Natalie-Amber Freegard

17 Feb

Natalie-Amber is a mixed race woman with long curly dark hair. She's wearing a green suit and squatting on point in ballet shoes. — Ethnicity: Mixed Race ( black/white Caribbean)
Pronouns: She/Her
Location: London/Swindon

About Natalie

Natalie-Amber, the first non-celebrity ambassador for Crohn’s and Colitis UK, overcame a seven-year misdiagnosis, being wrongly labelled anorexic due to her dance career. Her journey included blindness, sepsis, kidney failure, emergency surgeries, and living with a stoma, leaving her with a prominent abdominal scar. Following her stoma reversal, Natalie-Amber became a trailblazer for body acceptance and awareness, breaking stigmas surrounding visible and invisible disabilities.

She made history as the first scarred model for Pretty Little Thing and has graced campaigns for Sephora, House of Fraser, Skims and London Fashion Week. As host of Shapes and Sizes on BBC Wiltshire, she fostered open discussions about disability and body image. A passionate advocate for diversity, Natalie-Amber champions better representation and education, inspiring others to embrace their scars and differences with pride. Her resilience and dedication make her a powerful voice for change in both the fashion and disability communities.

Natalie speaks on a number of topics including:

Representation of women of colour with hidden disabilities
Body positivity and living with scars
Living with Crohn’s disease & stoma reversal awareness
ICU Haircare - caring for curly and afro-textured hair patients
Disability and media representation
Overcoming medical misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis in women of colour
Raising awareness of hidden disabilities and IBD in the workplace
Coping with chronic fatigue, workplace/ everyday Life
Raising awareness of hidden disabilities & IBD within Schools (stop the stigma)
Achieving your fitness goals with hidden disabilities and chronic fatigue
Why fitness is crucial ( fitness is the only reason I survived the operating table)