Whether it’s the week before, or the week during, period skin can test our patience. Many of us experience so many other symptoms with our periods and a painful pimple or two in the mix doesn't help. Struggling with your skin on top of period stress each month is a lot. That’s 12 weeks a year. Absolutely rude if you ask us.  So what can we do about it? Well, plenty actually! Firstly, we can remember to forgive our bodies. We know acne and pimples can feel discouraging, but at the end of the day, our hormones are working hard for our bodies. Though it is frustrating, who are we to fight ..read more

Photo by Jacqueline Ashton for Soft Focus x easy. Constantly being at home is doing interesting things for our self perception. With nowhere to go and no expectations of how we should look or dress, we're deciding solely for ourselves what looks and feels best. Maybe you love the freedom of not feeling the need to put on any makeup. Or maybe you're using this time to experiment with makeup you would never have worn to the office. My routine has been to shower each morning and put my makeup on, almost as a way of waking up. I find I feel less tired when I catch a glimpse of myself in the ..read more

Lila Karim is the Founding Executive Director of North York Arts (NYA), a charitable multi-disciplinary arts organization that provides arts programming and services to six city wards in Toronto. Prior to NYA, Lila worked for other non-profit cultural organizations including the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Reelworld Film Festival, and The Harold Greenberg Fund. Lila has extensive experience in Toronto’s cultural sector as an artistic producer, programmer, and administrator. Partnering and developing a community of artists, filmmakers, musicians, curators, has resulted in over 500,000 audience a ..read more

Thinking about the future can be daunting and challenging work, especially when the world feels like it’s upside-down (as it has for most of this year)—but it can also be incredibly powerful. Professional futurist Emily Empel helps people dream about the future for a living. She works to help others navigate a way forward that feels productive, inclusive, and a little bit uncomfortable. Read on below to learn about Emily’s work, why it’s particularly critical at this moment in history, and how she shapes her perspectives on the future. Tell us a bit about your work as a foresight practitioner ..read more

 Written by Dr. Kirsty Gaylor, ND http://www.drkirstygaylor.com/ We know that staying hydrated is important. We’ve heard it a million times. The problem is, it’s often thought of as just an important general health thing that’s great to remember. We often don’t connect specific health issues to dehydration. Drinking enough water isn’t just “good for your health”, it’s absolutely essential.  The Menstrual Cycle People who menstruate undergo hormonal changes throughout the month. Usually, the first half of the cycle is dominated by estrogen and the second half dominated by progesteron ..read more

Lara Parker, writer and deputy editor at buzzfeed.com has used her experience with endometriosis and painful sex to draw attention to these issues by sharing honestly and vulnerably through her writing. Her latest project, forthcoming book Vagina Problems, will be released October 6th 2020. We spoke with Lara about advocating for self, the silencing of women's pain and using Cannabis for pain management. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Lara and that it might help with your own Vagina Problems. Like so many that end up with an eventual diagnosis of endometriosis, it took many year ..read more

In partnership with Not Safe For Moms Group (NSFMG)  Hey Mom Group, “I have a question for the group: [my] first postpartum period —  it caught me totally off guard and I wasn’t ready! It felt like the end of a liminal period that I was very attached to. I floundered around thinking of any mention of it in literature or baby books so as to anchor myself to ways in which others had made meaning of it before me, but found nothing. Was it also a big deal for others?” – M. Not so long ago, the Not Safe for Mom Group community received the above message from a member, underlini ..read more

Leisse Wilcox is a transformational coach, a single mother of three girls, a podcast host and wrote her first book while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Leisse is a lightworker and alchemist and I'm so inspired by her story. I can't wait to share this conversation with you. Let's jump in. "To Call Myself Beloved" What a title, can you walk us through what experiences birthed this particular book for you and why you landed on this powerful title? The title of my book, the name of my podcast, and the first line of my second tattoo are from one of my favourite poems, that I found in a ..read more

Photo courtesy of Amanda Bjorn www.amandabjornphotography.com / Model & Momma Renata Suarez Congratulations! You just had a baby! You have successfully brought new life into this world. Your body has performed one of the greatest feats humanly possible. You now have a new human to help learn and grow and that is exciting and challenging at the same time. Your family and friends are likely asking you a lot of questions about the new addition to the family and much of your daily focus is on how to keep this tiny human alive, but you may notice that you are in some ways, also a new ..read more