Written by Founder: Mia Lerner.
7th January 2026
Project Unlaced didn’t begin with a business plan or a perfectly polished vision. It began with lived experience.
As a young female athlete, I spent years believing that discipline meant restriction and that pushing through exhaustion was just “part of the grind”. This took me down the route of an eating disorder, a mental health condition marked by a disrupted relationship with food, body image, and self-worth.
Recovery focused me to pause and ask a hard question:
Why are so many young women taught to shrink themselves in spaces that are supposed to make them strong?
Recovery isn’t linear, but it is revealing.
As I learned more about my own health, I started to see how deeply diet culture and comparison are woven into sports, academic spaces, and all other aspects of life. Many of us are praised for being disciplined when we are actually depleted.
I realized that my story wasn’t unique, and that silence was part of the problem.
That’s when Project Unlaced began to take shape.
Project Unlaced is an education and empowerment initiative dedicated to supporting young women in building healthier relationships with food, movement, and their bodies.
At its core, Project Unlaced exists to:
Break down the science behind fueling, body image, and diet culture
Challenge harmful norms in achievement culture
Create spaces where young women feel informed and supported
Through educational content, workshops, podcasts, conversation, and advocacy, I’ve seen how powerful it can be when young women are given language for what they’re experiencing.
What started as something deeply personal has become something collective.
Project Unlaced is still growing, and so am I. My hope is to continue expanding and empowering more young women. I’m super excited to launch Project Unlaced’s volunteer program, which will allow passionate individuals to gain leadership experience and help drive meaningful change. Volunteers may become ambassadors for their community, create social media content, help manage our podcast, develop educational material, and/or lead empowering workshops.
To learn more about Project Unlaced and how to get involved, visit our website projectunlaced.org and follow our Instagram @project_unlaced.
To find out more about their initiative and how you can get involved, find them on our 'connect with others' page.