I knew there would be a time when Changing the Face of Beauty would become too large for me to continue to support personally. A time when I would have to look outside my office and ask for help. The time has come and here we are. We have done so much work, yet we have so much more to do. So much change has happened and there is so much more change to encourage. We are in a new chapter, the exciting chapter of partnerships and new opportunities. Bigger conversations and support are needed to really push that needle forward and I believe we can make that happen together!
Changing the Face of Beauty is a vehicle that asks for a group of people who are underrepresented in the media to be represented. Just because a person is living with a difference or disability does not mean they should be invisible in our society. I love someone with a disability, in fact I love a lot of people that happen to have disabilities. This minority matters to me. I believe in them and want them to have every opportunity the rest of us have. I want employment and independence presented to the families early on so they have something to push for. I believe this is all possible through strong partnerships with key companies through representation in their advertising and employment at their work places. I think the sky is the limit and I am going for it! I am reaching for my daughter and yours.
When I am worried or scared about the future of this campaign I think about Eunice Shiver and how she much have felt the first time she held the Special Olympic Games on her front lawn. A mom who had a sibling with a disability started the Special Olympics on her front lawn because she believed in a population of people that not many people believed in. She let them know they mattered to her and she made the world pay attention. She gave the world something to be proud of. On her front lawn she started a world wide movement. What an inspiration and reminder that if you dream big enough anything is possible, even a world wide olympic games for people living with a disabilities.
So I need your help and asking for help is a struggle for me. This campaign is something every ounce of my being believes in. I believe Changing the Face of Beauty can open community, educational and employment opportunities for all people living with disabilities. To ensure this happens I have to ask for help, just like Eunice did. I have identified the perfect team of lawyers as well as a marketing professional to represent the best interests of Changing the Face of Beauty – nonprofit. They believe in the message, and most of them have a personal connection to the mission. With any change there is a requirement of financial need and that is where we are today. We are in a place where we need to raise 20,000 in the coming months. We are in need of your help to launch us into a new, improved and professional Changing the Face of Beauty for all of YOU!
Over the past three years we have put billboards up, promoted businesses, photographed hundreds of children and young adults, partnered with organizations and raised money for outside nonprofits. We helped put the first young women with Down syndrome on the runway of NYC Fashion Week. Amazing right? This is just the beginning! We have big dreams and I hope you feel them. I hope you were touched by the campaign. I hope the message means something to you and your family. I hope it inspires you to ask for more. This new landscape in advertising is yours. It dictates a future of possibility for all of us and there is so much more to come!
So if you want to support this effort please consider clicking on the image below and making a donation to help us continue the work of “Changing the Face of Beauty” with you!
OXO Katie