Giving Back: Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson of the Kind Campaign
CAUSE: The Kind Campaign is bringing awareness to the negative and lasting effects of female bullying. The founders, Lauren, 25, and Molly, 24, first met at Pepperdine University. Together, they have created a non-profit organization, a school assembly program, and a documentary film called Finding Kind. Lauren and Molly have embarked on three national tours to initiate open and honest conversations between girls and create change in communities.
EFFECT: Lauren and Molly have spoken at about 400 schools in America and Canada, and each assembly averages an audience of 200 to 500 girls. They have screened their documentary at thousands of venues across the country, and impacted even more girls through their website and social networks.
GET INVOLVED: Set up a Kind Campaign assembly or screening of Finding Kind at your school, share your story and participate in the interactive parts of the Kind Campaign's website and social networks, or donate to the campaign.
The Finding Kind documentary trailer.
1/6These filmmakers are promoting positive female relationships and putting a stop to girl-to-girl bullying.
2/6Lauren: "When I was in middle school in Orange County, California, a group of girls started a rumor about me and bullied me. I became depressed and developed an eating disorder, and it actually got to the point where in seventh grade I tried to take my life as a result of the bullying that I was experiencing. As a film student at Pepperdine University, I got inspired to create the Finding Kind documentary."
Molly: "Lauren and I met at Pepperdine, and she came to me the summer before our senior year with the idea of shooting a film about bullying among girls. Once we turned on the cameras and started shooting some local interviews, we realized how open and honest girls were about their experiences. After graduation in fall of 2009, we got in a minivan with our moms and went on a month-long road trip around America to shoot the film. We came back and edited the film for about nine-and-a-half months, and then began touring the country with the finished product."
3/6Molly: "The film motivated us to start a non-profit organization, the Kind Campaign. We were seniors in college and Googled how to start a non-profit. We just went for it and didn't take no for answer. The main part of our movement is our school assembly program: We go to schools all over the country and try to create change in the communities. We launched the Kind Clause, a yearlong curriculum for schools and organizations to implement that encourages girls to speak honestly about what is going on in their friendships and personal lives. Starting this dialogue has been a great way to prevent feelings of competitiveness, insecurity, and jealousy. We hope that girls can continue the message and dialogue of the Kind Campaign within their school hallways, and also out in their communities as well."
Lauren: "We wanted to create an outlet for girls to speak out about an issue that's been taboo for so long. It's important to let girls know that they're not alone in these experiences. When you're in school, it's hard to see the bigger picture. It's really important to know that things going on in the school hallways are not your entire story. There's so much more ahead."
4/6Molly: "The media plays such a huge role. Television shows depict women in negative ways and pit them against one another, and these are the messages that young people see. The character of the mean girl is usually depicted as popular, surrounded by friends, and well dressed. Maybe at the end of the episode it shows that her behavior is not acceptable behavior and she gets a slap on the wrist, but when young girls see this negative behavior in a glamorized way, it becomes perceived as the norm and almost as a rite of passage for girls."
Lauren: "Something that is both really sad and shocking for us is seeing the insecurity in female culture. Whether we're talking with third graders or women in the workplace, there's often this deep-rooted insecurity in women. They feel like they're not good enough or they need to strive to achieve some level of perfection that is never attainable. It's something that we all struggle with, and it's such a huge factor in the way that women and girls treat other people. Not feeling confident can in turn cause us to act jealous and competitive."
5/6Lauren: "It's just as important to not be a bystander to bullying. I interviewed a girl I went to school with, and she was the one who never got a break and had such a hard time growing up. I used to sit next to her during class, but I never took the friendship I developed with her outside of the classroom because it wasn't the cool thing to do. I wish so badly that I could travel back in time and stand up for her. As scary or un-cool as it may seem to stand up for someone, you'll look back on those moments and be really proud of yourself. Molly and I have taken away so many lessons of things that we wished we had done differently. We've definitely been victims, but we've participated as well."
6/6Molly:"It's a simple phrase: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it. If we are mindful of this every single day and are more conscious of what we put out into the world, we'll live in a more positive environment. We're not suggesting that we're all going to be best friends, stand in a circle, sing Kumbaya, and that everything's going to be perfect all of the time—that's not realistic. When issues do arise in friendships or relationships, we encourage girls to simply talk to the person that they have a problem with rather than gossiping to their friends. Girls are raised to be sweet and kind, and because of that, we often fear confrontation. If you work out the issues and move beyond them, it deletes a lot of drama. Female friendships are such an amazing thing. Treasure them."
