How to Frame Your Impact Storytelling
How is Planned Parenthood adapting to a post-Roe world? Rest is a crucial step in their resistance.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) continues to innovate, not only in how they provide reproductive healthcare, but in how they advocate for it across the country.
In our latest edition of Winner Stories, we spoke with Lauren Garcimonde-Fisher, PPFA Vice President of Brand, about how the organization has built Anthem Award-winning campaigns like “Bans Off Our Bodies” to raise awareness for abortion rights.
Below, learn about their strategies for expanding access, building on cultural momentum, and why rest is a vital part of their resistance.
What project were you recognized for in the first Annual Anthem Awards in 2021?
Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s (PPFA’s) inaugural Anthem Award was for Be Seen, a campaign close to my heart and at the core of Planned Parenthood’s mission. Be Seen is a brand campaign with a clear message: “We see you — the whole you — no matter who you are, how you identify, or where you come from.” Black and Latino young folks, many of whom are Planned Parenthood health center patients, supporters, and staff, face persistent and systemic barriers to health care that can leave them unseen. With a presence in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., Planned Parenthood works to create a world where everyone’s body is their own.
How have you seen the impact space evolve in the past five years? What’s impacting your work now that wasn’t before?
The stakes of our work have never been higher, but Planned Parenthood never backs down. There are new attacks on the health and rights of Black and Latino communities, LGBTQ+ people, young people, people with low incomes, and those in rural communities. We work every day to turn people’s feelings of helplessness into meaningful action to protect our freedom to make our own health care decisions. To do this, we find innovative ways to connect with our audiences, including partnering with influencers, celebrities, podcasters, and news organizations, to reach our audience wherever they are.
We’re seeing teams across the impact space finding unique avenues to keep advocating for change. What opportunities do you see in the current moment?
The reality is that the things Planned Parenthood works for — health and freedom — are in the national conversation, for better or worse. In social media spaces, in the political sphere, and in people’s everyday lives. What we do affects people at the most personal level, and that gives us an opportunity to break through conversations, if we’re smart about our message and medium.
What does your Anthem Award mean to you? In what ways has your work evolved since your recognition?
PPFA is grateful to be recognized by our peers for all the work we do to expand access to sexual and reproductive health care. Anthem Award recognition normalizes our work in a culture that stigmatizes sexual and reproductive health, and abortion in particular. Planned Parenthood is unique in that how we tell the story of our work directly affects the patients that receive care at Planned Parenthood health centers. With all the attacks on health care, the stakes have only gotten higher and we have to get better and better at telling our story and advocating for our patients.
If you had to share one piece of advice to the impact community, what would it be?
As you resist, please make time to rest and rejoice. Future generations are counting on us to fight for freedom and keep fanning the flames of resistance. We see care as a form of resistance and resistance as a form of care. That’s why we created Be Seen TONE, which is a Planned Parenthood series of self-care playlists. Made by and for Black women, Latinas, and nonbinary folks, TONE is a wellness tool full of culturally relevant meditations, visualizations, affirmations, and words of wisdom. The perfect marriage of self care and health care to help ease the burnout we all feel.
The reality is that the things Planned Parenthood works for are in the national conversation, for better or worse... That gives us an opportunity to break through conversations, if we’re smart about our message and medium.
What’s a tip you would share for submitting your work to The Anthem Awards?
Take the time to thoughtfully tell your story. Be clear about what the problem was, how you developed a solution to it, and what success looked like. Share anecdotes and stats that bring the project to life. Write the entry in a way that makes what you did easy to understand and impossible to forget. Include creative materials or photos that show what you did. Brag on yourself and your team!
Across the work you’ve honored at The Anthem Awards, is there one project that has stayed with you?
It’s impossible to choose only one project, but we have been so energized to see how folks responded to Bans Off Our Bodies. Bans Off was designed to educate people about the abortion bans sweeping the nation before and after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion. It captured the zeitgeist of the moment as we saw wide adoption of the Bans Off language across the country, throughout the media, at events and rallies, in fashion, art, and on t-shirts, protest signs, baked goods, and even nail art. Bans Off Our Bodies became a cultural touchstone: igniting conversation about abortion, civic protests, advocacy, and corporate leadership around abortion access. We have shifted public opinion on and fortified broad public opposition to abortion bans.
Champion Your Resilience at The Anthem Awards
Enter by our Early Entry Deadline this Friday, June 6 to submit your work with preferred pricing.
