Reflecting on the animated piece my team and I created for Rebel Girls (rebelgirls.com) for International Women’s Day in 2022, the tagline’s call to action continues to motivate me to this day.
Early January 2022, I received a note from a colleague and board member of the organization that they wanted to create their first animated piece of content. I was thrilled at the opportunity, having read the Goodnight, Rebel Girls books to my daughter for years. Collaborating with my Animation Director, Daniel Garcia (@kingboss.tv), and Producer, Beth Marshall, we pitched an animated creative solve using pre-existing illustrations of significant women in history. The piece was distributed on IWD to celebrate the day and to announce a Rebel Girls’ upcoming book scheduled to release Fall 2022.
The main call to action of ‘how will you lead, inspire, innovate and unite?’ was a powerful one to young girls as they were able to see via Rebel Girls’ illustrations, and now animation, real life girls that had done just that. The range of possibility was as amazing as was the time span. You witness Seondeok of Silla to Buffalo Calf Road Woman to Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Simone Biles.
Being that I was just getting Angelfish started as a new boutique agency, this was my first official project and this call to action became a best practice to my business. As a leader, I ensured that I was inclusive in who I brought on the team, particularly in when it came to our animator since we were creating content oriented towards young girls. We were able to bring on the amazing Tynesha (@nearsh0t) who brought the illustrations to life.
As I began developing my vision as a storyteller for underserved voices, I continued to be inspired to create content to impact the community. I would be innovative in that I would create my business in a way that serves not only my best well-being but also those of the community and greater good. I looked forward to uniting and collaborating with the diverse range of artists that I had met over my 20 + year career from all over the world as well as finding new, up and coming talent.
As I look to my next project where I plan to lead, inspire, innovate, and unite, I ask the same of you in this moment. Start small and perhaps pick just one of these actions. As I like to say, let’s make change “one ripple at a time.”
Rebel Girls International Women's Day from Chris Glass Hartley on Vimeo.
