Founded by Terrell Maclin, the mission of iMe (I Mean Everything) is to help people overcome social, economic, and mental health disparities, and to shape a more balanced world based on equality, empowerment, and financial sustainability.
Statistics show that people born into poverty experience unmet needs, unstable circumstances, disadvantage in their education, and a lack of resources and role models. Childhood poverty leads to various negative consequences, including a feeling of emptiness, risk factors for mental illness and suicide, and a lack of self-love and self-acceptance. Those same statistics show that the bulk of these individuals don’t find their way out of their impoverished circumstances and have little to no positive impact on their communities.
Maclin and his team are determined to advocate for every individual at every level. SeeHer joins Maclin to discuss why iMe is committed to making an impact on gender equality, its “Queen” campaign, and how diversity and inclusion are vital to the organization’s work.
Why did you become a SeeHer member?
iMe intends to create a global environment that provides support to help enhance an individual’s life, choices, equity, and equality. Our core objective is to encourage and foster self-love and self-acceptance.
Women are the cornerstone and the key to life. They are society’s greatest asset, yet there is gender bias and women are implicitly and explicitly devalued in societies globally. There are stereotypical perspectives used to devalue women and their abilities and competence.
Therefore, our first effort focuses on uplifting, supporting, and empowering women — on being a remarkable resource which pushes them beyond this antiquated suppression. Once we learned of SeeHer’s commitment to removing the unconscious bias against women and girls from media and programming, we knew it was the perfect opportunity to join the initiative to broaden the scope of our mutual agenda for women’s empowerment.
What can you tell us about the Queen campaign?
Queen is a movement aimed at pushing the value and importance of women to the forefront now and for generations to come.
iMe is crystal clear in our belief that the more women are supported and seen as positive representatives, the more other women and little girls to see themselves as they truly are: leaders, executives, warriors, queens, and more. Queen will soon be known as the global event that changes the way women are viewed and supported, forever.
Queen was initially inspired after I was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. The episode “Sister, I’m Sorry” and the connection I forged with Oprah that day propelled the need for and the importance of this movement. And with my partner, KerryAnn Morrison, president of business development at iMe, we were able to bring this labor of love to fruition.
Why is gender equality important to you?
The simple answer is that it is a human right. We need to value every gender equally to progress as a human race. It is not only fair, but also essential for progress toward equality, freedom, and economic growth. No one should be judged, devalued, or certainly not paid less because of their gender, gender preference, color, beliefs, or disability.
These are the types of stereotypes, social patterns, and paradigms that we intend to break through so we can lead meaningful change.
How do you incorporate gender equality into your workstreams?
iMe understands that diversity and inclusion are key. We are made up of a collective of individuals from varying backgrounds. In addition, women and the LGBTQ+ community make up the bulk of our executive and leadership positions.
Everything we do, every marketing event or campaign iMe creates, promotes self-love, self-empowerment, equity, and equality, thus the iMe (I Mean Everything) mantra.
Our membership with SeeHer is vitally important. SeeHer’s overall expertise and the opportunity to use the GEM® scoring tool are immeasurable as they relate to marketing our core brand messaging of women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Follow iMe and stay tuned for updates @poweredbyime or imelife.com.
