Links from our Group Chat: The Future of Trans Rights, Megyn Kelly and More!

Trans Rights are Human Rights. President Trump stated that he’s planning on implementing a strict definition of gender as “a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.” A memo outlining the plan to narrow down the government’s definition of gender has been circulating among administration officials since last spring, according to the NYT. The Department of Health and Human Services is leading the effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, which bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive financial aid from the government and that any dispute over a person’s sex would have to be clarified using genetic testing.

Every picture we see has most likely been edited. Whether it’s through VSCO for their filters or Facetune for their skin smoothing. However, Jameela Jamil wants people to know that stretch marks are “nothing to be ashamed of.”The Good Place star, appears in the new issue of Arcadia magazine, and asked the editors not to photoshop her body. That meant leaving in the stretch marks on her breasts, and she proudly shared the photos on Twitter.

Michelle Obama is once again on our group chat radar because she’s making the world an even better place. She announced the next step of her When We All Vote campaign: an invitation for everyone — including you — to join her in forming a #VotingSquad. All it takes is reaching out to five people in your life, and make sure they also have a plan to vote and help them find a polling place. Then, add everyone to a group chat, pester them on social media, and otherwise do whatever it takes to make sure they make it to the polls to make their voices heard. Once you've done that, challenge five other friends to start their own #VotingSqaud.


From Megyn Kelly Today to Me-gone Kelly Tomorrow. NBC confirmed reports that Megyn Kelly‘s 9 a.m. Today show hour will not be returning on air amid backlash for her controversial remarks regarding blackface earlier this week. Other Today show hosts will take over the segment while Kelly’s place in the network remains unclear.

NBC

Love at first bark? We dig it! Casey and Leigh Isaacson, sisters and co-founders of Dig – the dog person’s dating app, have found a way to combine a need and a passion into one app. Dig connects people who own and love dogs to other people who either own or want to own a dog based on their dog preferences.

DIG

Finally, a VC for WOC. Nearly two years ago, Shelly Bell founded Black Girl Ventures, which helps women identifying entrepreneurs of color gain access to capital. Black Girls are currently the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs and Bell has created a space that holds pitch competitions, social events, boot camps, and other forms of entrepreneurial training for women of color. Since its inception in 2016, BGV has funded 13 founders and has engaged hundreds of women.

By: Ashley Banayan


Ashley Banayan is a senior at the University of Southern California pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with a minor in Web Technologies and Applications from the Viterbi School of Engineering. Currently, she works as an editorial intern for Create and Cultivate. She has experience in traditional public relations, social media marketing, influencer relations, content creation, and web development. Furthermore, she is the founder of Geocasion, a company designing Snapchat Geofilters for both businesses and personal clients, garnering 4.5 million views. In turn, these experiences led her to focus on the convergence and disruption in media, communication and web technologies.

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