#SheInspires Bianca Young

As a teenager I was always super insecure about how I looked.

I always felt I was too fat, my skin was too pimply and I was just never one of the “cool” girls.

Don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of friends and still achieved things I was proud of, but on the inside I always felt defective and far less worthy than everyone else.

Thankfully as I’ve matured I’ve learned to love and embrace myself for who I am and have a much better outlook on life, but it would have been nice to have someone back then show me I was perfect just the way I was.

Luckily for the youth of today Brisbane-based entrepreneur Bianca Young is doing just that, offering youth empowerment programs through her organisation Urban Heart.

Through her programs Bianca coaches and mentors young girls and teens on how to have a better relationship with themselves, their bodies and others.

Bianca has spent the last 20 years helping young people through early childhood education, special needs and social work and believes helping children develop a solid sense of worth was far more powerful than undoing damage as an adult.

“I’ve always had a deep interest in the psychological development of young people,” Bianca said.

“Having had a coloured upbringing myself and needing to devote a great deal of time to self development, I chose working with young people as a career,” she said.

“ I recognised what I needed and didn’t receive as a child and decided to be exactly that to young people who needed support, guidance and love.

“This has always been my drive for building these workshops- to educate in areas of social and emotional well-being as we aren’t taught a great deal of these skills early on in life.”

Urban Heart workshops cover a variety of subjects including self love and care, relationships and friendships, communication and connection, resilience and mindset, healthy food choices,modern sex education and body awareness.

In addition to her professional experience, Bianca has also been able to draw on her journey of self love after life took an unexpected turn two years ago when she was diagnosed with Alopecia.

After a year of soul searching, Bianca said she realised she needed to walk her own talk more than ever and even came close to losing herself as she started losing her hair.

“In hindsight it was a pinnacle really and the turning point for me,” she said.

“It reinforced what I was going to teach and it made me live and breathe what I was about to teach the young people through my workshops.

“ I had never known a self love with the depth I do now and I can thank my hair loss for that.”

Bianca is now the Queensland Ambassador for the Australia Alopecia Foundation and will eventually run workshops specifically for teens with the same condition.

Urban Heart offers a range of different workshops and programs at Paddington’s Santosha Yoga Space, starting with three hourly power workshops to longer empowerment programs which run over several weeks.

For more information visit: www.urbanheart.com.au or call 0411 177 666.