Not Just a Princess – Successful relaunch of project
The ‘Not Just a Princess’ project announced last year that it would launch six inclusive books to empower young girls.
After an unsuccessful campaign in 2018, the project came back in full force and has seen tremendous success since its 2019 launch.
Gavin Leonard, project creator and Dublin dad expressed his gratitude for the Kickstarter success saying, “This is the dream start to the Kickstarter campaign- we are so overwhelmed with the way people have responded to this idea and to the ‘Not Just a Princess’ ethos over the past 12 months.”
‘Not Just a Princess’ is an animated series that tells the stories of princesses who are their own strong heroines.
The culturally diverse characters work a series of career jobs including a pilot, a firefighter, a scientist and a mechanic and use their skills to solve problems in ‘Wonderville’ alongside their animal sidekicks.
Gavin stresses that the message behind the project is not anti-princess but rather that women can be more than just a princess who waits for the prince to come save the day for her, “I just don’t think it’s representative of what we should be talking to young girls about in this day in age.”
Gavin was inspired to start the project after constantly being told that his daughter, Jade would grow up to be a dancer or a model but never hearing people say she would be president or win the Nobel Peace Prize. He found himself correcting people saying “she is not just a princess”, hence the title of the project.
The aim of the project is to break down the gender barriers that women face from the time they are young throughout most of their life and to rewrite that narrative to make it one that is more empowering, encouraging and productive.
The Kickstarter campaign launched on March 26 and was set up to fund the six inclusive books about the princesses.
It has seen overwhelming success so far, reaching its goal of €4500 in less than two hours and doubling it since then, raising over €9000 and counting.
Gavin said: “My hopes for the future is that my daughter will grow up to be a strong, independent and confident girl.”
That is the mission of ‘Not Just a Princess’, to spread worldwide empowerment to young girls from all walks of life end encourage them to pursue whatever career they dream of and to be their own hero.
More information on donating or purchasing books can be found on kickstarter.com
TAGS Lifestyle
