COMMUNITY INFLUENCERS
If you’d like Kaitlyn, an EMPTY ambassador, or board member to speak at your upcoming event please fill out the below form. Then, the requested person within Reel Stories. Real People., Inc. will reach out to you to address the logistics of the program presentation.
Kaitlyn began helping her community at an incredibly young age. In middle school, she started a nonprofit called Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness, Inc. that distributed more than 120,000 handcrafted, individualized cards to children suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Congress and others recognized Kaitlyn for her selfless contribution to society, but—unbeknownst to everyone who only saw her self-assured commitment to charity—Kaitlyn had a secret. From middle school through college, Kaitlyn suffered from three separate eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. In all, this mental illness nearly took her life.
However, Kaitlyn’s motto is “it only takes one person to move a mountain,” and while she was certainly capable of helping others, it was helping herself that may have been the largest “mountain” to move. Her desire to recover stemmed from wanting to be a television news reporter who could tell countless stories that inspired, engaged, and empowered other people. Her love for exceptional storytelling developed when volunteering with children overcoming adversity in the hospital. Prior to her television reporting days, Kaitlyn had to learn about self-care and acceptance in order to overcome her mental illness.
With the help of her mother, Kaitlyn was able to do so and is now using her pain and platform to help destigmatize mental health. Today, she is the Founder and President of Reel Stories. Real People., Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization that is focused on telling positive stories that open up new conversations. Currently, her organization is working on producing and filming an educational film entitled EMPTY, which includes a guided curriculum that will be provided to public health classrooms nationwide. This film resonates with Kaitlyn because it uses narrative storytelling to educate students about the realities of eating disorders, and to start a conversation that could lead to prevention and save a life. For her entire life, Kaitlyn has devoted herself to helping others—it is her hope to show people she’s committed to creating a vibrant and more positive tomorrow.