Every now and then, you meet a young person who makes you believe that the future's in good hands. We recently teamed up with Ana Agarwal, a local seventh grader, on a project for her non-profit organization. That's right—a seventh grader with a non-profit. Impressive, right? Ana co-founded The Feel Beautiful Movement with her friend Ayla Schwartz. When she approached us about creating stationery for their organization, we eagerly invited her to spend the afternoon with Cookie (our Vandercook proof press). Read our Q & A with Ana below ...
What inspired you and Ayla to start The Feel Beautiful Movement?
The idea for The Feel Beautiful Movement started with Talia Joy Castellano, a fourteen-year-old YouTuber who was diagnosed with cancer. Ayla and I watched her videos and found her joy and positive attitude inspiring. Makeup helped Talia to feel better about herself throughout her cancer treatment. Ayla and I wanted to bring that joy to other girls diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses.
What is the mission of The Feel Beautiful Movement?
Our mission is to bring joy to young patients with serious illnesses and help them to feel more confident about themselves.
What do the recipients generally find in the gift bags you deliver to hospitals?
Currently, patients receive mostly nail polish, eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip gloss, lipstick and other beauty products. We also give gift cards to boys and girls and we are planning to expand into art supplies and other items.
Sephora's on board! How did they hear about you and how are they involved?
We had a personal connection to someone at Sephora and she was kind enough to support us. Sephora donates boxes of nail polish and other beauty products. They helped us get off the ground and their donation was very crucial to us getting to the place we are today.
Have you experienced any particularly touching moments upon delivering the bags?
After one of our donations we received an email from Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. They told us that the hospital holds a prom for the patients that can't attend their own prom and they said our donation would be really appreciated as the girls prepared for prom. We were so happy that we could help contribute to making their prom night special.
If people reading our blog would like to contribute, how can they do that?
They can go to our website at www.feelbeautifulmovement.org to make a donation or to learn more.
Keep up the great work, Ana & Ayla! You've inspired us and can only imagine you will motivate others to follow your lead.
