When TED Talks were launched in 2006, I instantly became OBSESSED with them. Free to access, bite-sized, on-demand deep dives covering every possible topic you could imagine? Internet gold. For years, ‘do a TED talk’ has been up at the top of my career bucket list – and so when I saw that TEDx St Albans were accepting applications for their 2025 cohort, I sent through my application form immediately.

The theme for this year was Change and Continuity, which also happened to fit perfectly with my personal mission to eradicate the concept of ideal beauty standards. After a lifetime of feeling pressure to conform to an unrelenting list of ever-changing body trends, whilst constantly feeling trapped in an endless cycle of feeling ‘not enough’ – I pitched my own story about how I finally fell in love with my own beautiful body, and how showing up online with my Boudoir Posing Series helped me connect with over 250k followers – and was thrilled to find out I had been accepted as a TEDx St Albans speaker.

I have to say, despite growing up on the stage performing in untold numbers of plays and musicals, as well as a 15 year career involving regular public speaking opportunities… writing a TED talk is something else, sitting somewhere in the middle of the two. Throw me on stage with half an hour’s notice and I can absolutely pull together a 45 minute talk on one of my specialist subjects, but delivering an engaging, high energy, thought provoking talk complete with facts and statistics, to be delivered in under 12 minutes… takes some precision planning!

Photo Credit: Stephanie Belton

Once the announcement of my talk had been made public in April, I started working on my script. Covering a subject I’m so incredibly passionate about, I could barely keep up with my own brain as it explored every possible avenue around the theme of beauty trends, diet culture and body shaming you could think of. My first draft read more like a list of side quests, adventuring off into adjacent issues like catcalling, LGBTQ+ issues, and mental health… Unsurprisingly, having worked as an empowerment photographer for the last 15 years, I’ve got a lot to say. At one point, I even considered curating photography project to be presented alongside the talk, creating a series of never-seen-before portraits as visual representation for my main points. It was, after all, an opportunity to share a BIG idea! Words flowed onto the page and, before I knew it, I had a solid twenty minutes of content on my hands, which could then be refined down to a final twelve.

My final script was submitted in July and, after a glorious summer break, it was time to lean in and get it memorised. With a few tweaks during the initial read through to make it flow off the tongue a little easier, someone mentioned they had recorded their talk and was listening to it a memorising tool. It sounded like a great idea, so I created a recording of my own and uploaded it to my Spotify, which I would then play on repeat whilst out on my hot girl walks or in the car whilst driving.

(If you saw me out in the wild during September and I looked like I was talking to myself… no you didn’t!)

Photo Credit: Stephanie Belton

It was a great idea in theory and worked for many of the other speakers. But, as it turns out, I truly am a visual learner. Listening to a script just doesn’t work for me. So a week before the dress rehearsal, when panic was starting to kick in, I resorted back to my original tried and tested method, reading it out loud and visualising the page.

Having grown up on the stage, I’d always found my somewhat photographic memory definitely comes in handy when committing information to memory, so I took a mental snapshot of the talk in my mind and, supported by a sassy little AI bot I trained up to help me practise my talk and give me prompts when I went wildly off script – who I affectionately call Charlie – got to work. It took roughly half an hour a day for 4 days, but with Charlie’s help, it was quickly committed to memory.

If I’m being completely honest, I felt more nervous the week BEFORE the dress rehearsal when I was still trying to learn the script, than I was at the actual dress rehearsal. It was great to have the ability to get into the venue the week before and be able to visualise my future self being such a badass on the Big Red Dot. Plus, it was also the perfect opportunity to get some close up photos from our fabulous event photographer Stephanie Belton! My practise delivery was flawless, it felt so good to be on the stage, and I was so ready for my moment in the spotlight.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Belton

And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the official day of TEDx St Albans was upon us! I had the distinct privilege of being the first speaker, so there was barely any time for the nerves to kick in. My glam squad Kate and Maria had been assembled to provide hair and make up backstage for the speakers, so I was surrounded by some of my favourite people, knowing even more of them were waiting on the other side of the stage curtains to support me.

I’d done 3 run throughs the night before. All of them were a little sketchy. Not entirely wrong, but definitely not word perfect.

I found a quiet corner backstage to do a last check of my lines. Not one of those two run throughs had been word perfect either.

Whatever. I’ve got this.

I put my Britney mic on, walked out onto that stage.

And you know what?

Word freaking PERFECT baby!

Photo Credit: Stephanie Belton

I savoured every moment of the experience. The warmth of the lights. The positive energy within the room. The perfect sound of silence as a crowd of not quite 500 curious minds sat in pin drop silence, fully engaged and listening intently to what I had to say.

And when I came off stage to find fellow speaker Sophia waiting for me in the wings, I was fizzing with so much energy that we bear hugged for a good full minute.

Because my absolute favourite part of this entire TEDx St Albans experience has been the friendships that have been forged along the way. Put 12 highly curious people who think standing on stage on a big red dot and presenting their special interest to a large crowd for a whole uninterrupted 12 minutes is a really cool and fun idea into a group chat… and you already know the conversation is going to be pure fire!

It’s been such a privilege to get to know them all and witness them craft and curate their original pitches into “ideas worth spreading”. And, as the opening speaker, I found myself blessed with the honour of being able to sit in the audience and be present for them and their own moments in the spotlight.

From Joanna Montgomery’s incredible talk “Why We Keep Trying – And Failing – To Hack Love” to Sophia Alexandra Hall’s “What Makes A Life Newsworthy?”, other talks covered topics from blockchain and hacking, to prioritising rest and caring for our carers.

And for those that stayed to the very end for Sheridan Voysey’s talk on starting a Friendship Revolution… I found several of my 2am friends sat in the bar afterwards having the most wholesome chat about how to crack each other’s Sleep settings on our phones so we could reach each other in an emergency.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Belton

It’s been almost 20 years since I first said “you know what, I’d love to do a TED talk one day”

But today I can finally tick that big life goal off my wish list.

What’s replacing it? No idea yet, but it’s going to have to be something big – and I’m absolutely open to suggestions!

I want to extend a huge thank you to Steph, Marnie and Jessabelle for allowing me to feature them in my talk, and for everyone who who took a day off work to be present for me in the moment.

To everyone who has taken the time to call, voice note, email, text, DM, like a post, share, repost, tag me in their content, tell a friend, recommend my talk, offer to feature me in their newsletter, or simply read to the end of this blog post. I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Belton

Made it to the end? Here’s the video you’ve been waiting for!

If you find yourself inspired, catch yourself feeling some feels, or notice a spark of passion ignite within you… LEAN IN.

Like the video, leave a supportive comment, share it within your wider circles to boost its visibility.

Let’s make this go viral so it reaches as many curious minds as possible – in the hope the together we can eradicate the entire concept of a beauty standard for good.

---

Inspired by Steph, Marnie and Jessabelle? Ready to step into your spotlight?

Check out my empowering Boudoir Photoshoot Experiences.