Photo moonshot with Makaila Nichols, the Blatantly Honest Foundation

Gary Pageau of the Dead Pixels Society talks with Makaila Nichols, author and founder of the Blatantly Honest Foundation. At 18, Nichols wrote "Blatantly Honest," a best-selling book about her battle with body issues, bullying and sexual assault. From there, she started the Blatantly Honest Foundation to "change the stigma behind bullying and other social issues by educating the public, encouraging students to share their stories and to become Blatantly Honest in their own lives."

In addition to educational resources and talks on bullying, body image, mental health and more, Blatantly Honest conceived the Moon Missio, a program to help today’s youth take part in mission planned for 2021 and send their image into space. Participants can choose personal or professional images and send them to the moon where no one can look down on them again. Capturelife is a technology partner; to participate, browse to moonmission.capturelife.com.

For information on becoming a partner, go to https://moonmission.capturelife.com/partners

Transcript

Gary Pageau  0:03  
Hello, and welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast. I'm your host, Gary Pageau. Today we're joined by Makaila Nichols, the founder of the blatantly honest Foundation, foundation fights bullying and body image issues for young people. Hello Makaila. How are you today?

Makaila Nichols  1:00  
Good. Thanks so much for having me.

Gary Pageau  1:03  
So Makaila, tell me a little bit about the Blatantly Honest Foundation and what led you to start it.

Makaila Nichols  1:09  
Oh, gosh, how much time you got

Gary Pageau  1:13  
All day.

Makaila Nichols  1:15  
Perfect, just what I like to hear. So, the Blatantly Honest Foundation really kind of stemmed from my own story. And when I say that I literally mean my own story. So I wrote a best selling book when I was 18 years old, about my own struggles with bullying, body image, sexual assault, mental health and other issues. And while I was going through all this, you know, I felt really alone. And so I wrote this book, and I was like, You know what, I'm going to take the worst years of my life and I'm going to do something good. And I'm going to help people. And so the book came out, and it was doing great. And then suddenly, someone was like, Hey, mckaela you want to start doing speaking engagements? I was like, Oh, god, no, like I was terrified. Like at one point in my life, I'm doing speaking engagements. And, you know, I kind of got over that fear and began speaking all across the country. loved it and was helping more people than I ever thought I could. So from there, I developed two children's coloring books and someone said, Hey mckaela Why don't you start a foundation? And I said, that's a brilliant idea I can make you know, I can help more people and have a career out of it and just get to do what I love and help people. So the foundation basically for to make a long story short came from my own story.

Gary Pageau  2:25  
And in a nutshell, of course, want people to check out the book, but what what what was the, the origin of your your, what would your story?

Makaila Nichols  2:39  
Yeah, so great question. I was 14 years old, when my life kind of fell in shambles, so to speak. I think all of us young people, you know, at 14, you know, eighth grade, we're trying to find ourselves. Sure. And it was a very difficult time for me because like I said earlier, I started modeling sorry, while I lived in New York, In LA and I traveled all around and I was always told, hey, Michaela are too big and being a five foot 11 girl at 14, who already had body image issues because I was really skinny. And then being told to be skinnier, really kind of impacted just kind of my state of mind. I developed eating disorders and I was bullied by my peers and my teachers. So all this was going on by your teachers,

Gary Pageau  3:24  
by Yes,

Makaila Nichols  3:25  
yes, by my teachers as well. You know, they were calling me anorexic and disgusting and little 14 year old Michaela just had a lot on her plate. And the icing on the cake was I was sexually assaulted by my best friend because I was a model and that was cool to get with the model girl. So all they say, Yeah, it really just rocked my world.

Gary Pageau  3:25  
This was when you're 14 right? So yeah, you're dealing with at a time when, you know, teenage girls are having a lot of challenges, mentally and socially. Let's put it that way. I mean, I have two daughters, so I've lived through that. And on top of that, you've got the burden of having this modeling career where people are assessing you by your,visual appearance, a very raw way, right? And then and then you're also having social pressures at school and then you're also your best friend betrays you. That's a horrible experience.

Makaila Nichols  4:27  
Yeah, really, it wasn't fun. It was very difficult. And, you know, my head went into those dark places. And just unfortunately, a lot of people's mind does go there. And ultimately, you know, some of them end up taking their own lives. And I thought to myself, you know, can I get past this point? And I really kind of had like, I always call it a come to Jesus moment. So no, if you don't believe in Jesus, that's okay. But I do. And I was like, I can either do something to help or I can let this be the end of me. So one day I decided, "Hey, I'm going to write a book". And that's really where where the origin was.

Gary Pageau  5:06  
So the book was written at what time?

Makaila Nichols  5:12  
I was in high school the time.

Gary Pageau  5:15  
Were you out of the modeling thing? How long did you model?

Makaila Nichols  5:19  
I was I was in the thick of it. I took a little bit of a break. Around that time, just kind of because I was putting on weight and only certain clients would see me. I was still modeling still traveling all the time. But I was like, I don't want to be the girl that goes through all these things and says nothing. So I'm gonna use this platform that I have to to grow.

Gary Pageau  5:42  
So what kind of support system did you have?

Makaila Nichols  5:46  
I had a lovely support system. That was my parents. I kind of felt like the world was against me except for my parents. So I'm very thankful and blessed. I know a lot of kids don't have that but my mom and dad really kind of helped me get through this difficult point.

Gary Pageau  6:01  
So you decided to cancel out your experiences in a book. And the book is well received, and you start doing some speaking. And so that starts building up the foundation. So what are some of the activities of the foundation?

Makaila Nichols  6:19  
We were founded in 2020. So I know this has been a very hectic year. Yeah. So if that kind of paints the origin story, but you know what we like a challenge. So I've been very blessed to be able to donate over 11,000 coloring books, to you know, various schools to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. So we've been doing a lot of that. I've done plenty of speaking engagements all across the country, from the middle of the states to the west coast to the east coast. I've done a lot of that given COVID Oh, better. Yeah, it's been been a little bit difficult to go into these schools. We'd developed a curriculum that is both awareness base and educational base. So you know, one month is an activity and it's followed up by an awareness base activity. However, because of the situations with the schools, we really haven't been able to be in school. So a lot of it is done virtually. And that's why, you know, we're kind of launching our virtual way to get kids on a mission to the moon.

Gary Pageau  7:23  
Well, let's talk about that. Because that's where the intersection of your foundation and the photography industry have come into play. You're working with some industry players to send some photos to the moon. Tell us a little bit about that, because that's kind of exciting.

Makaila Nichols  7:41  
Yeah. So if you would have asked me if I would be doing anything with space,  a year ago, I would have been like, "Oh, I don't know." And here I am. I have two space contracts in my name. The first flight is going to be going up into space and then returning back down. The second flight is in 2021. We're sending pictures of bullied kids up to the moon where their memory will live on forever. So it has just been incredible. We're calling it "Operation Inclusion" because we want to get the whole country together, you know, even the whole world we've all been dealing with with COVID. And no one's excited about anything. And just the horrific things that are going on in our country about lack of inclusion is just devastating. And having this foundation that's so focused on inclusion and acceptance, what like this is just the best way to bring everyone together. So Capturelife is our technology backbone, and we're going off to 2021. So it's slated for quarter three of the summer 2021.

Gary Pageau  8:45  
Tell us a little about the process. Oh, I see here on your flight. You've got the earth rise mission and the lunar mission. Yeah. So what's the difference between those and why And how can someone participate? And how will this benefit people,

Makaila Nichols  9:03  
of course. So the first mission is our, our space one, which is the earth rise flight. So basically the same thing, pictures will be loaded onto a chip and the chip will go up and then so the rocket will literally take off with their memories on it, go up into orbit and space and then return back to Earth. So that's a really fascinating process, you know, you always hear about the overview effect. And for those of you who don't really know too much about space, that's kind of when you can see the curvature of the earth and surely, that whole experience so your memory will be able to do that. And then the moon mission is the one we're most excited about. You know, people always talk about going to the moon and now your picture and your memory can literally live on the surface of the moon. We're going to be on a lander, so the rockets going to take off in 2021. Our capsule will be in a lander, which basically means it will land on the moon. You know, there's rovers, which move and a lander just essentially lands. So it's really exciting. unique opportunity that's never been done before to have pictures of your family, your friends, maybe your pet dog, like everyone is welcome to take part in this. So just know that you can look up at night and say, Hey, like my memory is on the surface of the moon. So we're asking people to visit our site, www.moonmission.capturelife.com. And you can pick two packages, we have one, you just get to upload one photo and we're asking for a $5 donation to help us with the foundation. And the other option we have is three photos for $10. So with all this going on, we really hope to be able to launch an online platform for kids where they can go and learn about bullying in a really interesting and fun way. I can't say too too much about it but you are helping kids across the country with struggling with bullying. And learning about it early on.

Gary Pageau  11:02  
It's of a fundraising platform for the foundation's activities. So that's that's how that works. So how so what's the process? I mean, you sign up do you have to use the Capturelife app? Or are they just providing some infrastructure? Or how is that work?

Makaila Nichols  11:20  
Great question. So you can just sign up on just go on to any you know, your iPhone, the web browser, anything and you just go to that Moonmission.capturelife.com, you're able to, you know, click the package that makes the most sense for you, whether you want to go to space or to the moon totally up to you, why not do both, you know, it wasn't, wasn't come every day to get to the moon. You know, you know, NASA saying like 58 million per for different passengers. So I think that's a lot less and you're helping a foundation in the process and your memory still gets to go. So you pick you know, any any photo between the one of the three, and whatever size.  Capturelife's technology will condense it down to a size that fits to be able to be loaded. So it's really exciting. So don't worry too much about about the technology, we just want your memory to go. So once you upload that, then you'll be rewarded with a certificate to really kind of say, Hey, I'm going to the moon and here's who's coming with me. So you can insert your friends names or family's names, who whatever name you want, and be able to print that so it also makes for a really cool gift. So yeah, so

Gary Pageau  12:32  
So is there is there going to be like a a website where they can they know where their place on the moon where it landed, is it gonna be visible from Earth? Or is it just the landing site? Do we know?

Makaila Nichols  12:48  
Yes. So the rocket provider that we're working with, they are going to have it live stream it's going to be taking off from the Kennedy Space Center so people will actually gets a watch you know, their memories take off and go to the moon. I'm really hoping that There will be like a live stream of it landing. I think that would be fantastic. I don't know if that's going to happen yet. So no one quote me on it, but people will be able to know. And if they keep up with Blatantly Honest Foundation on social media, we will highlight where that location will be.

Gary Pageau  13:16  
So moving forward, assuming this project is an enormous success, what are some of the activities going hopefully post-COVID? And in late 2020, or 21, what are some of the activities that the Blatantly Honest Foundation would like to blast off with if we're going to keep with the space theme?

Makaila Nichols  13:38  
Yes. So so we are actually planning to blast off with this brilliant idea of allowing kids to build the culture that they want to see whether it be in their school or essentially on the moon. We're really passionate about giving kids a way to access information in a way that's both fun and educational and really correlating everything with space. You know, we anticipate doing More, whether it be a Mars mission or a moon mission, we really want kids to hold themselves to the standard that you can literally do anything out of this world. And I think that's so important. So there is going to be a lot of space activities coming up that people can look forward to a lot of anti bullying measures and inclusion, a lot of effort in school, you know, I would love to be speaking at schools every day, even corporate events, you know, for companies that are hosting an event and maybe they want to have a seminar on bullying or body image. That's something that I really see myself doing as well. And for the foundation, the online curriculum that we're building as well as the in classroom curriculum when COVID finally goes away.

Gary Pageau  14:41  
What what's been the reception I mean, hopefully, you've been able to do some actual face-to-face with kids. I mean, what's the response been from the kids to sort of message because I think it's something that I think a lot of adults don't understand, because they may have grown up in an era where it's, you just got it out. It's just something you deal with, there's nothing you can really do about it.

Makaila Nichols  15:10  
I 100% agree with you. And I'm actually pulling up a quote, because I think that would be the best way to kind of share the response from a kid himself. So like I said, I get to speak all across the country and our coloring books reached, you know, the coloring books are really designed for K to fifth. And each of those, I also do you know, K to 12. And while I'm doing all these, the response has just been incredible. I mean, even to this day, and all those COVID when I'm not able to go and deliver a speech in person, I'm still getting messages from kids. And that's really why I do what I do. So if you don't mind, I'm going to share a message from a kid named Caden. And if you go to the Foundation's website, you'll see this picture this kid came up to me crying after I spoke and I have a lot of responses like that. And this is what he said on a message on social media. "This is the one boy That was wearing your black hoodie that talk to you after your presentation, aka Caden. I just wanted to say thank you again, because I feel more comfortable expressing myself now. Because you came and talk to me. I'm very grateful that you even decided to come to our school. You gave me hope that someone cares for me. Your story touched my heart because I've been in the same situation as you except for the teacher thing. You made me realize that my insecurities are not as big of a deal as I think they are. I've prayed and prayed for help. God answered my prayers. Thank you."

Gary Pageau  16:30  
Oh, that's nice. That must be gratifying to get that kind of response.

Makaila Nichols  16:37  
Yes, and Caden's not alone, you know. I get messages like that all the time and the Foundation does and just knowing that if we're able to save one life, then we're making an impact and it's worth it.

Gary Pageau  16:49  
That's really something that I think is something that again, is sort of a a social issue that people have a hard time coping with because it is so tragic. You know, a teen suicide where you have young ladies and young men who for whatever reason, feel they have no one to turn to. And any message like this that can be positive, I think is certainly worthwhile and worth sharing. 

Makaila Nichols  17:15  
Teen suicide is just ... the numbers keep going up. And I truly believe in my heart that we as a country and as parents and friends and neighbors, we need to support our youth because growing up in this time of social media is so difficult, and we feel very isolated. So there's plenty of resources on you know, suicide prevention, sexual assault hotline, on my website, as well because kids deserve access to the educational resources.

Gary Pageau  17:40  
And isn't it kind of weird in this age of more connection, more electronic connection, you know, instant accessibility, you've got all the information in the world at your fingertips you can I can talk to you across the country instantaneously, or yet people seem to be feeling more and more alone all the time. It's kind of a strange time we live in.

Makaila Nichols  18:00  
Yeah, it's a lot of things right now don't make sense. And I think we're all asking ourselves a lot of questions. And we're really kind of asking ourselves, like, how can I get involved with something in a time where, you know, you can't go knock on people's door and raise money for something. And I think the important of what we're doing with with Capturelife and with this platform is that, you know, we were encouraging sponsors to come on board, we're encouraging partners to step up you know, we've made a partner link for organizations that want to get involved and say, Hey, you know what, I'm not gonna stand for bullying in my company, you know, they have the capability to partner with us on this journey.

Gary Pageau  18:42  
How can people contact you about becoming a partner becoming more involved as the Blatantlyhonest.org. Is that correct?

Makaila Nichols  18:51  
That's correct. We also have another link and I'll share with you just trying to spell it out for everyone listening. But it will be on there and You know, we'll give you a custom URL and you're able to work with us. And then we're offering 10% because it is a foundation, another 10% to either back into an organization of your choice that you're really passionate about, you know, we want partners to feel confident in what they're doing and confident in our anti bullying mission. So we really welcome partners from all across the country, even individuals, you know, whether it's a Girl Scout club, or you know, someone just looking to make a difference in their community. We're open.

Gary Pageau  19:29  
Okay. Thank you Makaila, for your time today. I hope this new project takes off.

Makaila Nichols  19:37  
It's blasting off.

Gary Pageau  19:41  
Thank you much for your time, and hope it's a big success.

Makaila Nichols  19:45  
Thank you so much for your time, and thanks for everyone for listening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai