Ally Hensley

From Catriona:
I don’t think we’re even aware of it much of the time. How expectations and ideas of who and what we should be sink in slowly, burying themselves under our bones. I’ve tried to explain before, always struggling to find the right words. “I’m sad because this is who I’m told to be… and it’s exactly who I’m not,” I’ll say. Some get it, and others don’t.
It’s why I want to use this newsletter, as a place for us all to explore, often without finding the answers, the complicated loss...

The only thing harder than a breakup, are the calendar reminders the following year, of something that didn’t quite make it. How can we cope during the ‘first year of firsts’ after a divorce or separation.
The first half of our lives tends to be filled with exciting new firsts: first kiss, first home, first job, first paycheck. We celebrate our firsts, when it comes to anniversaries, however less is said about the other side of the spectrum — the firsts after a breakup.

Just when the conversation was heating up about gender equality and the disproportionate pay gap between male and female co-workers, the global pandemic reversed the efforts of progress for women in the workplace.
In years to come, psychologists, researchers, economic masterminds, and educators will study those who lived through COVID-19. They will hold our governments and economists under scrutiny and study the societal response to the virus that shut down the world, overnight. The Coronavir...

Ally was diagnosed at 16yo with MRKH. With firing ovaries - boobs, hips and a typical vulva, you would never know that internally her body had failed to form a womb, cervix and vaginal canal. While she spent 9 months pushing tubes into herself to create a vagina, she remained infertile. Ally shares with us the poignant, heartfelt and heartbreaking road this diagnosis led her down - from self destruction, sexual shame and surrogacy to international speaking on turning trauma into triumph. Her ...

I am one of many who turned on the news in late August to the scenes of men, women and children clinging to the wings of aeroplanes desperate to escape the savaged Afghanistan capital, Kabul. People begging and pleading for their babies to be taken to safety, even if it meant they may never see them again.
I cannot imagine what it must feel like to wake up to the sound of gun fire and bullets as they ricochet through war-torn streets. To hear the screams of my neighbours as they flee their ho...

The novelty of lean living is now taking its toll and with border restrictions becoming our ‘new norm’ (buzzword overkill), the idea of escaping the stay-at-home rat race feels like bliss. As a self-confessed decision staller, I am not entirely sure where to start.

As I packed my bag to stay for a week with my best friend and her family, I decided to cram in one last item — my vaginal dilation kit. A neat little case containing four objects which look like dildos, each one slightly bigger than the next. I’ve owned a set like this ever since I was a teenager but, unlike a sex toy, they’ve never been used for pleasure.
I was only 16 years old when I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome (MRKH). I was told that ...

When we think of animation, we picture illustrations and digital storyboards coming to life. When a person shares exciting news in a happy state we say, “don’t they look animated?” Now, the phrase ‘re-animate’ has an entirely different meaning in the world of medicine — to bring a person back to life.
Medical enthusiast, Dr. Natalie Kruit is exploring a newfound technology that is set to take Sydney (and Australia) by storm. After completing a degree in Psychology and Nursing, the mother of t...

As consumers, we are more curious (and conscious) than ever about the story behind the products we buy. We are a generation that demands to know the impact of our purchases, as altruism finds its way into the retail sector.

Conglomerates are rolling out ‘Social Impact Strategies’ to create public value that is systematic, sustainable, and innovative. High-street chains are politely asking the buyers to make a small donation at the check-out counter to their nominated cause.

Every year, thousa...

In a world of restriction, innovation continues to be on the move. We are redefining what it means to interact, connect and work from home. In a global pandemic, being tech-savvy is the new must as we adjust to the new norm. Instagram selfies from our pop-up offices are fast becoming the backdrop to our brands.
Our co-workers are now square faces on a Zoom call who we see for a just a couple of minutes each week. Our homes have become our everything – our refuge, where we create art, write mu...

In a country urging their citizens to return, I, on the other hand, was frantic to get out. We are the generation that will always remember the day the world went into Lockdown. The contents of any suitcase packed during chaos rarely makes sense. My wardrobe in past overwhelm has seen neon tights for family illnesses and tagged evening dresses for grief – both never worn. Unable to steady my shaking hands, I handed over my passport, like the hundreds of passengers in front of me, where everyo...

Ally Hensley talks about her experience with MRKH and how she’s learnt what it means to be different

“When I was 16, like any other girl, I was expecting some changes in my body to start taking place, especially my first period. It’s a rite of passage into womanhood after all. But my period never came,” says Ally Hensley, who grew up in Pangbourne, Berkshire.

“I went to see my GP and they told me to go away for a year, and to wait and see what happens. But when I returned, I was given an inte...

Ally Hensley has a unique life journey filled with lessons in self worth and coming to terms with what it means to be different. She turned a difficult experience into a major opportunity to help others and is here to share her story.
Ally is co-founder of The Happy V, an online sexual wellbeing resource for women and co-founder of the Sister for Love MRKH Foundation, an organization supporting and advocating for women with MRKH – a condition where women are born without a uterus or vagina. I...

In this episode of Memoirs of Successful Women, Transformation Specialist Annie Gibbins interviews interviews Ally Hensley, Founder and Vice President of MRKH Australia.

Ally Hensley is a Brit to Bondi convert, women’s writer, speaker, global ambassador and

advocate in women’s health.

As the co-founder of MRKH Australia, Ally is motivated to improve the health and wellbeing for those touched by this unique condition. As part of her ongoing work with MRKH, Ally also works to reduce the stigma surrounding differences of sexual development and sexual(mental) health.

A digital story, exposing the experiences of seven women across the globe as they tell their unique and complex story of the MRKH diagnosis. Mayer–Rokitansky–Küster–Hauser syndrome effects 1 in 5000 females, resulting in the under-development or absence of the reproductive tract. MRKH as we know it is unbiased, uncompromising and complex. MRKH has a global footprint – it spans to corners of the globe that are both accepting and unforgiving. MRKH rattles the societal norms relating to the abru...