In 2013, Tiffany and I had the privilege of attending the Mom 2.0 Conference in Laguna Niguel, California. I say “privilege” because although it is a blogging conference geared towards the “Mom” audience, the conference was chock full of impressive break-out sessions that weren’t always about “how to” write, market, create opportunities, grow your business, manage your time, etc. and the other aspects of blogging. They also had sessions that spoke to the human experience, leaving the audience breathless and teary-eyed.
And, they had exceptional sponsors.
One of the exceptional sponsors was Dove. Ten years ago, Dove started their Self-Esteem Program for girls 8 to 17 years old. Their research revealed that only 4% of women, worldwide, consider themselves beautiful. They have been on a mission to change that number through their program by fostering self-esteem in women and girls. Thus far they have touched 14 million girls!.
Have you seen their “Real Beauty” video? Check it out…it is eye-opening and heart-rendering: Real Beauty video. Or, their newest one: Legacy? Both really make you sit back and think.
Anyway, a few months ago, I was invited to attend a workshop in September and later to join their 5th Annual Self-Esteem Weekend in October. Not able to commit to attending either event because of my elderly mother’s escalating care needs, I did say that I’d be happy to spread the word by doing a post on my blog. So, they gave me an opportunity to submit interview questions to Jess Weiner, Dove’s Global Self-Esteem Ambassador, pictured with workshop attendees in the photo above.
Here is that interview:
Carole:
Explain the premise of Dove’s Self-Esteem campaign.
Jess:
The Dove self-esteem campaign was created to spark a conversation with women and girls around beauty and confidence. We knew from our research that only 4% of women worldwide considered themselves beautiful; we knew we had to get involved and change this conversation.
Carole:
How long has Dove’s Self-Esteem campaign been around?
Jess:
We just celebrated 10 years of working with women and girls to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence not anxiety. In fact, I just heard today that we’ve reached 14 million girls with one hour of self-esteem programming. Our goal is to reach 15 million by 2015.
Carole:
What is the target demographic of the campaign?
Jess:
We talk to women and girls – because all of us whether mothers, aunts, sisters, daughters or friends can all be impacted by low self-confidence or beauty anxiety. And our workshop programming is targeted mostly at young girls 8-14 and we work with Boys and Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts and Girls Inc. to help us reach these amazing girls and woman.
Carole:
How do you and Dove gauge the success of the campaign?
Jess:
Success can be measured by the breadth and depth of our reach – but I personally measure it by the experience. I have been working as the Global Ambassador for self-esteem for the past 8 years and I can tell you countless stories of girls leaving a workshop program lit up with excitement about their new relationship to beauty. I’ve seen first hand the impact our materials have made on the lives of mothers and daughter who have been brought together to talk about important topics like body bullying, media literacy, and body confidence.
Carole:
What do you and Dove hope to accomplish long-term with this campaign?
Jess:
Our long term vision is to see women and girls fully own and embrace their beauty and develop the right tools to create lasting confidence.
Carole:
How can women bloggers support you and Dove in furthering this campaign?
Jess:
There are a lot of ways to support this conversation – the biggest one being to have the conversation daily! Keep talking about it, covering it, speaking about the real issues in your life with friends, family, and loved ones. If you have girls in your life, be mindful of what you say about your own body and beauty and be sure to create a space where you can visit some of these important topics. For our National Self-Esteem Weekend, you can also get involved and influence the life of a girl by volunteering to host a workshop or support one of our partner organizations in their work. And, of course, you can visit our website, Dove Self-Esteem, to get more tips and tools!
Thanks, Jess, for your dedication to spreading the message and thanks to Dove for sponsoring such a tremendous program!
Do you have young girls in your life? Join the conversation, raise their awareness and talk about self-esteem and self-confidence with them.
Tootles,
Related Posts:
(other posts in The Red Plate series)
Leave a Reply