TEDxTinHauWomen Speaker Sofie Fella Wants You To Take Up Space

It’s 2026 and we’re still debating what determines a woman’s worth in sports. Sydney Sweeney’s sexualised Novig campaign proves the fight isn’t over. TEDxTinHauWomen speaker and rugby player Sofie Fella wants the conversation to go back to the important stuff.

Harvard-educated rugby player, entrepreneur and TEDxTinHau Women 2026 speaker Sofie Fella has spent her whole career proving that a woman’s body is not ornamental — it’s a machine built for tackling, lifting and taking up exactly as much room as it wants to. At the 10th edition of TEDxTinHau Women, taking place at Xiqu Centre on Friday, 2 October, she will unpack this very topic, ahead of that, she sits down with Sassy to talk it through.

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The “Petite Is Beautiful” Memo Nobody Asked For

Sofie grew up in Shanghai in a German-Chinese household, navigating two cultures and one very consistent message: shrink yourself. “While learning ballet in Shanghai, I’d look at my Chinese friends with their petite frames and just compare,” she says. “It’s this narrative handed down for generations: small is beautiful. Even in Hong Kong, ride the MTR and count the billboards featuring women who are delicate and petite. It is the absolute norm.”

“My ballet teachers would critique my shoulders or legs. Like most girls, I absorbed it,” she says. The unlearning only began when she discovered rugby at school.

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Enter Rugby And With It Confidence In Her Body’s Power

Learning rugby at her American school in Shanghai, and later at Harvard, changed the equation entirely. Sofie recalls, “Those big, strong legs everyone commented on? They helped me run fast, my broad shoulders broke tackles. For the first time, I realised my size and strength were a huge advantage.”

“We’re obsessed with aesthetics, especially for women in Asia. Caring how you look is fine. But the priority order is backwards. Health, function and performance should come first. Aesthetics is a distant second, if at all, and it should stay there.”

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Girls Lift Girls: The Community That Empowers Body Positivity

Wanting other women to feel the same shift, Sofie built Girls Lift Girls, a community for women to sweat, bond and dismantle body-image baggage together. It started as a casual Dubai meetup among friends, but has since spread into active chapters across Hong Kong, Australia, Germany, and, in a full circle moment, Shanghai.

The community is based on celebrating the power of movement — be it through beach workouts, Hyrox classes or Hong Kong trail hikes. But what Sofie loves about it is how it has become a platform for bigger, deeper conversations. “Do a brutal partner workout with someone and you build trust immediately,” she says. “After that, women open up about nutrition, body dysmorphia, self-doubt and more. It’s the honesty and sisterhood that comes from working out together that I love and cherish about this community.”

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Reclaiming 大: Because Being Called Big Is Not An Insult

As if running an international fitness movement while playing professional rugby wasn’t enough of a flex, Sofie also launched The 大 Collection, streetwear built around the Mandarin character 大, meaning “big”.

Anyone raised in an Asian household knows: calling a woman “big” is not meant as a compliment. Sofie took the word, dusted it off, and turned it into something positive.

It started small (irony noted): Sofie sourced hand-sourced qipao fabric from Sham Shui Po and made them into scrunchies that Hong Kong team rugby players wore to the Hong Kong Sevens. Then came the oversized streetwear tees: 大 emblazoned across the chest, a dragon-and-flower back design by a local Chinese tattoo artist.

“I gave one of the T-shirts to my mum, a stubborn Chinese mother who happens to be a dragon in the zodiac, of course,” Sofie grins. “She asked why it said ‘Big’ at first. Now she wears it proudly. If I can shift my mum’s mindset, we can shift it for the next generation.”

Her dream for young Asian women is simple and refreshingly unbothered: go big, everywhere: be it big ambitions, big body or big dreams and big voice. Take up the space, all of it, without apology.

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Catch Her Live At TEDxTinHau Women

The road here wasn’t easy or straightforward. Sofie’s first TEDx application got rejected before this year’s acceptance. Now she’s bringing her full story of resilience and strength to one of Hong Kong’s biggest stages for female change-makers.

Event: TEDxTinHau Women
Date: Friday, 2 October, 2026
Location: Xiqu Centre, 88 Austin Road West, West Kowloon Cultural District, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong