On December 10, our group went to City Hall to interview with Samantha Levine. Samantha is the founder of NYC’s “I’m a Girl” campaign. We got her information from Dennis Algrihm who worked closely with her on the project, designing it and putting it together. When we got there and settled down and started off with a very simple question; What inspired you to do this? She told us that when she was younger she was always aware of the topic because her mother felt very strongly about women’s portrayal in the media. As Samantha got older, she felt that it was her job to make the step towards change in the media. Much of the questions and information we asked about the actual campaign had already been answered by Dennis, who we had had a interview with previously.
I think that the most interesting thing that I learned from the interview was the answer to the question “What is beauty?” Samantha asked us this question and it really got me thinking. I was surprised by how difficult it was to answer such a simple question. What is beauty? Is a perfect complexion? A good personality? What makes one really beautiful? I think that these questions are very important to answer as we go about making a change in the media.
Another thing that I found very interesting that Samantha told us about was an experiment that one her friends had done that has to do with what beauty is. Her friend asked many women who their role model was, or who was someone they admire. Then she asked them to describe that person that were thinking of. Most, if not all of the women, answered with traits like: funny, smart, kind, caring, loving, etc. If one thinks about these traits, none of them were physical. No one said skinny, attractive, etc.. This experiment too, got me really thinking.
From this interview, I have learned lots about the campaign and what we can do, but I am also still thinking about the questions she asked us. I think it is vital for us to think about these simple questions and really get to the bottom of what they really mean.
*Note: During the interview Mayor Bloomberg came in! He was very friendly and funny and he told us that what we were doing is great.