Keynote speakers

Dr Zali Yager

Dr Zali Yager is an internationally-recognised body image expert, on a mission to change all of the things about the world that made us feel bad about the way we look. Zali has a Health and Physical Education background, spent 20+ years in research and teacher education, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Institute for Health and Sport at Victoria University in Australia.

Now focused on research translation for impact, Zali is the architect of strategic innovation and advocacy as Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Embrace Collective, alongside 2023 Australian of the Year, Taryn Brumfitt. Together, this dynamic duo have reached one million Australian children, changed the Australian curriculum, and taken their mission to Prime Ministers, Professors, and Presidents, from Parliament House in Australia, to the White House in the USA.

Phyllida Swift

Phyllida Swift is the current CEO of Face Equality International (FEI), a non-profit dedicated to building a world free from barriers, where the facial difference community are thriving and proud to be themselves.

With lived experience of facial scarring, she has been involved in campaigns for face equality ever since a car accident in Ghana in 2015. From media volunteer, to leading campaigns, to running FEI, Phyllida has a passion for reshaping negative narratives surrounding disfigurement and positioning face equality as a human rights issue, on a global scale.

Her creative approach to societal change demands for the facial difference community to be seen and heard, on their own terms.

In the December episode of Appearance Matters: The Podcast, Phyllida speaks about her inspirational work with FEI, her path into working into the visible difference field, some highlights of her career so far, goals for the future, as well as her previous AM conference highlights and key messages she hopes to share in her keynote in June.

Listen to the podcast episode