Say Hello to Our New Board Members
After interviewing 13 amazing applicants, we are thrilled to announce the addition of three new board members to keep our mission moving forward: centering the fat experience and uplifting fat voices through education, peer validation, and community building. Our expanded board provides us with more support to come up with new ways of celebrating and connecting the fat community. Plus, they’re just really cool and all in for fat liberation.
MEET THE NEW BOARD
Chelsea O’Neil
Vice Chair
(They/Them)
Chelsea was put on their first diet before puberty, the beginning of many fad diets teaching them that their fat body was something to be fixed, if only they could summon more discipline and control.
For the past two decades, Chelsea has worked to loosen and unravel the tight knots of diet culture, gender rules, and heteronormative scripts, healing the inner child wounds they carried and choosing instead a tender devotion to their own skin, a renewed trust in their body, and the expansive possibilities of authentic self-expression.
Chelsea is an art therapist and educator (@CreateBodyJoy) who blends intuitive art-making, ritual, mindfulness, and community to inspire well-being and social change. Through expressive arts workshops, coaching, and rituals, they help people reconnect with their bodies, make empowered, intentional choices, and cultivate more pleasure.
In their free time, Chelsea loves floating in any water, art journaling, eating their way through new destinations, curating the perfect playlist, and playing cozy games on their Nintendo Switch. They share their life with their loving partner of 14+ years and their gentle little dog, Pekoe.
Amy Lindqvist
Secretary
(She/Her)
Amy has been fat her whole life, and she celebrates it with pride, joy, and unapologetic visibility. For Amy, being fat isn’t something to hide, it’s something to honor and enjoy. Fashion is one of her favorite ways to express herself, helping her take up space in a world that often tries to make fat people feel small.
Through her Instagram platform, @midwesterncurves, Amy shares fat fashion, travel, and everyday adventures with a growing community of followers. She believes that everyone, no matter their size, deserves access to clothing that makes them feel confident, stylish, and fully themselves. Her online work is rooted in fat liberation, joy, and the transformative power of visibility, showing how seeing ourselves reflected in the world can change the way we see each other.
Amy has also built a career in the nonprofit world, focusing on museum education and fundraising. She centers her work on connection, storytelling, and supporting cultural spaces, bringing her commitment to equity and inclusion into everything she does.
Through her life and work, Amy blends creativity, joy, and advocacy, showing that celebrating fatness can be empowering, uplifting, and just plain fun. She shares her life with her two cats and her tall, equally fun-loving fat partner.
Alexis Johnson
Treasurer
(She/They)
Alexis grew up fat and struggled with an eating disorder until she received treatment in high school. Having fat providers during her treatment allowed her to embrace her fatness. Alexis no longer saw her body as a project or a flaw to be fixed, but rather something to nurture and protect.
Finding the Twin Cities fat community was the push she needed for her fat liberation journey. After benefitting from the fat community that others have built, she decided to take the next step by helping to cultivate it.
Alexis works at a public accounting firm where she helps with small businesses and individual tax returns. She enjoys breaking the typical accountant stereotype by being creative, tattooed, (unapologetically) fat, and queer. Her favorite part of the job is making taxes and financial matters more accessible for clients. Outside of work, she enjoys camping, stargazing, powerlifting, crafting and swimming.
