I was eleven when I first truly side-eyed religion. A simple experiment cemented my growing concerns about the reliability of this “god” I had been raised to believe in.

I was rehearsing for a church play in the main auditorium with my two adult co-stars when I decided to run a little test. It was a Saturday, and there was maintenance happening. We could hear my bio-dad in the ceiling above us, fixing something.

Sunday was church day. So was Friday (youth group), and Wednesday (bible studies) -but Sunday was the church day. In our nicest clothes we’d pile into our beat up work van, us older kids strapping ourselves into the non-regulation bench seat behind the cab. With our backs against the hot engine, we’d glance out the back and side windows, praying that our school friends didn’t catch a glimpse of the straps and zip ties holding the DIY seat in place.

I didn’t have a plan when I moved to Sydney in February 2018. Just a desperately-fought-for desire to start again. 2017 was the lowest of a long list of low points in my life. It almost bloody killed me. I emerged skinny, traumatised, penniless, and clutching my long overdue diagnoses of Autism, Dissociative PTSD, and BPD.

Before I opened Zenly in 2023, I had become completely disillusioned with the lack of body representation and accessibility in the fitness/wellness industry.

It was September in 2011 and I was spending my morning as I always would, drinking my massive coffee and smoking my menthol cigarette as I watched the dogs play. I have no idea what was different about that morning, but I was suddenly ravenous for change…

Everything I do at Zenly is about creating space for people to feel and process and emerge closer to worthiness.