When American entertainer Miley Cyrus twerked on fellow artist Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Music Video Awards, millions of people worldwide had something to say about the performance across every possible communication channel. When reality star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian West posts about her KKW Beauty brand, her hundreds of millions of followers on social media flock to purchase products. What do both of these celebrities have in common? In response to seeing their own power and reach, they are now using their platforms to advance causes close to their hearts, setting a model for other influencers to follow.
Starting a Nonprofit: The Happy Hippie Foundation
Miley Cyrus launched the Happy Hippie Foundation in 2015 to rally young people to fight injustices and embrace who they are for themselves. According to its website, the nonprofit provides homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations, such as youth aging out of foster care, people living with HIV/AIDS, youth in conflict zones and people affected by crisis situations, with basic needs, consistent support services, education and employment opportunities.
What makes her efforts authentic: She is constantly criticized for her behavior, wardrobe and expression of sexuality.
It all began when Miley turned her 2014 Music Video of the Year Award acceptance speech into a public service announcement for homeless youth. A young man named Jesse took the stage to raise awareness for the 1.6 million runaway and homeless children and teens in America, a group with which he formerly identified.
Since the Happy Hippie Foundation’s founding, Miley has consistently posted and created videos to raise awareness and money for the issues plaguing these populations. The nonprofit has partnered with Gender Spectrum to create support groups for 1,300 transgender-expansive youth and families, established a MAC AIDS Fund to provide medical care and housing for transgender people living with HIV in L.A. and San Francisco and created the Zebra Coalition, which offered immediate counseling and support for victims and families of the June 2016 Orlando Nightclub shooting. And most recently, Miley teamed up with Converse for #SomethingSignificant to debut a Pride Collection of colorful athleisure and Chuck Taylor All Stars, with all proceeds going to LGBTQ youth organizations, including the Happy Hippie Foundation.
Advocating for a Cause: Prison Reform
Nearly one year ago, Kim Kardashian West met with President Trump asking him to grant clemency for Alice Johnson, 63, who was sentenced in 1996 to life in prison as a first time offender for a nonviolent drug conviction. Although she caught a lot of flak for meeting with a political candidate she did not publicly support, her efforts helped someone get their life back. Motivated by her success, she revealed in April that she is doing a four year apprenticeship and studying to become a lawyer in the state of California in order to help transform the criminal justice system. Just last month, she returned to the White House to advocate for the First Step Act, a bill backed by the President that will help former prisoners, like Alice Johnson, to re-enter the workforce, and announce a new rideshare program, in partnership with Lyft, to provide former prisoners with gift cards to use for transportation to job interviews, work and family.
What makes her efforts authentic: Her husband grew up in a rough neighborhood in the south side of Chicago and she is raising four mixed race children.
Haters question Kim’s intelligence and whether or not she has a place within the legal system, after all isn’t she famous for being famous? But, Kim is no dummy. After watching her late father Robert Kardashian work as an attorney, most notably in the infamous OJ Simpson trial, she knows that the only way to create change is to learn the system and then fix it from the inside out. And, every time she posts or makes a speech on prison reform, people from across the political aisle of all different ages are listening.
