Q&A with Katy Gray
Katy Gray is a public health advocate and is NoFEMber 2017’s social media manager and fundraiser!
Katy is originally from New Hope, Pennsylvania. After finishing her degree in Public Health in Philadelphia, Katy joined the Peace Corps in Fiji. From there she sailed (literally) on to Australia where she met her partner. The two then moved to British Columbia for a spell and then back to the States where Katy lead a 2 ½ month cycling tour for affordable housing. She raised nearly $5,000 USD for Bike&Build, and since then she’s moved to Newcastle, NSW.
Back when Katy graduated from high school, she felt the desire to give back, so she sold cupcakes and raised money in order to volunteer in an orphanage in Ghana. Since then her views on aid and volunteering have evolved.
“I went to Ghana and volunteered at an orphanage and that introduced me to the culture around volunteering, and it’s not altruistic. I know for a fact that I didn’t really help anyone,” she says. “It inspired me to gain more skills so I could help. It’s really frustrating to see people going and grabbing a cute African kid and making it their profile picture and then it’s like “check” I’ve helped the world.”
Katy lists the causes she’s interested in, in no particular order:
— environment and sustainability
— being consumer conscious
— affordable housing
— women’s rights
Katy considers herself an activist.
“I’m for women’s rights because I identify as a woman and I think there’s still a way to go for equality. I’m impressed yet saddened that we’ve come so far in such a short period of time. It’s wild to think about how things were fewer than 100 years ago.”
A big help to Katy for joining the No Makeup NoFEMber campaign out for 2017! Together we hope to address gender equality across the globe, raising money for girls’ education in Africa while shaking up the status quo everywhere! If you’d like to participate, you can donate here, or send us a #makeupfree selfie for some selfie awareness!
Email a #Makeupfree, #braless or #hairy photo to nofemberphotos@gmail.com to be a part! And, yes, we do accept photos of men wearing makeup too!
