‘Eyes That Could Melt Icebergs’ – Celia Lashlie

‘EYES THAT COULD MELT ICEBERGS’ – Celia Lashlie

The death of boys advocate Celia Lashlie, aged 61, will be sorely felt throughout New Zealand says Big Buddy CEO Richard Aston.

“Celia was a fantastically authentic woman with a fierce intelligence, a big heart and a great storyteller. She could lower her head and look at you with eyes that could melt icebergs and just as quickly roll her head back laughing. Funny and serious, she could laugh at herself.”

Celia Lashlie was passionate about boys and mothers, writing the seminal book 'He'll be ok - Growing gorgeous boys into good men' in 2013. “Her work with teenage boys was liberating for mothers, “ says Richard Aston, “It relieved them from their fears that their boys wouldn’t be okay and let them get on with having fun with them,” says Richard Aston.

“Her advice to mothers to ‘get off the bridge’ and allow boys to grow up through experiencing risk was radical but right – someone needed to say it and that someone was Celia Lashlie. I have huge admiration for her.”

Big Buddy is a mentoring organisation that has matched well-screened men with fatherless boys since 1997.

“What is perhaps lesser known about Celia is the significant, inspirational work she was more recently doing with at-risk families – my hope is that work will carry on in her honour.”

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