Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
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So welcome to the good community, where Nonprofit Professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
So let's get started. Becky, I feel like a dream is coming true on this podcast.
Pinch me. I mean, let's be honest, there was only one thing that could have interrupted the summer of Evolution Series. And it is the Barbie phenomenon that is sweeping the nation. But I gotta take everybody back real quick, Jon, I want you to think about even though I know you would have only been 3, 1985 little six year old Becky sitting in her little Oklahoma home and going to the Christmas tree. And guess what's underneath the Christmas tree. My very first I'm holding it up you can get on YouTube and look at it my very first peaches and cream Barbie that came into my life. And something happens when you're a little girl and you get your doll and the amount of creativity and imagination. And that's what we're talking about today because you have seen the hype. But today, we're gonna have a conversation about how Barbie leans into impact and how her story has really been baked in giving an good and we are so honored to have this conversation around two powerhouses of the Barbie world. And I'd love to introduce them today. And the first one is our new dear friend, Jessica Beatus. She is the Group Vice President of social impact solutions at Warner Brothers Discovery and she's got this incredible ethos that we love that's like doing well by doing good and she just has this game changing approach to social responsibility by empowering consumers, employees, stakeholders, and converting their empathy into action. And so together we've got Mattel we got Warner Brothers Discovery here and they're talking about how they're partnering with Save the Children to help girls reach their full potential. But she's not our only guest y'all. We've got Nancy Molenda in here who is probably got the greatest job of anyone in the nonprofit slash corporate impact space. She is the executive director of the Mattel Children's Foundation and corporate philanthropy at Mattel Inc. What an amazing job. She's got her pink on today. And she's been working in that role since 2015. And she is really implementing that creativity to design new philanthropic programs, transform legacy programs and act as the face of Mattel philanthropy and the Mattel Children's Foundation, which I didn't even no prior to this interview existed. They had been around for more than 40 years with this vision of making a difference in the lives of children around the world. They have supported 1000s of organizations, millions of children, and they have this fundamental belief that every child has a right to play. I'm just thinking of six year old Becky holding her peaches and cream Barbie and I'm just feeling so grateful in this moment. Let's talk about how Barbie has impacted the world. Ladies Welcome to the we're for good podcast. Can you tell we're a little excited you're here?
Yeah. It's infectious, I feel I feel the same.
Well, I would love to I'm going to start Nancy with you. I'd love for you to just kind of give us a background like tell us where you grew up. Tell us about little Nancy and what led you to this incredible position that you have right now.
Yes, I will. I will try to keep it brief. It's quite a journey but really really special. I have been at Mattel honestly for this is my 26th year with the company. And so when I started way back when I started with the events team at Mattel and also quickly got involved as a new employee way back when in all of the foundation's philanthropic programs anything that was offered to me that I could play a part in I jumped at it and quickly you know obviously because of all that they do in the community in the world fell in love with the company so knew that I was going to find my way at some point to be able to have a bigger role one day and stars aligned and here I am getting as you said Becky like it is the best job in the company and I try to keep that on the down low internally sometimes because I don't want any body to come for me yeah. But indeed wonderful and yes, a total Barbie girl growing up little little Nancy definitely had her fair share of Barbie Dreams and really funny story very quickly. In our Design Center here at Mattel. A couple of years ago, I think pre pandemic, they had set up a wonderful kind of museum like archive of vintage Mattel products. And I was really excited to go and check it out. But to my dismay, many of the dolls and the Corvette and everything that I played with was in a vitrine with a beautiful spotlight and a vintage sign saying, you know, look at our heritage. So that was a really interesting moment. Of course, that is life.
I love that story. Jess give us give us just some background because you have had an incredible storied career and impact has been at the center of I know your heart, and the legacy that you're leaving, kind of take us back and tell us about you growing up and how you got into this role.
It's actually a pretty funny story. So little Jessy Schram, my maiden name was not allowed to play with Barbies. My mother was a very hardcore feminist. And so I was only allowed to have a Barbie if it was given to me as a gift. I had Barbie and Todd Todd did not make it into the movie. I'm not sure anybody remembers Todd. He's not even Allan. But my my impact story. As a kid, my mother was actually a professor of sociology. And she kind of by chance, got this cool little job at NBC when I was about eight years old. And I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. She was doing community relations. And you know, my mom was working for a TV station. She had a TV in her office. And then the short time that she when she first started there, she created something called the more you know,
Are you kidding?
No way! I see the star, the star shooting across the television,
my stepdad designed the star, he's a graphic designer. And so they created the more you know, and as a kid, I actually helped her write the script. So when she would be, you know, recording with people from friends or you know, even I think silver spoons, I mean, it went all their bluff and whatever it was. And so as and as I grew up, the only thing I really wanted was TV in my office, and I wanted to use that TV to do good stuff the way my mom did, and it somehow turned out that way. So we kind of joke it's a little bit of a legacy in our in our family. I got it from her.
What's her name?
Her name is Roz Weinman. She's known often by Dr. Rozz, you might see her and she wrote many episodes of Law and Order. So you might see her name.
What a badass Roz. Thanks for raising such an awesome kid.
She is a badass.
Thank you for taking us back to just like the humanity. I just love this conversation so much. And I think it's easy to see these big headlines and hundreds of millions of dollars coming through at the Barbie movie. But to find out the people that are powering this movement behind it is just so heartwarming that it's like, you're just like us, we each have our own stories and the values that have pointed us to this. And so I want to start this conversation like leaning into Barbie's story. I mean, she's been central to this. And Nancy, I mean, you get to be a steward of this legacy. But take us back to some of the philanthropic projects Barbie has had over the years.
Yeah, well, that's easy. And again, I you know, could take all day telling you all of the amazing things that Barbie has brought to this world. But you know, most impressive is, you know, she's had over 200 careers, obviously and counting. And we got it. We got a bit of a taste of that, of course in the Barbie movie. But, you know, there's so many projects that this brand takes on when they launch very special campaigns over all of the years and they always have a touch point to philanthropy. And I know we're going to talk about the campaign associated more with Barbie in the movie, but it was a no brainer that attached to the movie that there would be some sort of a philanthropic campaign campaign and I know Jess feels the same obviously in everything we do. We expect that but for Barbie especially I can name a few of my of my very favorite campaigns in 2022. They always celebrate around International Women's Day and International Day of the Girl just in 2022 One of my most favorite campaigns was them partnering with I believe it was six female founded brands. Were giving a percentage of proceeds back to match the dream gap. And I'll talk a little bit about the dream gap too, because I think that was a quintessential moment for the brand as well to launch an evergreen philanthropic project that would empower girls all over the world. They stepped up during the pandemic to provide support back to the first responders Children's Foundation with a donation of career dolls centered around first responders, firefighters, policemen, nurses, doctors, again, all around the idea that children need girls need role models. And the whole idea behind the brand is if you see it, you can be it. And so I love that so much. I use that a lot in my work. And so that's just a few examples of what the brand is doing more currently. But I can assure you that everything that they do launch, there's always a philanthropic component, and it keeps me very inspired and engaged.
I love that so much. And it probably because it completely value aligns with my two passions. I'm a mom of two daughters. I mean, Jon's got three daughters. And you I actually really appreciate Jess's comment about being a feminist. And I think in a time such as these I love that we're having these conversations because empowering women and loving philanthropy are honestly my two favorite things outside of my kids. And so I think this is such a timely example. And you have a massive audience here of people who are in the nonprofit sector. They work in social impact enterprises, and they are thinking to themselves how in the heck did Save the Children global partner up with the Barbie movie and Warner Brothers Discovery? How did they build this partnership? So I would love to just kick it to either one of you. I'll let you pick who goes first. Tell us the story of this partnership.
I think it starts with me. And by the way, I actually always loved Barbie and wanted to dream Barbie my mother now especially after seeing the movie is like wow, like I think you know we all learn Mattel has done over the years to help girls dream. It couldn't it just it couldn't be more full circle. So I think the way this really came together. We're really lucky. Nancy works on a team with somebody who was formerly at Discovery who I'd worked with for many, many years. Katherine Primark, it's a big shout out was one of my favorite parties. Yeah, Katherine is the best Katherine and I, you know, we joked even before she started at Mattel, like, what are we going to do together? What are we going to do together? And you know, I think as soon as we got through the merger, and we had the Barbie team, I made it my mission to get to know the theatrical marketing team who would be working on this film. And I'm sure you guys haven't seen any of their marketing have you? That's about 100 different marketing partnership has absolutely the team is amazing. A while and by the way, amazing group of women and by the way, just amazing tons and tons of wine. I'm really working closely with them to better with their Maxfield kids, a bunch of people bringing America really great team, but I had really just recently gotten introduced to them and said, We got to do something for this film. And they said, Yeah, you know, we also always have a philanthropic component. And you know, we can do kind of we made we just make a little PSA. We can't use any film IP, we won't be able to tell us tell like, what, we probably do something. And I was like, no, no, no, no, we're gonna like to make a global campaign. And let's figure out you know, that's what me and my team do. We're going to make a really big impact. Let's pick a goal and let's do it. We had a really long standing partnership with our friends also a fantastic group of women over at Save the Children. I called up Katherine Primark and I said, What do you think about us pitching Save the Children something? Nancy got on the phone with us, I was immediately to say, already a partner of ours to and dream gap project. We also pulled in our good friend, Judy Ann Williams, who was running impact at CIA and Margo happens to be with CAA. And the magic just started, you know, coming together. So yeah, Nancy, that's pretty much how it happened. Right?
Yeah, it was incredible. And honestly, that was I'm touting this as a career highlight because just like you know, Jess and her work with Save, same thing for Mattel almost 20 years partnering with Save the Children on disaster relief. And education was kind of our main areas. And then we hadn't really done a program that I've been dying to do centered around the amazing work that saved does in girl empowerment. And it was a synergy like no other when we I jumped on the phone with Jess and Catherine, who's my boss here at Mattel to be introduced. And then Jess was like, you know, we've already kind of decided who the nonprofit partner is. Hopefully you guys agree. And then she says the name and I'm like, drop them mic. We're done. This is amazing. What's next? How big do we go and every all the pieces just fell together so quickly. And it makes me so proud to see Save the Children First and foremost on the PSAs on all the social on everything that WB D and Jess was able to do, linking it to the HGTV show and broadcasting it out across all of their other or networks, it's been a dream.
Well, and the partnerships just really just took a firestorm. And I mean, you know, to your point, Nancy, I think we we had to first convince the theatrical team to work with, Save the Children. And it was similar for us. We had done tons of disaster relief, a lot of international work and a lot of education work. And we had never really done justice. Like girls empowerment was not necessarily like a pillar for us, but it felt like this film is going to need it. You know, Nancy, I'm sure you remember this, too. In the early days, we couldn't see the script, everything was as tight as what it was for consumers. And so even with Save, everybody had to take a little bit of a leap of faith. I think there was enough trust, you know, there was trust, you know, between me and the theatrical team and our group of people, there was trust with Mattel there was trust was Save. And really CAA was really helpful that everybody came on board. And it was pretty quick that X Box came on board and supported Dick's cosmetics came on board and supported Airbnb. I mean, we would just sort of have a conversation and it was like, there was no, I'm used to having to be persuasive. Everybody was just like, yes, like, I mean, Nancy, I was that first conversation where I was like, Hey, I'm gonna put some money in some philanthropy into this, and I'm gonna put a production budget into it. Nancy was like, I'll match you like it was just like, I didn't even I don't even think I asked you like, I didn't even ask for anything, you know. And then, you know, everybody was just like, on right away and wanting to do it. And it kind of just made so much sense. And what was really beautiful about this, to be able to create content that went beyond a PSA, but really was promoting the film had a call to action to donate, and we can still participate. You texted Barbie to 70 7070. But this really strengthen that idea of a holistic approach to success and success that goes beyond, you know, just a marketing success and just, you know, just an elevation over and just getting butts and seats. This really is something that I can't imagine this from being out without this campaign. Like I think it would have been that's how I missing really missing really necessary and, you know, we you know, get at Nancy, I don't know how close you were to some of these conversations. But you know, we understood from day one, this had to go through all the filmmakers this you know, Greta Gerwig had to approve of this. Yeah. Margo was the one Margo asked everybody else who was on set the day that they were on the condom tube, and said, Please be in this PSA with me and Will Ferrell and America for and Kate McKinnon and Seema, they all were like, done, right? I'm in it, we'll do it for you. And we didn't even know what we were getting. We were just cross your fingers. I hope Margo has time to film this for us. And to see everybody was it was just, I mean, this is nothing short of magic. I think this is probably the most miraculous and the most satisfying thing that that I've, you know, touched and dreamed of. So this is my Barbie Dream. I mean, this came true.
I mean, 100% right there going. I mean, one day, you know, the movie will be a vintage movie, and I'll you know, be back into the vintage world again. But like the end, I love reliving this honestly, like the whole process. That's right, because we all were on different strings and emails. And the amount of approvals to get through was insane. And talk about the PSA, that script for
I can't imagine.
what was to be said was flying fast and furious. And making sure I mean, because you know, on my end, it was, you know, working with the amazing Barbie marketing team too. And we wanted to make sure there was a highlight for the Dream gap project. We're coming up on five years, like everybody wanted to make sure that we touched in on what was important to each group. And then Jess you're right like to have all of these amazing actors from the movie be like yes, I'm in is a testament to when you do something incredible and amazing. And entertainment and business. Attaching purpose to it is a no brainer. And definitely it would be a miss in many people's eyes if it didn't happen. And I think we knew that from the beginning, right? It was just a matter of like, Where does the priority level live when you're trying to put on this epic global film? And, you know, the marketing around it. So I think that's why Jess and I feel so really proud. Right, because we played a key piece in this.
And I think Nancy, you said it well, you know, I think there's a sense of, you know, as you're talking about with Mattel, there's always a piece of philanthropy. And I think, you know, through my years at Discovery now WBD you know, we're always looking for this opportunities to but there's a really huge difference between checking the box and having a one off campaign versus having strategic thinkers who really figure out how do you put this together so it is organic, it's authentic, and it isn't just a start, you know, it's not a side piece. I mean, that that for me, it was always like, incredibly important. And you know, I think to your point and I appreciate you saying it the way that we were able to get this as part of the the Barbie Dreamhouse show on HGTV you know we had Ashley Graham she found her own version of the PSA that was just specific to HGTV was just a way to get that many more people and you know, to see the engagement come in, and the amount of people that are, you know, I always say conversion where people are actually giving money and opening their wallet is the absolute hardest, but the fact that we are having many, many dozens and dozens, you know, I think we're probably up to 100,000 people who are texting and it's just enough to say you saw it, and you wanted to learn more, you want to know what the Barbie Dream gap is, you want to understand what the issues are, why girls need an empowerment program, what's the work that Save the Children is doing? You know, I know, for them, this has been really big as well, because this is really and I think, you know, of course, for anybody who sees the film, this is the most fun way to say, we all know we have a problem. And it's not easy to fix, but we can all take a part and how you know and how we impact society how we impact one another the opportunities we give one another, I think, you know, there's, there's, it's gonna take a lot of pathway for some girls to dream about being a doctor or for some girls, you know, to dream about just being healthy, right, you know, just having good body all of that. So it's just been such a such a wonderful thing to have these like minded people and women and you know, on my team to just massive shout out to my team, who are just incredible women that just pushed and pushed and figured it out. And this is a global campaign. I mean, delivering this globally, with the amount of partners, even the auctions, you know, we had great charity by as Mattel also gave us a sign Margot Robbie. I mean, it's crazy. Like this just kept gifts and so did X Box. I mean, we got tickets to premieres, it was just once once people felt that good idea, I think it it just took off like wildfire, so like you, Nancy, like just this has been such a pleasure and hard work, but work worth doing.
I mean, your passion just is coming through this conversation. You know, I just feel the smiles coming through your screen. And a couple of things jumped out at me that I have to like lift is you kept saying the word Trust. And I think there was such so much trust. And there was clarity of vision, this thing that was big, that was intangible, but somebody came in with clarity of vision that everyone just attracted to, from the actors on set to everyone behind the scenes to make the PSA. And we're gonna drop the PSA, you're gonna see this throughout the show notes, but it's just just a beautiful piece, because one of the trends we lifted this year was marketing as mission. And I love that you took that PSA and did use it as an educational tool and a call to action. Like it was all kind of baked into one. And so I want to give space to talk about the dream gap project specifically, kind of define the campaign for us. What are you trying to do? And let's talk about the dream gap specifically.
Yeah, absolutely. So So as I mentioned, the dream gap project is coming up on its fifth anniversary. In 2019. It was launched with, you know, a piece of research that was brought to the Barbie brand. To solve for this gap between girls of a certain age ages between I believe it's three and five. Once they hit that age of five, they start to believe that they are not capable of being and doing anything. And they call this the dream gap. And so this was brought to the brand and our amazing leader over the Barbie brand marketing, Lisa McKnight took it on with her team. And they created a give back campaign that I was lucky to play a piece in to help shape and force a platform where each year the brand is giving $250,000 to like minded organizations that serve children, girls and empowerment in many different ways. And so they've been doing that since 2019. This program that Jess and I worked on is part of the program for this year. And each year there are creating moments of impact. They've developed curriculum for families and parents and educators to use in classroom for all kids, not just little girls but for their Kens as well.
Thank you I feel seen.
Yeah, you're one of our favorite Ken and so it's really been a really amazing and pivotal moment for the brand to really take this on. And we were happy to be able to amplify it around to this movie as well and Save the Children has this amazing global reach and impact and so we were proud to bring it in and share it as part of the continuing work of the Barbie Dream gap. And for for I think that you know, we also want to continue the impact and and the idea around the dream gap project fund was not only for the brand to contribute and partner with these organizations, but also business and companies that we work for. We've done a Couple of campaigns with percentage of funding from some of our consumer products partners who wanted to jump in and also work together. This isn't just something that can be solved alone by one brand. It's all of us kind of jumping in to be able to take part in this in this global movement. And Barbie is just, you know, the one to kick it off. And it's been amazing to see the impact that they've made at this point.
I just need to create some space to talk about what you've done here, because it is so antithetical to what I feel like we were taught in terms of how to build lasting partnerships. And I and I want people to look at this as one of the gold standards, because there's a couple things that you all have said that I'm like, okay, my eyebrow quirked. And of course, my heart is exploding. Because I mean, Barbie is the conduit to this. And we all know this. I mean, Jon and I are marketers disguised as fundraisers here. But it's like right now in storytelling, nostalgia is the rage. I mean, we're having a really hard time in our country. And in our world, we're facing so many big issues, and people are going back to simpler times and things that brought them joy. And that's why I feel like the Barbie phenomenon has really erupted. And there's this empowerment component that is just something that is very magnetic, to people who want to embrace and create a world where anyone can be anything specifically for women. But I think the thing that's really staying with me about your partnerships is that one, you all came to Save the Children, how many nonprofits can raise their hands and say a major brand has come and asked them to partner, that's when you know, you're doing really good work. The other thing I heard from you was like this trust based leadership that we've been talking about as a trend all year, and when you move at the speed of trust, everything goes so much faster, you don't have to guess you're gonna have to worry about the back and forth on scripts I can't even imagine. But the other thing I find very interesting is that you brought other brand partners along who were already invested in the Mattel brand. And you said, here's something we believe in, can we get your buy in? And so that is a different dynamic that I want all of our nonprofit listeners to think about. How do you build culture, brand, trust belief, so much so that your partners are going out and finding other partners to make the impact bigger? I just think that that is really important. And I want to ask this question to you both. And I just feel like you have built this this beautiful model. And I want you to talk about what you've learned regarding how new partnerships can amplify the legacy of a brand by inspiring viewers, consumers, fans, we call them donors, you know, sometimes, but we're really talking about believers, people that don't just buy a Barbie as a transactional gift or buy a movie ticket or make a donation to a nonprofit. They want to know how they can take action for good. So talk to us about what you've learned about that.
I'll go first. Listen, I think both you Becky and Jon have said really important things. And I think what you're leading to is how do you create a movement and you know, movements? You know, people joke about that, like something going viral. It's not easy to create a movement. But I think that idea that clarity of vision is everything. And when you work with a nonprofit and you know, obviously Nancy and I have both had wonderful experiences with Save over the years. But part of that has been in that in terms of flexibility, it has to start with understanding a few things. Number one as a corporation, I and my team we are not the experts on the ground, we are not the expert issues and the people who are making the direct impact are there they know best and it first starts with that trust of is this an organization who can communicate to me clearly what they're doing, what they're capable of doing, how they're doing it and how I can help them. You know, that's that's like the first step. You know, the second step is Okay, now let's narrow it down even tighter and figure out what's the message that consumers the simplest message can understand and have to understand, especially, you know, Nancy, you may have boxes and other marketing you can do but most of my messaging is either social messaging or often 15 seconds. So in 15 seconds, what can I get out there and ask people to do where they understand it, and they're gonna want to participate. I think once you do that, it's easy to bring other people on board. And I think the biggest difference between the way that clearly Nancy works at Mattel and I've been working, you know, in my career here is I always say I'm open for business, like come draft us like I have a team. I've worked really hard on this already. We've already you know, worked it out. We have you know, we figured out the legalese. We figured out the messaging and you may not have a team that's who does that work, you know at your xyz big or small company. We trust you So trust us, and you've already already partnered, you know, Xbox and knicks and Airbnb were actually marketing partnerships through WVD. Theatrical. And, you know, because that team believed in this partnership, they were happy to open the doors and say, Do you guys want to participate, and they were like, easy, right? Like, this is easy, we're happy to elevate this, this is good for our brand. This is good for our employees, this is good for, you know, Xbox had it into like, you know, they have a Microsoft online where you can make donations or like, this will be part of that. So, you know, Nancy, I know, you took this program to your employees as well. So I think it's that being open for partnership and open for business, like, I don't need to own this, I'm just glad that it took off. And everybody, you know, with the right intentions, come and put a little skin in the game, and let's make it bigger, and let's get it get the work done. I mean, that's always how I've looked at it. And I think a lot of companies are very busy being proprietary that they forget that you make more noise and do more good. When you put when you have partners. I mean, that's what business is its partnerships.
100%. And I think that's why we worked together so well, on all of this, you know, again, I have to shout out like such an amicable, like triangular isation, that I think branched out all over the place with, you know, one kind of idea around the movie, but I cannot get done what I do without partners and collaborations, Jess holds superpowers that I don't, she's just in media and entertainment has a different skill set. And that's I seek that out from other like minded companies that want to partner together. Number one, that like you mentioned, just the impact is bigger when more people put their skin in the game. And that's what this is all about. It's not about credit, it's about the children that we're serving. And we have to find the biggest, best way to do that. And there's no way around it doing something by yourself, it has to include many entities.
And I gotta give a plug, because I think that our sector gets kind of labeled at moving slow. And I didn't fill that in y'all, you know, like you had a vision, but you were open for business, and you moved when you have this opportunity, and you made the most of it. And it's much more bigger and beautiful than any one entity could have ever considered doing on their own. So this is like such a lesson for us, you know, to I think make the most of these and use the power of media to spread our missions to so we want to like give space to just celebrate philanthropy. And we do that on this podcast by asking you to take us back to a story a moment in your journey. It can be personal, it can be through your business work wins a moment when you saw philanthropy happen, and you're like, that's a moment that's gonna stick with me, you know, that's really resonated through your life. Nancy, you're nodding, I'll start with you.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I you know, grew up always involved in organizations through you know, either my parents or friends, parents that had us out in the community doing good work, and it felt good. You know, I don't think anyone has ever attempted to give their time to someone in need, whether it be their family or an organization or anyone and not come out of it feeling better. So it just became one of those essential things in my life. Luckily, I'm able to do that in my business professional life as well. But I have to say, you know, going back obviously Mattel I've spent a light you know, half of my life here so the example is going to be the incredible work that our brands are doing with regards to developing toys that every child can see themselves in from our DE and I branded lines, different abilities, the careers the girl empowerment, it is just made my job so amazing. And I would say that one and I would I'll send this to you afterwards because it is a YouTube but I was moved by a little girl that will spend her life in a wheelchair and I'll say she's probably only two years old. And we I don't know if it was the foundation or the brand that sent her for Christmas, the first fashionista doll Barbie in a wheelchair. So we sent her the doll and the look on her face to open a gift to see that Barbie is right there in the chair that she will never get out of see I get choked up now. Like the video of her face. Forget it. Like there's nothing else more important in this world. This company will continue to push to make sure that every child gets to see themselves in the most their most beloved brands and I'll be here to make sure that we put those toys in the hands of kids have Across the world, so, hands down, that's that's that,
Holy heck.
Get the tissues. Jess, what about you?
You know, I think similarly to Nancy, I certainly grew up with a lot of sense of purpose and give back. And, you know, that was always part of just my DNA and my family's DNA. But you know, similarly to you, Nancy, I think one of the highlights and and really actually one of the reasons why I probably got pretty close with Save the Children. I'm sure you guys remember a couple years ago, ahead of the pandemic, there was another crisis, when there were children that were getting stuck at the border, you know, it was basically like cages, and it was just a terrible situation. And I remember, you know, talking to our friends at save and saying, you know, is there anything, you know, that is needed? Or is there anything that we could do to be helpful. And again, I work really closely with the consumer products teams that we had, we always had discovery toys and books. And they said, you know, yeah, there'll be we'd love to set up small schools. And we would love to kind of figure out a way to, to have some items here. And so I got together with my great colleagues, Carolyn Dunn. And you know, they just had 1000s of puzzles and books and stuffed animals, not to mention clothing, I mean, Shark Week, branded, everything that you could possibly imagine sweatshirts, kids clothes, and yeah, and mostly, we just had a ton of Shark Week stuff. And so me and my team and other friends at Discovery, we packaged up, I think it must have been over 100 huge boxes of items. Plus, we had a lot of stuff that was shipped from storage. And we sent it down to a receiving center with Save the Children where there were two different shelters that they were setting up. And they started sending us pictures as these items arrived. And the majority of what we said were giant, plush stuffed sharks, and we just had so many excess that we know they were going there might be for sale anymore. And there was you know, it was easy enough to liquidate the warehouses. Mmm. And at first, they said, we're not sure if we can keep the shark stuff down. And well, as you know, these allies are little kids, some of them have truly been in water, you know, migrating to get here. And this might be kind of scary. And we were a little taken aback and felt sort of badly, you know, you want to be helpful. We're like, okay, at least we sent, you know, 800 sweatshirts, and you know, blankies and everything else. A couple days later, we got a picture of a one year old girl, asleep on a cot with the mother and the mother has her hands, you know, her head in her hands, and looks like she's finally taking a rest. And the kid was asleep with a shark. And they sent this letter to me. And it was from somebody who was working on the ground from sales to someone I'd never met who said, you know, when these came in, I was the one that was nervous, I was afraid that because we're going to be scared. And we started by just handing them out to some of the older kids. And suddenly, every kid wanted one. And so we went back to the warehouse. And within a matter of an hour, there were 1000s of sharks. And we realized that all the kids were using them as blankets, a lot of them held it was a lot of them didn't even have that. And they were just using them for comfort. And this woman said, you know, I've now been here for a month working. And as I left finally, because this one shelter was closing and kids were finally being processed and moved on. She said she was at the airport in Texas. And she was in the security line. And about every third person was a family with a child carrying a shark and she waited at security, and watched as these families went to different gates to go and move on, you know, and be with their sponsor families as they were intended. And she was like, it just changed everything. Like I realized that the shark was the most you know, the safest cuddliest you know, warmth and comfort. And that these kids to just have something of their own in this moment and have something comforting was all they needed. And you know, I also get choked up with that story. Because again, you know, we all were just like, please, you know, enjoy this stuff, we hope something as small as this can be helpful and I can without being there. I have that vision, you know of little kids who are going to start their journeys to becoming citizens here. And hopefully finding you know, new beginnings so it's it's really meaningful. It's just it's a we are very lucky to get to do the work we do.
We are, the project like when you stop to think about the trajectory of life one kind moment you wish that you could follow every individual I mean, this goes with everything right holding a door open for someone or just saying thank you or how was your day, but like on a daily basis, Jess and I, Becky and Jon and then all of your listeners involved in philanthropy like imagine like the energy in the reverberation of like these moments like if you could just follow one person to the end of their days to see like what might have changed for them in a moment of kindness or receiving something that was theirs or seeing themselves in their most beloved toy like it's just, it's everything.
I'm so glad you just talk to Nancy Nancy So I could like get wipe all my snot away. I want to live something that I noticed in both of you is, and I want to impress it upon this audience, that you've got frickin Warner Brothers and Mattel here, I mean, some of the biggest brands in the world. And the moment that has stuck with these two women is a singular human being. And it was a moment of exchange of seeing the face seeing the impact, right on the front line. And that is why our work is so important. And Nancy is right kindness is catching. And that is what the Impact Uprising is all about is how do you take something that is emotionally connected to you in a way and activate someone to do something about it? This, this started, um, like with Dr. Roz, you know, and just bringing Jess along, it started with Nancy, you know, walking into that building and knowing that it's going to be not just business as usual. And for you out there, where are your stories? Where is the moment that caught your breath? Those are the stories we need to tell those are the stories that replicate, and go on and on and on. And I just think even the biggest brands can, you know, you don't have to make something so flashy. You make it impactful, you make it human. And that's what trends. And so thank you for that reminder. And our last question on the podcast, is, we want to end with a one good thing. And I think that that Nancy, you've kind of teed us up nicely by talking about these random acts of kindness. I want to start with you. What would you leave with our audience today as a one good thing?
Oh, my gosh, I would say the one good thing is to think about like, sit and think about the people that are either can be helpful to your cause, or your organization, either in your business life or personal life that you trust and that you work with. So well. Gather together and figure out what's your next big thing like how you can uptick your impact and enjoy doing that together. I'm obsessed with everyone that played a part in the partnership, Barbie movie, and I can't wait to see what's next. And so my one good thing is to just keep connecting and collaborating in your industry and move the needle every day, I loved what you said, Becky about what makes you feel good. And then do more of it. Like continue to just, you know, build upon that.
I mean, my one good thing is like thanking you guys for bringing good out to the world and taking this and taking people's stories and how they do it. Because all of us have it in us as you know, just as Nancy is saying we all have it in us. And I think you know, as Becky you were also saying earlier, people are looking at a time for nostalgia. And I think when you look at that a lot of that is about things being easier than they are now. And I think Nancy was just making the point. Like it's really easy to do small things. And it's also easy even within a company, you don't need to run the business to do something good. You don't you know, a lot of this really is just talk to other people and like minded people can create a movement. And, and we see that often in a negative way, right? We can see that on social and keep things going the wrong direction. There's way more people putting that energy in the right direction. So like, just be louder with your laughter be louder with your smiles, you know, be louder with your gratitude. You know, I think that a lot of the key to the success that I've had a lot of these campaigns is I make fun and I make everybody feel good along the way. And it's not that these aren't serious problems. But there's a lot of fun to be there's just there's so much there's so much innovation, there's so much opportunity and there's so much to be looking forward to instead of looking away from and I'm just a huge believer and you can't see light without dark and so wherever you see dark we all have the opportunity to to push through that and get the lights back on and that's it's just an opportunity really it doesn't need to be hopeless.
I mean, Jess it's not lost on me that you were writing these kinds of clips with the more you know in your childhood
The more you know about We Are For Good here. Yeah, well, you know anything's possible. Yeah.
Well, okay, friends, let's point everybody to the PSA specifically, how can people get involved with this campaign? And then how can our listeners connect with the cool work that you're doing in the humans that you are as well? Where do you show up online and how can people connect with the Barbie campaign? Please share.
First of all, text the word of Barbie to 707070 707070 And that's how you can join and learn more about this and I'll say for myself, Jessica Beatus on LinkedIn, feel free to buy me connect with me partner. Always open for business.
Yes, absolutely. please connect with me also on LinkedIn, Nancy Molenda. You can look up Mattel Children's Foundation to to find me. This campaign I believe Jess is running through the month of August is
right. We're actually going to keep going. We're going into nowhere go in further. We have the home video window. And we also have one will be streaming on Netlix, so keep it going on. Yeah, so we got a few more months to go. No end in site.
And the website shows what your dollar contribution can equal for girls. So I mean, every, you know, small dollar contribution adds up to huge impact.
Well, I just gave and it was incredible. While you guys were talking, I really want to come up with the marketing which has been off the chain,
We have to give a shout out to Pledge because that was easy to do. Wasn't that?
The tech that's powering this. I mean, Jon, these are our friends. Our friends over at pledge James Citron, Cassie Fowler at all. We love the pledge team. They're such an impactful fundraising platform. They are powering this. And it's just so wonderful to be in community with this incredible movement. And I can tell you, my daughter and I already have our outfits picked out we're going tonight to the movie in Edmond, Oklahoma. She's 12 years old. It's an event we are so proud to be a part of this movement. I'm proud of pledge. Thank you for passing this interview over James and Cassie, and thank you to both of you for the way that you are helping girls see themselves and achieve their dreams. It's not just a movie. We say this all the time. It's a moment to leverage. And you have done this so beautifully. We are so humbled to be just in the drift of this wonderful moment in time and keep going because our girls deserve it. And this is a mighty movement. We're just proud to like brand align with you all on such good humans.
Well, this has been such a pleasure for me. And I'm thrilled Jess that you asked me to join you on this, Becky and Jon, so great to meet you. And I'll give a shout out to Pledge because I hadn't used them before and I hadn't been exposed to it. I loved the platform.
So glad you did prop them up. Thank you ladies for your time. Incredible story. Keep going.
Thank you so much. And thank you, Nancy. We did it.
Hey, friends. Thanks so much for being here. Did you know we create a landing page for each podcast episode with helpful links, freebies and even shareable graphics? Be sure to check it out at the link in this episode's description. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community. It's free. And you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode. You can sign up today at we are for good.com backslash Hello. One more thing If you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review? It means the world to us and your support helps more people find our community. Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie Confer and our theme song is Sunray by Remy Borsboom.
