For this edition of She's SO Empowered, we wanted to shine some light on Ruth Kaiser of Spontaneous Smiley Movement. What began simply as thousands of people posting the smiley faces they find in every day objects has evolved into a way to bring hope and smiles to people all over the world.
Ruth's site, Spontaneous Smiley, has received well over 16 million page views and was featured on the CBS Evening News .
In August 2009, Spontaneous Smiley began a partnership with Operation Smile, which funds surgeries for children around the globe with facial deformities. A smiley upload earns a $1 donation to Operation Smile. So far, they've funded 17 surgeries.
In a recent Huffington Post article Ruth is quoted saying "The decision to launch a website so that Spontaneous Smiley could be more than just Facebook and Twitter fun was really the moment I committed to thinking of the project as something to put out into the world beyond just social media."
Ruth was driven by her passion and she was dedicated to seeing her plans come to fruition. She had the courage to simply ask for help, and things began to happen.
After Ruth wrote a child's book of optimism and had no idea how to get it published, she turned to Facebook for advice. "Someone I didn't know replied that he had a friend who knew everything about kids' books. He gave me her name and I sent her a message. As we chatted back and forth, I came to learn she was an editor at Random House. Lo and behold A Smiley Book of Colors is coming out."
Ruth used her resources to reach maximum results. The article goes on to say how "Ruth had her tech savvy son set up Google searches for key words like smile, optimism etc. and utilized search engine optimization. She would also actively reach out to people online who she felt would take an interest in The Smiley Project. People like Ron Gutman, who had done a TEDTalk which was one of the most views TED talks ever. This lead to Ruth's very own TEDtalk.
"As a mompreneur owner of a small chain of preschools for 18 years, Ruth has been in the trenches, learning by doing, running her business while running a home. She's one of those people who can't just sit still when they feel they were meant to do something. Her kids have been at her side involved in many aspects of her busy business over the years."
She is just a regular person who had an idea and believed she could do extraordinary things. Ruth Kaiser is an inspiration to women everywhere and for this, we think she's SO Empowered!
FletcherPR is a national communications firm that specializes in reaching women through the power of media. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN with staff in Nashville & Los Angeles, we are a full-service agency providing strategic public relations, social media and marketing communications services to our clients throughout the U.S.
