MUM'S MISSION: 'LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF'

KATE’S PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMPAIGN HELPS EMPOWER TEEN GIRL | MAR 18 BULLYING & VIOLENCE NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST

- Megan Rowe

When mum Kate Stoter discovered teenage girls were being bullied at local schools in her community, it evoked traumatic memories from her own childhood.

Kate remembered being teased relentlessly because her parents were divorced, and told she was “poor” – even though she was too young to know what it meant. It brought back the sinking feeling she had in her stomach for years when kids would insult her because of her looks, and the horrific day a boy humiliated her by calling her “ugly” in front of her entire class.

Keen to help other victims of bullying, the professional photographer from Cairns, Queensland, reached out to a friend to ask if she could photograph her 12-year-old daughter, who had been bullied for years over her strawberry blonde hair and freckles.

The shoot was such a success, Kate has since started the ‘It’s Cool to be Kind’ project. It involves taking powerful, positive images of bullying victims and sharing them on her social media accounts.

“I’d see some of my friends post about hideous bullying incidents their children were experiencing at school and it just broke my heart,” Kate, 40, tells New Idea.