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I really found myself wanting to advocate
for mental health awareness even during

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my leave of absence, like I was--I
was out of school for about three months.

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When I went back to school, I wanted to
create conversation around mental health.

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And I've always really been a musician.
I just, you know,

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sort of documented my experience,
my thoughts and turned it into an album.

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And that was how I would promote
mental health awareness.

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So I tried to create a more engaging
way of talking about mental health.

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And, you know, I started
getting performances.

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I would give regular music performances,

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but it would have a mental health
message woven through--throughout it.

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You know, I held three separate events

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in the dorm communities called
Carnegie Café Conversations.

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You know, I sit down with a group

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of students and talk a little bit about
anxiety, talk about mental health,

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and just share the music with them and say
that, you know, I've overcome this.

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You can too if you know someone that's

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dealing with it or if you're
dealing with it yourself.

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So that's really how I started advocating.

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And so I found Active Minds like
maybe about a year or two into this.

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I was trying to see who is doing this
work, found Active Minds and Active Minds

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was doing exactly what I
wanted to do, you know.

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So I sent Alison Malmon, you know, an
email, maybe two emails?

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One was kind of introducing myself

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and the project and the
other was a Kickstarter.

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So I created a Kickstarter campaign
for a Carnegie Cafe album,

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which was the album about mental
health on college campuses.

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And, I was trying to turn it into something
bigger, like a visual album,

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something that really kind of visually
communicates what anxiety

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looks like or what mental illness
looks like and things like that.

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But the Kickstarter didn't get funded.

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You know, I didn't have a large enough

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network,
but in a response I got from Active Minds

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was, you know, "W can't support this
financially, but how about you come

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to Active Minds National Conference
and give this workshop?

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You know, I think you'd
be a good fit for that."

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And we announced a workshop on Rapping
the Movement and--and it went over well.

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And that's when the relationship was built

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with Active Minds,
which I'm so, so thankful for.

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And I love Active Minds so much.
Seriously.