About Rosie
HI Ladies!
I’m Rosie, mum of 4, physiotherapist, prenatal yoga, fitness and wellness educator + founder on LRA. I’m so glad you have landed here, and wanted to share a little bit about the WHY behind starting Lenny Rose and growing it into the education hub that it is today, so you can truly understand why we exist - to serve our beloved motherhood community through all stages of motherhood.
LRA was born of many frustrations - wanting to find gear to support an active and healthy pregnancy, and being terribly disappointed with the offerings at the time of my first and second pregnancies; of influencer-driven information overload in in the pregnancy-motherhood space and a lack of QUALITY, easily accessible information, and a strong desire to help women to feel great throughout the pregnancy to motherhood journey - from pregnancy, to birth, body image and self acceptance, to early postpartum and beyond.
I am passionate about evidence based education, from physical activity, to birth, to mindset and parenting, and hope that through the LRA brand I can shed light on these areas in an easily digestible way, and provide a platform where women can look to for inspiration, education, encouragement, support and hope…. So it began with clothing to help support active and healthy pregnancies, but has blossomed and goes so much deeper than the fabric and support built into our ranges.
My own journey to motherhood is perhaps not what it seems - and in the interest of the possibility of bringing hope to others, to share that we all go through our struggles, our ups and downs in life, and that they inherently shape who we are - I want to share the not-so-glamorous back story.
My fertility journey was, despite all odds, and extremely gratefully, not a difficult one by any stroke of the imagination. My journey to self acceptance and readiness for motherhood, however, was a much bumpier road. During my teens and twenties I struggled with a severe eating disorder, in the form of both anorexia and bulimia, which was at its worst between the ages of 13-20 and then took a slow recovery trajectory over the following decade - and, just like most mental illness, or addiction, is something I always consider myself to be in ‘recovery’ from - like the looming rain clouds even on a sunny day, its something I am always conscious of in some form or another.
To have recovered in a physical sense is one thing, to be fully psychologically and emotionally recovered is a different kettle of fish- and I think will always, to some extent, be a work in progress, and whilst I feel free to live the life I want on a day to day basis, there is still the daily work I need to do to calm the inner critic. What I am sure of though, is how proud I am to have turned my life around, to have been able to have the family of my dreams after not having a menstrual period for many, many years, and to be able to speak kindly and positively about my body and other women’s bodies, especially to be the kind of role model I want to be for my children. This doesn’t mean I don’t have my moments, that I sometimes choose the salad still when I go out for dinner, not the pasta or the parma, that I don’t sometimes have a day where I’m not that excited about my growing belly, butt, and boobs, but that I have the resources to turn this around, not dwell, and to be the kind of woman I know I want to be for other mums, my children, and my own dearest mother.
I found triathlon at university and a healthy athletic bunch of friends who helped me to see food as fuel; I found yoga and the philosophy of “Ahimsa” - to do no harm, and gradually learnt to love and accept myself, through hours on the mat, in training, and realising we are all in the self-love struggle somehow, just that it manifests in different ways for different people.
I enjoyed the better part of a decade practicing clinically as a physiotherapist, massage therapist, Pilates and yoga teacher, and met my now husband as a 27 year old. He further taught me how to have FUN, to believe in myself, and was instrumental in helping me launch my first business, Rise yoga, a Melbourne based yoga and Pilates studio in which we were passionate about positive body image, and donated >$10,000 annually to the Butterfly Foundation before I sold the business just before having my second child.
Getting pregnant was all too easy once I had restored my weight, a connection with my body, my nervous system, and trusted that I deserved to have the large family that I always dreamed of - but I am never complacent about the gifts we have been given in our children, my story could have easily been so very different.
In my first pregnancy I was worried about slipping back into old habits, and so sought the help of a dietician and counsellor, but was pleasantly surprised to be incredibly grateful of my bodily changes and fully embraced my blossoming body. I was very frustrated however with the lack of choices for active wear - that supported my body and my needs as a modern expecting mother to still want to look and FEEL my best, despite being pregnant. Even the leading brands didn’t cut the mark for me, and after several disappointments with other products, I vowed to do something about helping pregnant women to stay active, with physical support, and style - knowing how important activity is in pregnancy from not only a physical health perspective, but also how it pertains to a more positive relationship with our bodies and our confidence to birth a baby.
And so was born Lenny Rose - a motherhood inspired apparel range with the values to help expecting and new mums move, respect, and enjoy their bodies as they change and transform throughout this period of life. By creating a body-positive line of activewear that honours the changes a woman goes through from pregnancy, birth, and into postpartum I strongly hope to help women to appreciate the absolute miracle that is their bodies, regardless of the motherhood-born changes that they undertake.
To this end, I have been the face of the brand because I am just a normal mum. I have never enjoyed being photographed, but want to portray the everyday mum through LRA, and so have learnt to go with the flow and have fun behind the camera - knowing it's not about me. At LRA we NEVER photoshop our mums bodies, only ever use real mums in our campaigns, and can’t wait to have some more size-inclusive product ranges releasing in 2021. We started small to test the waters, and now that we know our gear is loved, we can bring the full suite of sizes and products to the table and be the body confident, size inclusive brand we set out to be :)
#PHOTOSHOPFREEZONE
Yours in motherhood,
Rosie