Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Doan.
Anna, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Reveal is very dear to my heart. I am honored to build a community that reminds women that we are all made beautifully, to be celebrated and loved with no strings attached. It is my desire and passion to be apart of a woman’s healing process and reinforce her worth, her beauty, and her dignity. Through our events and workshop experiences, survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking have the opportunity to believe that hope is possible – and each of us have pivotal role in being a story of hope.
Through Reveal Beauty’s programs and activities and with the help of over 1,200 volunteers, we have empowered more than 900+ women to create an alternative narrative that allows them to make positive decisions in their lives and break the cycle of domestic violence.
The goals of Reveal’s programs are to create frequent touch points and experiences that promote self-empowerment. Through monthly workshops, women are taught the skills and tools necessary to re-enter society, such as career counseling, interviewing skills, and self-care workshops focused on fashion, beauty, and health.
Along with our monthly workshops, we also host an annual Ultimate Makeover event to honor women and celebrate dignity and beauty through a day full of styling, pampering, and celebration. As we continue to grow, our vision is to continue developing strategic partnerships with established women’s domestic violence shelters, human trafficking organizations and homeless shelters, nationwide and internationally, in key cities where sex trafficking, domestic violence, and fashion and beauty industries intersect.
The success of the initiatives and the impact they have had on the women we’ve supported to date has inspired our expansion beyond New York. We look forward to expand to the west coast in 2019 with more cities following in 2020 and beyond.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Taking risks and going outside of your comfort zone is never easy, but extremely rewarding and exhilarating. Reveal Beauty was just ‘an idea’ organically grown, but little did we know that it would become a full-fledged 501c3 organization that had so many opportunities to grow. Since 2006, we hosted our first makeover event for five women from a partnering domestic violence shelter and focus has been creating self-empowering programs through makeover events and monthly self-care and professional development workshops.
Struggles along the way have been sustainability for our programs as Reveal Beauty continues to be 100% volunteer-run among NYC’s most type-A overachieving individuals who are constantly, overbooked, overcommitted and yet willing to donate their time to partner with us to empower survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking. Funding continues to be a struggle, as the more we grow and expand to additional domestic violence and women’s shelters in NYC, Austin and LA, the more funds we’ll need to cover program costs.
Please tell us about Reveal Beauty.
Reveal Beauty started with answering a simple question: what if we reimagined loved on the most commercialized day of love, what if love looked more authentic and genuine. What if we extended love into relationships that we would have never been open to or been exposed to previously and challenged the stereotype we’ve experienced in NYC, that there is no agenda and no strings attached?
Reveal Beauty celebrates beauty and dignity for female survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking through Cinderella and self-empowerment experiences. We empower women to believe in their worth and reset future generations with a new narrative of beauty, dignity, and strength.
Reveal Beauty believes that a woman’s beauty is like her armor – when it’s full, strong and complete – it gives a woman boldness, courage, and strength. Every part of a woman — from her hair, skin, and mind to her strength, fears, dreams, and desires — make a woman who she is and worthy in all that she is. Everything (internal and external) is equally important because she matters. Every woman matters. It will significantly impact those around her when a woman believes she truly matters and is deeply and utterly loved. This belief will be her strength. It allows her to invite others to embrace their worth and own that they are loved “with no strings attached.” Love multiples. It is not self-contained or meant to be hidden. Love is always giving.
What sets us apart is the belief and program that allows cross-industry leaders and experts across fashion, beauty and female professionals to come alongside survivors to celebrate beauty and dignity and creating experiences for allowing survivors to look back and consider moments when they felt loved, worthy and celebrated— and is a catalyst for creating a ripple effect by inciting another’s dream. It’s not enough to desire to do good or to make an impact; when you actively pursue your passions and dreams with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, it will multiply tenfold and inspire others to dream big and do the same. I am convinced that you need to keep sharing your dreams and inviting others to journey alongside you.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I could start over, I would have recruited a more diverse executive team as part of my advisory board to help further innovate Reveal Beauty’s vision and programs. When starting out, the focus was on the program tactics and roll out in our local domestic violence shelters. But as I am continually learning, diverse professional backgrounds and industries provide perspective, allows for challenging the status quo and opens up for innovation. This includes subject matter experts such as politicians or those in policy, key opinion leaders, journalists, trauma psychology, industry leaders and influencers in fashion, beauty and health and wellness, technology and medical experts, etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.revealbeauty.org/
- Email: anna@revealbeauty.org
- Instagram: @revealbeautyorg
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revealbeautyorg/
- Twitter: @revealbeautyorg
- Other: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5527229/Charity-makeover-event-helps-survivors-domestic-abuse-NYC.html
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