Vision
We envision a culture where fat people are their most authentic selves, take up the space they need and live confident lives.
Mission
Authentically Fat’s mission is to center the fat experience and uplift fat voices through education, peer-validation and community building.
Meet Our Board of Directors
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Carrie Bain
(She/Her)
TREASURER
Carrie has lived in a fat body for her entire existence. This unique perspective has allowed her to live authentically by embracing her body as it is without hiding, apologizing, or changing herself to fit society’s narrow beauty and health standards.
Carrie has been on a journey for over 10 years rejecting diet culture, honoring what her body needs, and honoring those needs without judgment. One of the ways she does this is by lifting very heavy things and putting them back down aka powerlifting.
Carrie joined the Authentically Fat board because she understands the importance of connecting with fat people. Celebrating what fat bodies can do with other fat people is one of the most liberating experiences she’s ever been a part of and she wants that for other fatties.
Besides living the fat life, Carrie works in advertising as a copywriter and enjoys powerlifting, hanging out with her grumpy senior chihuahua, gardening, scream-singing Taylor Swift, dancing unapologetically and the New York Times Mini Crossword.
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Hannah Hutchins
(She/They)
FOUNDER & BOARD CHAIR
Hannah has been a fattie since day one and being the fat kid was rough at times. It wasn’t until she hit her 30s that she realized that being fat wasn’t a flaw. It was a liberating moment to learn that she doesn’t have to spend the rest of her life striving for thinness.
On her healing journey from anti-fat bias, Hannah knew she couldn’t fully heal on her own. She needed to be in the presence of other fat people and explicitly talk about the fat experience. So she asked a few fatties in her life to come sit in her living room, eat pizza, and talk about being fat. Over time meeting other fat people, Hannah learned there was a gap in the fat community. Fat people needed more physical spaces to come together and connect, and thus, Authentically Fat was born.
Hannah is currently pursuing a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, and works locally in Minneapolis as an administrative support for a mental health clinic and as a fitness coach in a queer-owned gym. She shares her life with her handsome fat spouse and her big beautiful Great Danes. She enjoys being in nature, reading fiction, and eating delicious food.
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Mary Kilmer
(She/Her)
SECRETARY
Mary has lived in a fat body for her entire life. To be more specific, her first body-shaming nickname came to pass at just two years old. Over time and a lot of effort to heal, her journey with the word fat and her relationship with her body has evolved into a great love affair. What started with a need for authenticity and to be seen, was fed by seeing others dare to love themselves out loud.
Mary has moved several times to different states for her career, it was the ability to be considered and seen in the fat-focused spaces in Minneapolis that made the fat community a real need. Mary joined the Authentically Fat board as a way to further fulfill that very need and assist in providing other people a space to feel seen.
Mary works in Indian gaming, as a VP at a Native-owned Ad Agency and as a Board Chair for her tribe, the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, to oversee both online and retail gaming operations. Mary spends her free time finding joy in exploring the world, scavenging a beach for the most beautiful rock, lifting heavy shit at the gym and beading jewelry.
And as for that nickname, fuck’em. She loves her thighs.
Community Agreements
These community agreements are a shared vision for how we want to relate to each other. These are created and upheld by the group, not an outside authority and must represent a consensus.
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We are all responsible for our intentions, behavior and words. We strive to create accountable spaces by aligning our intentions with the agreements below.
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We practice listening with boundaries and curiosity. We allow each individual the space to speak, participate and approach each moment with a curious mind.
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Use “I” statements and practice mindfulness while you are speaking. Speak from your experience and no one else's - words and tone matter.
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Living in a fat body can be a life on the margins and we recognize the importance of centering disenfranchised fatties. This also means there will be no tolerance for racist, sexist, anti-trans, anti-queer, ableist, classist, or ageist language.
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We recognize the power that proximity to thinness has on our community and while all fat experiences are important, we work to center the largest of the fat community.
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Talking about the impact anti-fat bias and diet culture has had on a fat body is sometimes necessary and part of our individual, and community, stories. That being said, we mustn't uplift these harmful systems and instead, focus on healing from them or dismantling them.
