Clause and effect

“It’s okay not to be okay.”

If Clovis native Melissa Sievers has taken anything away from her work on The Beauty Clause, the book project and social media initiative she helped found, it’s the way she was reminded of the power social media has to connect people and help them through their day.

“It’s okay not to be okay.”

The words belonged to Lysetta, a woman who had lost three of her four children. While undergoing treatment for breast cancer, not long after the death of one of her sons, she learned her husband had been having an affair. She said she no longer felt beautiful, having endured such loss. Yet in the midst of heartbreak and struggle, Sievers said, Lysetta was still able to talk of the beauty she saw in other people. Her words — and struggle — resonated with many of The Beauty Clause’s followers.

Sievers, who graduated from Clovis High and received her bachelor’s degree in communication from Fresno State, is now a freelance writer based in Oklahoma. She founded The Beauty Clause with her longtime friend, Jordan Harshman. She says the two were hanging out one evening when their conversation turned to a recent Dove campaign. The personal care products company has become well-known for its viral marketing campaigns geared toward empowering women.

On this particular evening, Sievers and Harshman found themselves discussing a video in which women describe themselves to a sketch artist, who draws them sight unseen. Many of the women, upon seeing themselves as depicted by the artist, are overcome with emotion.

“We went to watch it (the video) again and it spurred the conversation about that kind of inner conflict being something every woman — and every man, for that matter — experiences. And, quite often, we’re meaner to ourselves than people are to us. We’re so mean to ourselves.

“We talked about how we assume women in other countries have those same inner demons, but wondered how different cultures play into that.”

The way culture influences our perception of beauty is something Sievers and Harshman felt compelled to investigate. Thus, The Beauty Clause was born. Through photos and videos taken of their female subjects — who also share their stories in their own words — they aim to challenge society’s prevailing perceptions of beauty. They publish these stories across their social media platforms, which include Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

They’ve talked to women who were bullied as children, women who have struggled with depression, women with disabilities and women of color. Many have shared how the challenges they’ve faced have influenced the way they see themselves, as well as how they’ve come to define beauty.

The womens’ stories often move readers, who recognize themselves in their situations, to tears. The post about Lysetta prompted an acquaintance of Sievers to send her a message saying she had recently undergone a tremendous personal loss and that Lysetta’s message was what she needed to read that day.

“It’s one of the experiences that stuck out to me, knowing we have the power to connect people like that, to help people through their day.

“What we hope to achieve,” she continued, “is that women will be able to recognize their own beauty, their own value, their own worth ... and in building that ability, they will be able to look at someone else and recognize their beauty, and their worth and their value.”

If their format — publishing photos of the women alongside excerpts from their interviews — looks familiar, it’s because The Beauty Clause takes inspiration from a well-known social media phenomenon. Humans of New York, or HONY as it’s called by its fans, is a popular photojournalism project started by photographer Brandon Stanton. He originally published his portraits of everyday New Yorkers — who also share personal stories and anecdotes— on his social media accounts; HONY’s success led to books and other projects.

“Humans of New York was a big inspiration for us,” Sievers acknowledges. “I read a ton of his (Stanton’s) interviews when we were first getting started to get insight into how he was able to connect with people he’d never met before. The Beauty Clause is similar to Humans of New York, there’s no denying it, and I wouldn’t want to. Humans of New York is brilliant.

“The Beauty Clause is different,” she adds, “in that we have a more pointed theme. The conversation is around one subject.”

The name of the project itself also takes some inspiration from popular media, though the connection isn’t quite as obvious. Sievers recalls lying in bed one night, shortly after coming up with the concept for the then-unnamed project:

“My thoughts trailed off ... I thought Christmas is coming up, and I thought of that scene in ‘The Santa Clause’ where he (the character played by Tim Allen) reads the fine print on the card, the clause. I thought, everything in life has fine print to it, there’s always a “but” or you’re waiting for something else.

“I thought even beauty always seems to be tied to these stipulations or these standards.”

In order to fully achieve their goal of exploring how culture influences womens’ perceptions of beauty, Sievers and Harshman knew they needed to speak with women outside of the United States. On Sept. 10 they launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to help them finance their initial trip to 10 countries in Europe and Asia, where they will interview, photograph and film women who agree to share their stories. Eventually they hope to compile the stories and photos in a book, which they expect to publish in December of next year.

Sievers says she and Harshman studied other Kickstarter journalism projects to see what was trending and what successful (fully-funded) campaigns had done. A friend with a background in film and photography, Audrey Johnston, offered to film and edit the campaign video that would run on their Kickstarter page.

“Very soon into it,” Sievers says, “we realized her skills and the eye she has ... [are] something that is now an integral part of The Beauty Clause.” Johnston was brought onto the project as its creative director and now, among other things, produces all of its videos.

“We’re excited to have that avenue to explore as opposed to just still photos,” Sievers says.

Should The Beauty Clause reach its Kickstarter pledge goal of $10,000, the women plan to begin their trip in March.

As she’s worked to promote the Kickstarter, Sievers has found herself achieving some personal goals as well. Part of her publicity efforts involved reaching out to media personalities with large followings. Although Ellen DeGeneres hasn’t yet replied, she laughs, she was surprised to receive a personal response from Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.

“I told her about The Beauty Clause and what I was hoping to accomplish, and I asked her to introduce me to her audience. She replied within 24 hours.”

The result is a blogging platform on the popular website. Her first post went up on Sept. 30.

“I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a child, so for Huffington Post to offer that opportunity was a really great personal achievement.”

Although Sievers estimates she devotes about 40 hours a week to The Beauty Clause, it and her writing career remain side projects — she still works 40 hours a week in franchise sales for a frozen yogurt brand. But she looks forward to the day she can say they’re her only full-time job.

“It’s funny,” she muses, “some people assume it (The Beauty Clause) is my job and it’s somehow making money, and it doesn’t. [But] in my head and in my heart, The Beauty Clause feels like my first priority, my first job. Any minute I am not at my full-time job I am spending on The Beauty Clause.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 7:42 AM with the headline "Clause and effect."