Following a five minute long video last week calling the fashion industry to do better in the face of racial injustice, supermodel Joan Smalls pledged via her Instagram to donate 50% of her wage this year to Black Lives Matter organisations. Now, a week following her pledge, Smalls has launched an initiative, Donate My Wage to encourage people to do the same, and provide resources to make it easier to navigate.
To kick off the fundraiser, Smalls agency, IMG Models has donated $250k to the cause. In a statement, she mentions her motivation for launching her own initiative “My hope is that Donate My Wage will help educate those that are interested in being an active participant in the Black Lives Matter movement and bring needed attention to organisations that require monetary support to continue their important work,”.
The website acts as a way to calculate a percentage of your wage that you'd like to donate, be it an hour, a day, or a months worth of your time, and directs those who would like to contribute towards Black Lives Matter organisations selected by Smalls herself.
Smalls decision to donate her wage came via her IGTV video, where she called out her industry and urged everyone to act further than posting on social media. “I see all the agencies, magazines, brands posting black screens on their Instagram accounts. What does that really mean? What is the fashion industry actually going to do about it? Is it just another trend? This industry that profits from our black and brown bodies, our culture for constant inspiration, our music and our images for their visuals have tiptoed around the issues,” she asks.
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For more information, and if you'd like to get involved and calculate a percentage of your wage to donate, visit Donate My Wage.
