HOW WE CAME TO BEE

The beginning of 2019- My mom, Staci, has always found articles that are valuable and relevant to today’s society that she finds important for my sisters and me to obtain knowledge in. One day my mom handed me two articles about how teen and young adult mental health is declining from the effects of social media. This idea was placed on my mom’s heart, and she felt that there was a lack of representation on this subject.

I put the articles to the side because I ultimately knew the stigma of mental health and being young adults being bullied, but something I didn’t realize was the extent that people were being affected. I just felt that I didn’t have enough time to read these articles and that other things were worth my time. The papers sat in my room untouched for a couple of months, until I needed their help.

An opportunity arose for the Miss Teen Placer County pageant in April of 2019. This was something I wanted to do as my mom had done pageants at my age and I need something new to do with my time. Something that I could find myself in. A big piece about pageantry is having a platform, which is something that you stand for. I did not have that at the time. I had no idea of which to pick either, because most of the time it is something that you really connect with.

My mom followed up with me and had asked if I had checked out those articles yet. It was something that she felt so passionately for me to make my own foundation regarding this subject since there is nothing out there like that.

I thought to myself that maybe this would be a good idea, but none the less a lot of work for a seventeen-year-old as a junior in high school. It seemed like a cool idea and would impress the judges for having my own platform. My own platform, like what?!

I started to work on my platform, doing research, thinking of names to call it, and trying to gain motivation for this project. I thought of a name that suited me and something that I hold close to me and named it “Bee-Aware.” It is named after my obsession with bumblebees and my mom calling me her “mad bee” when I was little. Something sentimental to me and I thought it was funny that I am also allergic to bees. Because I am allergic it arises fear, and bees do scare me. I choose to hide this fear as I also hid my mental health too. A bee that can be friendly and harmless, or something terrifying and detrimental to someone’s health. Very similar to the factors that can affect someone’s mental health.

Bee-Aware was just a sitting goal after the pageant. It was left to be for a little less than a year until I had my second pageant for Miss Roseville City in February of 2020. Nothing had progressed, I had the website that my dad, Kraig, had designed for me and an idea of where it could go. One week after the pageant was when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Everything sat untouched as I began to battle my own mental struggles. Before the pandemic, I was a confident, young girl with aspirations to be a pageant queen and be successful. But little did I know that I became a part of the statistic. Although my mental illness stemmed less from social media, I began to connect with my platform more and more, Bee-Aware.

Depression and anxiety clouded my mind and even thoughts of suicide. Once I began to gain clarity on my own thoughts and find coping mechanisms, I saw mental health in a light that I became passionate to help others. I wanted to help others!

I began to find joy in making content for Bee-Aware and I’m so excited for the spot I am in life. I know who I am, I know my worth, and I know the impact I have. My goal is to make others stand with me and bee aware.