March is ‘Women’s Month’ internationally. In like manner, we embracing the world with its new campaign ‘#EachForEqual’ Women’s Month 2020 aims to draw attention to the difference each woman can bring out. The campaign will bring about change by raising awareness of gender biases and to cheer women’s achievements. ‘United we stand but divided we fall’ is a phrase that holds a lot of weight. There’s nothing as powerful as a group of people coming together to support a cause. For me, it is even more special when that cause is empowering women. Recently, we had the opportunity to ‘reason’ with Lauren Campbell, a young woman who supports such a cause.
Lauren Campbell
Lauren Campbell is a 23-years-old multipotentialite. This free-spirited young woman is an entrepreneur, blogger and marketer who is adamant to leave her mark on the Earth. In everything she does, she aims to speak and walk in her truth. She stands tall, takes up space positively and never requests permission or apologizes for being herself. Lauren enjoys talking about herself and her journey as she believes that her story can impact others.
It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. Your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. When you tell your story, you free yourself and give other people permission to acknowledge their own story
Iyanla Vanzant
Lauren believes that ‘getting in tune’ with herself was one of her most powerful experiences. In shifting, she found her real self; she discovered the things she liked versus the things she didn’t. Things she once tolerated, she found intolerable. Where she once remained quiet, she began to speak her truth. She understands the power of her voice and realises that some situations don’t deserve her time, energy or focus. Passionate about others experiencing the same type of euphoria, she makes it her duty to show other women what it’s like to feel loved and confident.
World Changer
The world is a dog-eat-dog environment, where only the strong survive. Traditionally, that strength has been associated with masculinity. Lauren’s mission is to help people, especially women, connect with themselves to harness that power that is inherently internal. Being that as it may, her vision is of a community that treats all people equally. ‘People helping people: it can be a real movement to create relationships for a better tomorrow.’
This world-changer is quite the explorer; one may even consider her to be the real-life ‘Dora’. Her love for travelling is linked to her belief in “contributing to a world while understanding and experiencing it.” Lauren is happiest when she is experiencing different cultures, countries and societies. She does this and documents her experiences on various platforms. Her encounters and experiences alter her perspective and how she relates to people:
Japan
Wanting a new challenge after completing University, she opted to go to Japan to teach English to children. In Japan, she chose to live in a share house as it allowed her to create global friendships and experience different cultures. The highlight of her six months in Japan were the children. Lauren has always had a soft spot for children; she developed this from her years of helping her mother with Sunday school and bonding with her niece and nephew.
While in Japan, she noticed the culture as more rigid about traditional gender roles. There are certain stereotypes, norms and values Japanese conform to which differs from that of the West. Consequently, Lauren positively contributed to her environment by encouraging young girls to be independent thinkers. While in her presence, the young ladies were allowed to be whatever and whoever they wanted to be.
Self-Love
Before ending our ‘reason’, Lauren simply wanted to remind me and others that: ‘You are enough and you are worth it. The world is your canvas, go make your mark.’ Be kind to yourself. You’ve got this!
