Our Team
Steph Ng Founder & Executive Director
Steph founded Body Banter in 2016 after realizing the powerful role that discussion and advocacy played in her own eating disorder recovery journey. Through providing opportunities for community-building, advocacy, and open discussion, she hopes that Body Banter can amplify the voices of individuals and empower them to be the driving forces behind creating a more accepting and accommodating world.
Her fascination with the relationship between language and mental health has led her to her current Ph.D. studies in a joint program between the University of Hong Kong and local mental health charity Mind HK, where she is exploring how storytelling shapes the ways we view mental illness and recovery in the Hong Kong context.
Her work is internationally recognized, and has been featured on media platforms such as BBC, TEDx, Channel NewsAsia, Tatler Asia, NowTV, and Deutsche-Welle. She is the winner of the Young Changemaker Award at the American Chambers of Commerce Women of Influence Awards 2023, and the recipient of the Youth Award at Jessica Magazine's Most Successful Women Awards 2023.
Joey Lam Director of Community Life
Joey joined Body Banter because she believes in the power of storytelling and conversations. She hopes to create a safe space for all to explore their relationship with food, exercise, and body image. She is passionate about mentoring young people to find their voice and create the change they want to see in this world.
Joey is also a strong advocate for Health at Every Size® (HAES®), understanding that everyone can achieve health and wellness regardless of their weight and body size. She is especially interested in working with young children and their families to navigate diet culture and raise kids with positive body image.
Sonal Govila Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Having lived and grown in communities of individuals with diverse identities and experiences, Sonal joined Body Banter in 2020 to engage in and create room for conversations that take into account the lived experiences of individuals with varied gender identities, sexual orientations, ethnicities, disabilities, etc. She is passionate about conversations around how to be at peace with ourselves and our bodies as we exist, while discussing the racist, capitalistic, and patriarchal systems invested in diverting us from this aim.
As our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director, she works alongside the team to ensure that we cultivate an inclusive, liberating, anti-oppressive, and anti-racist environment for all stakeholders. She also works to ensure that DEI is centred in our programs and organisational plans.
Natalie Fong Program Manager
Natalie joined Body Banter in 2022 because she believes in the importance of starting conversations centred around body image, particularly in the regional and cultural context of Hong Kong. Growing up only hearing about these ideas in Western media and English-speaking circles, she is passionate about creating local and Hong Kong-specific content surrounding body image that is also relatable for Chinese/Cantonese-speaking audiences. She also believes in the importance of increasing public awareness about body image and mental health, especially for those who feel alone in struggling or thinking about such issues.
Natalie has worked with the team to manage different campaigns like the “你肥左喎/You’ve Gained Weight” story collection, to carry out the Banter-bassador Program, and to develop our workshop series. She also supports the team in translating social media content into Cantonese.