update update update

hellloooo!!!

Well, at least this time it hasn't been a whole month before a blog... so we are getting better... right?!? Not really, but just know that we are trying to keep y'all updated!!

We had an amazing event at Fred Segal! Thank you so much to

everyone who came out to support us - it was such an amazing and inspiring feeling to be in a room surrounded by such amazing people! We had such incredible and uplifting conversations that night and we cannot wait to see what happens with the new

friends that we made! A special thank you to Darrylynn with the Good Works Space, at Zero Minus Plus, within Fred Segal. Also, thank you so much to Westlake Custom Framing for doing such an

amazing job with our frames for the installation!! Also, another shout out to Pro Lab Digital for helping us with more printing and creating the banner for the installation!!! We could not be where we are right now without the constant help of others! Thank you thank you thank you!!

I am going to wrap this up because I am about to leave to go to Lauren's to get some work done on this school program road trip tour! We are so excited about it and fingers crossed, hoping, and praying that sponsors/funding comes through so that we are able to do this road trip and reach as many schools/people as possible in the shortest amount of time! After that Lauren and I are heading down to Newport for a meeting with an amazing woman that we met at the Fred Segal event! We are meeting with her to talk about a possible fundraiser down in Newport in the next month or so... so we are very excited!

We will keep you posted with more updates soon! If you haven't had a chance -- check out our channel on youtube!!!

Have an amazing day!

love love love,

molly

Come to our event at Fred Segal Santa Monica this Friday!!! Its going to awesome! Red Carpet, drinks, musical performances, Kind Campaign talk/info/documentary clips/installation, merchandise, Umami Burger, Fred Segal.... heck yes!

Join the event facebook group by clicking here!!!

KC UPDATE

Its always crazy to realize how quickly time flies. When I go to write these blogs, I realize how much time has gone by and I feel so bad!!! However, in light of the last couple months, its hard to feel bad about anything relating to Kind Campaign. I cannot begin to express how thankful I am for this project, the change it is making and all of the people involved.

Anyway, here is a rundown of some important things that have been going on and I PROMISE we will be better about posting from now on!

Editing has been so fun! Me and Vegard are working really well together and just this last week have restructured how we are approaching the story a bit. The new idea works so much better and will make for a better film. I wasn't sure what the editing process would be like with so much footage, or how hard it would be to create a story out of so many smaller stories...but...it's happening and its working and the only issue we are running into is having too much good footage to choose from...not a bad problem to have :)

A few weeks ago, Molly and I went down to Palm Desert to watch the Young Woman Ambassador groups present their Kind Campaign projects. To be honest, I dont know that Molly or I knew exactly what was going to take place that night. What we ended up witnessing was about 50 girls who have taken Kind Campaign and created their own projects/versions of KC to

integrate the movement into their own schools and communities. The girls put so much time and work into their projects. There were multiple times where I couldn't help but tear up because of the overwhelmingly honored feeling I had while sitting in that room. They created their own mini-documentaries, had KIND week at their schools, had their whole student body dress in pink, created their own version of Kind Magazine...there were so many amazing projects. I think Molly and I left with some new ideas because their projects were so innovative! It was

just so crazy to see how a seed was planted and how its branches are extending into schools and communities in this way. The fact that we weren't even aware that there were Kind weeks taking place in schools to celebrate Kind Campaigns message...yea, I really dont know how to describe how happy that makes me.

This Friday, Fred Segal Santa Monica is hosting a Kind Campaign fundraiser/awareness night!!!!! We installed an installation into the store last week to raise awareness and funds, so the event is also serving as an official launch for the installation. (if you live

around santa monica,

CA, go check out the installation- it will be there until May 6th) We are going to have a lot of cool things going on at the event- a silent auction, live music from Samantha Marq

and Nicole Vaughn, drinks, documentary footage, the installation, merchandise, and of course, Molly and I will be speaking about our upcoming plans for the film and school program. Which brings me to the next important bit of information!!!....

Once we put word out that we are going to launch our school program this Fall we received insane amounts of emails from teachers and schools all over the country wanting us to come speak and screen the film. We realized trying to go to all of these places is going to be hard unless we go back on the road. Sooooo that is what we are doing! This September-December we are going on a Kind Campaign road trip 2.0 to hit hundreds of schools and screen the film around the country. It will be an amazing 4 month journey and we are ready for it!! One of the major goals of this project has been to provide these school assemblies and to offer them FREE OF CHARGE. We have began planning the logistics of our schedule but now have some serious money to raise to over the next few months to make this all happen. It will happen though... I have realized when Molly and I put our minds to something, it happens. end of story :) Anyway, I cannot WAIT to get back on the road and hopefully go visit some one of the schools we met with on our first KC road trip. A new adventure awaits!!!

I think one of the most important things to mention right now is the suicide of Phoebe Prince. Her death is a grave reminder of the fatal consequences of girl-against-girl "crime", but even further, its a reminder to ALL OF US that THE WAY WE TREAT OTHERS does have CONSEQUENCES. I feel for her family and everyone in her life. I wish she knew she wasn't alone and that she would be okay. There isnt much I can say because its honestly so upsetting to think about... All I can hope for is that her death will be a wake up call for a lot of people. Check out this link to read more about this story: http://www.truecrimereport.com/2010/01/phoebe_prince_15_commits_suici.php

LOVE WINS.

Lauren

It's Already March!?!

Well hello!

It's been quite some time since you've heard from me : (! Things have been a bit crazy/hectic since returning from the road trip (as Lauren amazingly recapped!!)! If you missed it -- since returning I have spent two months living in New York, got engaged over Thanksgiving in

Paris, and have since moved back to California!! Thankfully, I am getting settled in and things are coming back to a somewhat normalcy! I definitely missed sunny CA, and phone calls with Lauren just weren't enough! We had a great time in Dallas catching up (see pic from NCL TickTocker Day!!!) and I have loved being back close by! But, I will say that nothing beats the days when we were within walking distance of each other...oh the glorious days of college!!!

Anyways, just wanted to say hello, let you know that I am still alive and well, and I am thinking about all of you!!! I am SO incredibly excited about the amazing things Kind Campaign is doing right now! If you haven't checked out the trailer yet -- you've got to ASAP! Lauren and Vegard have been working non-stop to make it absolutely perfect... and let me just say that even after watching it a million times I am still brought to tears and blown away!! Also, we just finished finalizing the School Program Assembly Information Packet, so we are going to start working with districts to launch the school program in the fall!

I just loaded a bunch of pictures on my computer from the past couple of months and stumbled upon a pretty cool picture from our assembly at Marywood Palm Valley -- which Lauren already talked about, but let me just reiterate -- it was AMAZING!!! Check out some of the pics from that

day!!

Alright, I am done rambling on about my excitement and love for KC and you all! Hope everyone is having an amazing day and a great start to the week!

love love love,

molly

Kind Scholarship/Grant Winner!!!

It's official!! We announced the winner of the very FIRST Kind Magazine Scholarship/Grant winner yesterday and it is.... drum roll....BRIGITTE BAVOUSETT!!!

Brigitte Bavousett has been awarded the scholarship/grant for her amazing story in our third issue of Kind Magazine. Her story is interesting, honest and most importantly HOPEFUL. She shows us that being yourself and standing up for what you believe in is the most important thing. She was bold, brave and unrelenting during a very tough experience.

Read her amazing story here:

http://www.kindcampaign.com/kindmagazine/issue3.htm

Thank you to all of the girls and women who wrote to Kind Magazine. Your stories are all amazing and add so much to each issue. By sharing your experiences, you are helping so many girls! Thank you thank you thank you! We really, really appreciate each and every one of you!!!!

Be sure to send your stories to kindmag@kindcampaign.com to be in the running for our next scholarship/grant cycle!

Hope everyone is having a KIND day!!

KINDly, Kind Campaign

Kind Scholorship

It's the end of the first KC year (we had our one year old birthday on FEB 11th) and we are getting ready to pick our KIND MAGAZINE scholarship winner!!! This means that one of the girls who wrote in to Kind Magazine will receive a check from KC to thank her for being brave and sharing her story! :) If you dont know about the KC scholarship, check out the rules within any of the Kind Magazines (its at the end of the magazine and its called Kind Scholarships):

http://kindcampaign.com/kind_magazine.php

On February 28th we will be announcing the grant/scholarship winner!

The next round of scholarships will be given out in August. The more stories we get for Kind Magazine, the more money we will give out.

SEND YOUR STORY TO kindmag@kindcampaign.com

KINDly,

Lauren and Molly

just thinking.

I always end up writing these really late...hmm.

Things have been crazy. In a good way. The film is coming along...slowly but surely. We are set up to start touring through various school districts this Fall which is so exciting-- that was the goal of this entire project so it's amazing to see that its actually happening. Molly sent me a Press Package that she has been working on and its been really amazing. We are going to include that within the school proposal we are sending out.

There are really so many exciting things going on and things that have happened over the last month. We held three separate assemblies at a school in Palm Desert about two weeks ago. Its was AMAZING. There were so many girls reconcile friendships, crying, hugging, and smiling after we finished. There were a group of girls who came up to us and told us that their group of friends had been in an ongoing fight for two years and that after the assembly was the first time they had talked. They were so excited to get past the grudge they had been holding. There were girls who stood up in front of their peers and read the Kind Apologies and Kind Cards out loud. It was so cool to witness. The local news came too and covered the whole assembly. They put together some really good news packages. Check them out here:

http://www.kpsplocal2.com/Content/Top-Stories/story/Kind-Campaign-Aims-to-Stop-Girl-Bullying/w4sNRsdx0kyrgIMzdnRBwA.cspx

http://www.KESQ.com/global/story.asp?s=11942691

So happy about everything coming together :)

LOVE WINS.

Lauren

a wonderful weekend!

This was an exciting weekend! On Friday the Finding Kind teaser/trailer premiered at the ReelStories Film Festival! The whole event turned out amazing- Thanks to Katie, Tanner, Harry, Bri, Alec and Omid. There were about 1,000 people who showed up! So rad.

We set up a Kind Campaign booth at the event and sold a bunch of shirts and passed out wristbands, info cards and such. There were some really interesting people at the festival so it was great exposure for KC.

The festival played a series of Pepperdine student films, two trailers

and a two features. I was really impressed with the creativity and heart within the student films. Overall, the selected student films made a strong impression. Pepperdine has some flippin awesome, creative and insanely talented people. I miss it. tear.

Finding Kind was one of the two trailers that played before the feature. It was so amazing to watch on a huge screen. I have seen some of the shorts I have made on a screen like that before, but this was a totally different feeling. Seeing something that I have thought about for 1o years come alive on screen--man. I guess all I can say is that I felt extremely humbled and blessed and excited and many other things all at the same time. Then Molly tapped my shoulder and brought to my attention that Ron Howard and his wife were sitting two seats away from us watching the whole thing. THAT was insane!!!!!

The two features that played are called Red Gold and The Human Experience. I have seen Red Gold probably 5 times- its one of my favorite docs. I met Ben and Travis when I went to MountainFilm for the first time two years ago. They were screening their film for the first time and I remember leaving the theater thinking- I want to do that...I NEED to do that. It was that week that I realized I wanted to make a doc about girl-against-girl "crime", so, in a way, I can thank Ben and Travis

for that inspiration. Ben and Travis are insanely talented. Red Gold portrays the crucial importance of sustaining one of the most abundant Salmon runs in the world, but more importantly sustaining the simplistic yet naturally abundant lifestyle that the Bristol Bay fisherman and community have come to know so well. Its a BEAUTIFUL film with a very important message. You should check out the site and the film here: www.redgoldfilm.com

To the right is one of the still photos from the film.

The festival had two theaters running the two different features. We saw The Human Experience. Molly and I were totally blown away. Its a story about a group of guys who travel the world in search of life's biggest questions- What is the meaning of life? Why do we wake up in the

morning? Who am I? What they found is that the answer is quite simple: life is about faith, love, community and relationships. They guys travel to remote areas of the world, stricken with disease, hunger and devastation, only to find that the people within those communities know more about joy, love and compassion than most of us overpriviledged Americans. Their story shows how connected humans are, no matter where you are or who you are. It was an inspirational and beautiful film. Check out their site here: http://www.grassrootsfilms.com/thehumanexperience/

I had a chance to talk with two of the lead actors and filmmakers, Michael Campo and Jeffrey Azize. They are such awesome guys with so much ahead of them.

The next night, Tom Shadyac had a get together for all of the filmmakers and people who put on

the festival. It was such an amazing night filled with interesting and deep conversation. I LOVE Tom and all the "freaks". The bond we all made at MountainFilm is something so special and unique. That night we were celebrating life, film and another very special happening- Jedidiah and Kenny from Invisible Children were there with some very exiting news. Invisible Children was the 1 Million Dollar winner in the Chase Community Giving competition!!!! It was so awesome to be with them to celebrate such a pivotal moment for their organization. They are such rad guys doing AMAZING work. If you dont know about Invisible Children, you SHOULD. I have seen the documentary before but decided to watch it again last night. I was just as blown away and moved as I was the first time I saw it. I was laying in bed as I watched the film. There is an amazing shot that travels through a "safe house" where the hiding children sleep at night- hundreds of children crammed on a floor, hoping that they will wake up safe and alive in the morning. I couldnt help but lay in my soft, down bed feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Who am I to have my own bed, with my own apartment, with a lock on its door, knowing full well that I will wake up safe in the morning? I just cried. It felt wrong to be sleeping in my cozy bed while watching these innocent children cold, wet and afraid on the floor. I had a thought- that could be me. Its such a simple thought but its so true. I really believe in the work Invisible Children is doing. They deserve every penny of that million dollars. Their organization is the most progressive movement ending the genocide in Uganda and the abduction of child soilders in our world today. Go check out the movement and film here: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php

Watch the film and get involved.

Well, thats enough for now. The weekend was filled with inspiration, amazing people and good times. It gave me fuel and motivation for this week with KC and the doc. Vegard is coming over in a little to watch some docs and continue chipping away at this film.

"The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can."
Robert Cushing

Love WINS.

Lauren

dude.

Its 3:00am and I cant sleep for two reasons:

1. I am leaving for the conference in Texas in the morning and haven't packed and its secretly freaking me out.

2. Vegard and I have been working on the documentary trailer for the film festival and today I saw it complete and cut together for the first time. It's hard to express how I felt when I was watching it. I will tell you that within 5 seconds I was in tears and by the end of it I was balling with excitement. I looked at Vee and informed him that that may be the first time in my life I have been full on in tears from being so happy. The trailer is amazing and to sit there and watch all of the work that went into this cut into something was such a surreal experience. It reminded me that this is actually happening. wow. Vee is so talented and our brains are on the same wave length. its good. Cant wait for you all to see the teaser/trailer! It will be on the findingkind site soon!!!

LOVE WINS.

Lauren Parsekian

Where to begin...

WOW. I haven't posted in a while and its been three months since we returned home from the road trip! So much has been happening with the non profit and the film!!! Ill just give you a quick update on some things going on...

We landed an AMAAAAAZING editor named Vegard. You can check out his reel here: http://www.vegard-sorby.com/reel.html. He is brilliant and he is awesome to work with! Him and I have been meeting almost everyday for the last two months. We have a lot of fun together and our ideas mesh really well. I think we are going to create a really amazing documentary together :) To the left is a picture of Vegard during one of our editing sessions.

When I first returned home, I had this semi-crazy deadline for myself... thinking we would be able to finish the film within a couple months. After sitting down and sifting through the footage, I quickly realized that my February deadline was a bit nuts... Editing a documentary take A LONG time and Im finding that my vision for the film has changed since we started editing. Its good though because the goal now is to have the film done by July and Vegard and I are feeling better about not rushing the process.

hmm...so much has happened I dont even know where to go next....

Molly made a temporary move to New York to nanny for a family so I haven't been able to see her which is super lame :( BUT...she comes back to Cali this week and I am so excited to have her back in my life! Speaking of Molly, she got engaged!!!!!! I am so happy for her and Chris. They make such a beautiful couple. I want them to have babes so I can be an Aunt :) To the right is Molly being proposed to in Paris!

I am flying out to Texas Saturday morning because Molly and I are speaking at a huge National Charity League conference in Dallas! There are going to be around 1,000 girls there! It will be such a wonderful experience for both Molly and I and the girls. I cant wait to speak! I have been missing the assembly/group discussions that I had become so accustomed to while on the doc road trip. Being with girls and talking about this issue is where the heart of this project lies. Molly and I both get so excited when we know we are going to meet new girls and share Kind Campaign with them.

On Jan 22nd, we are going to be a part of our first film festival! yay! An amazing group of people (shout out Katie Stjernholm!) are putting on a big festival in Malibu. Since Vegard and I dont have a film finished yet, they are letting us show a preview of the doc. They will be playing it before all the films. Vee (my name for Vegard) and I have been working super hard getting it together. Here is a link to the festival website: http://reelstoriesfilmfest.com/

Once its finished we are going to send it to Andrew (our composer) and he is going to set a score to it. It should be pretty rad. We are going to put the trailer on the Doc website so once its finished you can all see it!

Speaking of music...we are stoked to have Nicole Vaughn as our official Finding Kind musical artist! Her amazing tunes are going to be running throughout the film. She is awesome and you should for sure check out her stuff: http://www.myspace.com/nicolevaughnmusic

Since returning, we have a new Producer on board who is helping us with distribution and funding. He is really experienced and a good friend of mine so I am really excited to have him on board. He just finished Producing a film about his father and I was lucky enough to watch one of their final cuts. Its SO phenomenal...it had every element a doc should have- reality, emotion, struggle, comedy. Its really perfect in my opinion. I think its going to win awards and do really well on the festival circuit. Jack did such a wonderful job with the film so I know he will be such an asset to Finding Kind. Here is the link to the doc so you can check it out! http://wreckageofmypast.com/

I met with the Capistrano Unified School District about a month ago and we are set up to go into all of their school this coming September to begin the Kind Campaign school program! That is the goal of this whole operation...to bring the film to schools and tour with an assembly program, so we are so thankful to already have something in the works!

The constant emails that we get from women and girls around the country are so encouraging, so thank YOU. So many of you are so willing to share your stories and open up about really traumatic experiences. Those stories affirm why we are doing this so thank you for the constant reminders.

Well, that's all for now. There are so many other exciting things going on but I wouldnt even know where to start. I am just so excited for 2010! I think big things are going to happen and CHANGE is actually going to occur in the school systems and with females all over the world. THANK YOU for being so supportive and being a part of this!

LOVE WINS.

Lauren Parsekian

PS. Check out this article- It will remind you why this is such an important issue to tackle and confirms the sometimes deadly affects to the way we treat one another.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2772568/Vicars-girl-bully-killer-is-jailed.html