a light on this topic and start a conversation. I want women and men to stop for a minute and think: “What’s beautiful, special and unique about me #insideANDout?”
The #insideANDout campaign will start with Elysha posting a photo of herself holding a sheet of paper with the caption “I love my…” and say one thing she loves about herself on the inside – her character/strengths – and one thing she loves about herself physically on the outside.
Using the hashtag #insideANDout, she will tag others in the post with a view to starting a positive chain reaction.
“Let’s stop self-hating and shaming ourselves in our heads and out loud and let’s instead show the world we are all beautiful on the #insideANDout and we need to start believing it!” said Elysha.
Elysha Brennan said: “After I finished chemotherapy, I was left with neither any self-esteem nor confidence. I felt as though all the things I identified with being “beautiful” had been taken away from me.
“I no longer had my beautiful long blonde healthy hair and was left with a bald head which, for anybody, is quite unnerving. My slim, athletic dancer’s figure was no more. I had gained two stone over the course of six months, had stretch marks, couldn’t fit into my clothes and felt like an alien in my body.
“This was a crossroads in my life. I had to dig deep and realise that there were a million things about me that were special, unique and constituted the parts that make up Elysha. I realised that beauty is skin deep and much more than meets the eye. Nobody was going to come along and validate that I was beautiful. It was an inside job.”
To support Elysha in her quest to empower young Irish women and men to feel good about themselves simply nominate someone on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram and use the hashtag #insideANDout.
