BEYOND the BOOKS
‘ Encourage, Inspire, Protect the Girls in Your Life’
A
S A 19-YEAR-OLD DIXIE
Spanish class waiting to draw
girl on the campus of the
her attention.
University of Southern California — with a full ride, a skyrocketing modeling career,
Alexis Jones — internationally recognized speaker, media personality, activist, and author — visited the Upper School to encourage students to fight for something greater than themselves.
Only eight words followed. “Alexis Jones, the girl with the perfect life,” she dead-
a TV show on the red carpet, and
panned with an overwhelming sense
above water — countered with a
on the road with a new message
a boyfriend handpicked out of an
of clarity.
piece of advice that her daughter
— ProtectHer: Redefining
would never forget.
#Manhood — speaking to largely
Abercrombie catalog — Alexis Jones
That was it. The quiet girl from Spanish class walked away — her
“As long as you live a life of mere
mission accomplished. All Alexis
consumption, not a life of contribu-
about the ever-growing issue of
to private school in her mother’s
could do was smile and run her
tion,” she explained, “you will never
domestic abuse and sexual assault
jaundice-colored, battered and
hand through her long brown hair,
stand in the warehouse of joy.”
on campuses.
bruised 1976 Dodge Malibu in her
trying to shrug off the five-second
rear-view mirror. She’d moved
encounter as nothing to avoid public
Alexis took students on her life’s
10 years, I had only been preaching
beyond those early mornings
embarrassment among her friends.
journey since that day — when she
to ‘half of the sky,’” she said. “The
But deep inside, where her inse-
began to define herself by serving
treatment of women is no longer a
appeared to have it all. She had put the dog days of riding
stocking cheap beer and cleaning
In an April visit to Brunswick,
male audiences across the country
“It dawned on me that for the past
urinals at the local bar to earn extra
curities had long
others and by empow-
women’s issue or a women’s move-
money for her family. No longer
wrestled with her
ering young men and
ment. It is a human movement. We
did she hide in the shadows of her
conscience and
women to fight for
just forgot to include the other half
former ZIP code in the grungy,
her identity, she
something bigger than
of humanity.”
rundown slums of Austin.
was rocked to the
Alexis was a Beverly Hills sorority
core. She made
“ As long as you live a life of mere consumption, not a life of contribution, you will never stand in the warehouse of joy.”
themselves. After graduating
Alexis doesn’t claim to be someone who’s reinventing the wheel — but
“chick” now — strutting with
a beeline for her
Texas-tomboy bravado, radiating
apartment and
with Southern-Belle charm. “I had
called home to
achieved everything the world says
Texas, immediately breaking into
Relations and a masters in
matters by my sophomore year in
uncontrollable, mascara-smearing
Communication Management,
the girls and women in your life,”
college,” she said. “I had the right
sobs and tears.
she launched I AM THAT GIRL — a
she said. “I’m actually inviting you
nonprofit movement inspiring girls
to participate and to be on the right side of history now.
guy, the right apartment, the right
She told her mother that she felt
from USC with a
rather someone who has a conver-
bachelor’s degree
sation with young men on behalf of
in International
their sisters, girlfriends, and moms.
body, the right everything. I was
like a fraud — that she felt like she’d
to love, express, and be exactly who
living the dream.”
be lied to for her entire life.
they are — in 2008.
Reality, though, soon struck Alexis unexpectedly hard. Standing outside on a sun-filled California afternoon — shooting the breeze with friends and making
“I have everything. Aren’t I
The movement has more than
the cure. You have the power to be
175 local chapters and has reached
a builder or a wrecker. You have the
tioned over and over again, pleading
more than five million people, taking
opportunity to encourage, to inspire,
with her mother for an answer.
Alexis on a worldwide speaking tour
and to protect the girls in your life.
And the woman who raised Alexis and her four brothers in Texas —
to find an unassuming girl from her
working two jobs to keep the family
BTB_10.indd 54
“You’re not the problem. You’re
supposed to be happy?” Alexis ques-
plans for the evening — she turned
54 | TIMES
“I’m not just asking you to respect
with stops at the United Nations, the White House, ESPN, and NIKE. And since January, she’s been
“There’s going to be a moment when you get to be a good guy. “Be ready.”
OF BRUNSWICK • SPRING 2016
5/19/16 11:36 AM