Tag Archives: Justice

It’s Chime for Change!

hp-chimeforchange

Source chimeforchange.org

Education.
Health.
Justice.
For every girl.
For every woman.
Everywhere.

If you know me, you know that I love me some televised musical entertainment in the form of awards shows, music videos, reality TV and benefit concerts from time to time.

And on Sunday night live from the Twickenham Stadium in London the sold out benefit concert Chime for Change aired on NBC featuring the musical stylings of J.Lo, Ellie Goulding, Beyonce, Florence and the Machine, Mary J. Blige, John Legend and many more. Wish I was there! There were also celeb spokespeople: Selma Hayek, Frida Giannini, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Madonna, Jada Pinkett Smith and others who spoke about specific causes close to their hearts. The concert was televised in 150 countries in 6 continents. Talk about a movement! Heyyo!

Why were they coming together? To raise their (high profile) voices to make a change for every girl and woman all over the world. It’s Chime for Change (I love a good play on words!)

Chime for Change founded by Gucci (yup, you read that right…more on that later), co-founded by Beyonce Knowles, Selma Hayak and Frida Giannini (Gucci designer), is a new global campaign to raise funds and awareness for girls’ and women’s empowerment. The campaign focuses on three key areas: Education, Health and Justice.

Through the crowd-funding organization Catapult, nonprofit organizations post their campaigns, people can then search, find and fund the project that means the most to them. Simple, easy, to the point—I like it.

What I don’t like is the fact is Gucci is the founder of this campaign. They’re using their international brand recognition for the benefit of making change. I get that and I think it’s great. BUT they should probably practice what they preach, amiright? A great first step in this Chime for Change is to change how they objectify women in their print advertisements, to which they have received controversy over in the past. (Exhibit A & Exhibit B) I have to be honest when I say I was super pumped about this televised concert aimed to empower females around the world, but discovering that it was a project of Gucci I pulled back, I was disappointed, which is an understatement. Until…

Jada Pinkett Smith presented the project “Jessica’s Story.” Three years ago Jessica escaped sexual abuse and trafficking, a nightmare that she had lived since she was six years old. She is just one of the hundreds of thousands of children who are sex trafficked in the United States. For Jessica there were not a lot of resourced to turn to as she sought to escape, that’s why today, Jessica is helping other girls break the stigma, empower them and provide them with resources.
Click to watch her story below!

How Young is too Young to be Shopping at Victoria’s Secret?

There’s been a lot of mention of unmentionables in the media lately. The most disturbing—a mother saying on national television that it’s OK for her nine-year-old daughter to shop at Victoria’s Secret for undies. I’m sorry… WHAT?!?!
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having cute panties and bras from the big girl store,” said Jenny Erikson, the mother.
victoriassecretstorefrontAt the age of nine, I was still wearing underwear with the days of the week and they had an elastic band all the way around with my staple brand at the time, Limited Too (now Justice). No “sling shot” style for this girl… well until the summer before I started freshman year in high school. I bought my first “sling shot” from Wet Seal while at the mall with my friend. Sorry mom. I have to admit I was really uncomfortable and embarrassed about the whole purchasing process because I knew I was too young and I was fourteen!

Hitting the fast forward button on little girls’ childhoods is far too common and when it’s the girls’ parents who are at fault, like Erikson, I get irritated because parents are supposed to be the protectors not the instigators. One day your little girl is just shopping at the “big girl” store and the next day they are buying make up and comparing shades during recess.

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