The Appearance Positive (TAP) is a social enterprise addressing the psychosocial and structural harm caused by appearance-based stigma, for people living with visible differences and appearance-related distress.
This is not about fixing how people look.
It’s about dignity, belonging, and full participation in life.
The Appearance Positive (TAP) is a hybrid HealthTech social enterprise working to transform how society understands appearance, identity, and psychosocial well-being.
We support people living with visible differences, including skin conditions, scars, alopecia, disfigurement, and appearance-related distress, not by changing how we look, but by challenging the stigma, systems, and narratives that limit our lives.
TAP operates at the intersection of psychosocial health, research, digital care, community engagement, and cultural storytelling.
Appearance-based stigma is a quiet but powerful driver of psychosocial distress, exclusion, and inequality.
Across communities, people with visible differences experience social isolation, discrimination, emotional harm, and reduced opportunity, yet these realities are often dismissed as cosmetic or personal concerns.
TAP exists to name appearance stigma for what it is:
a psychosocial, cultural, and justice issue.
A 24/7 friendly and caring companion for your emotional, social, and mental well-being.
Reflection, resilience, and building appearance confidence, whenever you need it.
The world’s first research and education hub dedicated to Appearance Positivity. We pioneer Appearance Epidemiology, develop professional training, and create courses that translate evidence into dignity.
Women-centred community, leadership, and identity spaces.
A public cultural platform advancing appearance dignity, visibility, and collective joy.
Narratives, films, and digital content reshaping how appearance and difference are seen and understood.
Our full website is launching soon.
Join us as we build Africa’s architecture for Appearance Positivity, Justice, and Well-being.
TAP is guided by lived experience, and psychosocial expertise, ensuring dignity, care, and accountability remain at the center of our work.
Founded in Lived Experience. Built for Systemic Change.
Ogo Maduewesi is the founder of The Appearance Positive (TAP). She founded TAP to build the digital, educational, communal, and cultural infrastructure she needed herself — but never had.
She is a psychosocial advocate and systems thinker who has transformed personal truth into a blueprint for dignity. An Ashoka Fellow, she has over 15 years of experience building appearance-focused infrastructure and community initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ogo is the founder of the Vitiligo Support and Awareness Foundation (VITSAF), the first vitiligo patient-led organisation in Africa. She is also a pioneer of the World Vitiligo Day movement and a founding former director of the International Alliance of Dermatology Patient Organisation (IADPO), also known as Globalskin, the global dermatology patient advocacy ecosystem.
Living with visible differences herself, including vitiligo, scars, and long-standing appearance anxieties, her work is rooted in lived experience, dignity, and long-term systems change.
Our full platform is unfolding.
Join us as we build Africa’s home for appearance dignity, justice, and psychosocial well-being.
