Jessica Smith (swimmer)
Jessica Tace Smith OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer and motivational speaker.
Swimming[edit]
Smith swam for Australia for seven years and represented Australia at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.[1]
Motivational speaking and body image advocacy[edit]
Smith began working with the Butterfly Foundation as a body image advocate. She now works professionally as an MC, and motivational and public speaker.[2]
Author[edit]
Published in July 2015, Little Miss Jessica Goes to School is a children's book written by Smith as a resource for children with a hand or arm difference.[3]
Awards[edit]
Smith was awarded an OAM in 2019 for service to the community.[4][5]
In 2017 she was awarded a Cosmopolitan Woman of the Year as a Game Changer.[6]
She was named an Emerging Leader by the Australian Government at the Positive Body Image Awards, and received a Pride of Australia Medal in Western Australia. In 2015, she was a state finalist for Young Australian of the Year.
Personal life[edit]
Smith was born without her left forearm. As a young child she sustained serious burns to 15% of her body. In her teens she overcame an eating disorder and depression.[7]
Smith married Hamid Salamati in 2015[8] and has three children.[9] She later converted to her husband's Islam at his family's request.[10]
References[edit]
- ^ "Jessica Smith's journey from disability to self-acceptance". www.abc.net.au. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- ^ "Jessica Smith". Saxton Speakers. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "Little Miss Jessica Goes to School (Hardback)". The Aussie Hands Foundation Inc. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ Hourigan, Adam. "One Grafton local honoured with OAM". Daily Examiner. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "Jessica Tace SMITH". It's an Honour. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ "COSMOPOLITAN celebrates the 2017 Women of the Year Award Winners". Bauer Media Advertising. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ Lavalette, Tristan (12 September 2013). "Jessica Smith uses Paralympic pain to fight body image dangers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "Paralympic swimmer's perfect day". www.dailytelegraph.com.au. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "ABOUT". JESSICA SMITH - OAM. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "Paralympian Jessica Smith converted to Islam for her husband's family". MamaMia. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2020.