Today we’d like to introduce you to Shayl Khatod & Melinda Wang.
Shayl & Melinda, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Shayl: Ever since I was little, my dad has always called me empathic. To be honest, at a young age, I never really knew what this meant, but I always liked the sound of that word “empathy,” and I developed a curiosity for the subject. As I grew older, I researched what empathy was and how important it was for people to connect with one another on a deep and interpersonal level. Empathy truly became a core value for me.
As I started middle school, I was interested in different clubs and joined the Model United Nations Club. Here, I gained a passion for social issues and humanitarian crises around the world. In seventh grade, my English teacher introduced me to poetry, and how it could be a means for one to express oneself about personal or even societal problems. My friend Melinda also had this deep, rooted passion for poetry and social issues, and was eager to learn more about my core value, empathy. We were immediately galvanized to start our own nonprofit organization, Reflect Empathy, with the goal that literature and art could foster an avenue of empathy in the reader or consumer and connect them to a crisis on a deep and interpersonal level. From here, the organization has burgeoned, and we have been able to pursue different passion projects (yearlong case studies leveraging art and literature), as well as teach the principles of empathy to young leaders around the world.
Melinda: Ever since I was in elementary school, I had the desire to learn about the feelings of people around me, whether they seemed happy or sad, or felt every emotion in between. I wanted to know more about the obstacles they could be facing and how their lives might be so similar, or different, than mine. I never really knew what to name this feeling until my first year of middle school, when I finally learned the distinction between empathy, compassion, and sympathy. Learning more about empathy led to an epiphany. I finally found a word to describe the desire to understand the feelings of others. Flash forward to the end of seventh grade, when Shayl offered me a position to be a leader of Reflect Empathy. I was ecstatic. Shayl told me Reflect Empathy was going to be an organization with the mission of spreading awareness of humanitarian crises through words and art. And so, from there, with the surrounding idea that we would be connecting readers on an interpersonal level to affect our world, I accepted. I was so excited because up until that point, I had just been holding on to this notion of empathy. And I didn’t really know what to do with it. While I enjoyed writing, I felt like I needed a more impactful way to spread this need for empathy. Shayl’s opportunity ended up being the perfect first step forward.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ever since we knew we wanted to pursue this passion project of an anthology of literature from the United States and Ukraine, we have faced countless challenges along the way. The first challenge we faced was contacting individual organizations as well as schools from both the United States and Ukraine. We emailed over 50 American literary magazines run by high school students and hoped that we would find some peers willing to submit to our anthology, or at least spread the word. However, only one responded – Polyphony Lit. On the Ukrainian front, we spent several hours researching different organizations and schools that might be able to submit during this unprecedented war. We knew it wouldn’t be easy to contact anybody. Like in the US, we received only one response – Teenside, a Ukrainian literary magazine. Fortunately, these contacts have been incredibly helpful in facilitating the creation of our anthology.
Our journey hasn’t exactly been a smooth road. The rockiness and the bumps during almost every single turn or path is what has made our progress worth it. And then a lot of struggles have been related to really getting a foothold into the literary and nonprofit world. While most people around us are supportive of our organization, cause, and mission, sometimes that is all there is to it. People praise it, and then they just go on with their lives. And so we’re back to square one. We’re trying to spread our mission, but if people only take in the surface-level ideas, our mission isn’t able to be realized since we can’t make an actual impact. I feel like that is especially amplified by our age because people are less likely to take us seriously as teenagers. like they have this preconceived notion that we’re just kids trying to change the world but because we’re kids who can’t really do anything. I want to just prove that we’re able to make an actual impact and that our cause is a serious one that should be taken at a more in-depth level, from people not only our age but also adults.
As you know, we’re big fans of Reflect Empathy. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Reflect Empathy is a teen-led 501(c)(3) organization committed to teaching empathy to young leaders around the world. We believe that through empathic leadership, we can improve equity and social justice worldwide. We are devoted to expanding empathy, respect, and sensitivity among young leaders in their communities and globally.
We have developed a truly distinct approach to teaching empathy, such as our innovative curriculum for student-led clubs around the world. At the end of the year, we evaluate these programs to ensure they are effective. The goal will be to continue to refine and scale them to broaden our reach. Our Elements of Approach Include:
Teaching Tools – Providing young leaders a set of tools to teach empathy in their local chapters.
Connections – Identifying opportunities for members to expand their perspectives through dialogue with people in their communities or who have faced social injustice.
Support- Volunteering and/or fundraise for crises affecting local communities or global crises that interest chapters
Passion Projects – Identifying a year-long global case study leveraging art and literature which have the unique ability to evoke emotions, stimulate discussions, and provide diverse perspective
We are definitely most proud of our recent passion project, the Reflect Empathy Ukraine Anthology. An anthology of original student poems, prose, and artwork from the United States and Ukraine to juxtapose the perception and actual experiences of the Ukraine War. We hope this will create an avenue for empathy in the reader. The anthology is now available for sale on Amazon, and all proceeds from the sales will be used to fund scholarships for the Ukrainian students who submitted to the anthology.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Throughout this project, email has really been our best friend. Though it was seemingly impossible to come in contact with many individuals and organizations, email has allowed us to meet and learn from people truly involved in both the literary nonprofit world as well as the Ukrainian relief world. Through our connection with Polyphony Lit, we have had the pleasure of working with Julian Riccobon, the managing director of Polyphony, who composed one of the forewords for the Ukraine Anthology. Riccobon has been incredibly supportive in helping us navigate the genre of Creative Nonfiction and how to better evaluate and edit submissions. Essentially, our advice is to approach and contact people who can guide and support your efforts. We also believe that reaching out through email, though arduous and timely, can be an incredibly rewarding endeavor.
Pricing:
- Ukraine Anthology is $15.99 on Amazon
Contact Info:
- Website: https://reflectempathy.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reflectempathyproject/
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@ReflectEmpathy