Like many supporters, Hannah Moody was first introduced to Invisible Children through our original documentary The Rough Cut when she was a teenager. And like many supporters, she’s made major moves for the organization since then. Shocked that she had no idea that such atrocities like those shown in the film were happening around the world, she took it upon herself to step out of her comfort zone and invest in the organization in hopes of creating change. Inspired by the film, she actively pursued opportunities to fundraise and collect change for Schools for Schools while in high school.
Attending The University of Texas at Austin, her passion for international justice was re-sparked after bonding with a roommate over their interest in IC, leading them to participate in the 25 Event together. After igniting awareness by not speaking for 25 hours, she attended the event. Hearing Tony Bazilo speak made everything she knew about IC even more real. The idea of living a life for something important stayed with her, so when the first Fourth Estate Summit was announced, she made it a priority to attend.
For the past three months, Hannah has been working in our Development Department as a donor stewardship intern where, among many tasks, she plans stewardship packages for major donors and provides personalized follow-ups and acknowledgments to supporters and donors.
I sat down with her to discuss how attending the Fourth Estate Leadership has shaped her future:
How would you describe the Fourth Estate Summit?
The Summit: a concentrated, tangible way to see an idea play out where like-minded people could come together. When you’re at school or at home with friends, not everyone is super positive. The Fourth Estate was positive- the people were positive so the conversation was positive, so you had a positive outlook on life and how beautiful life can be. It was a crazy group that gets things done in a fun, ‘how did we do that’ kind of way. With there being so many break-out sessions and with all the planning and structure, it felt like IC used that time wisely. It’s not always that way when you get hundreds of students together.
Why do you think attending the Summit is important?
I think it’s groundbreaking. It’s changing the way a society and a generation thinks. There’s a status quo of values that our generation grew up learning and knowing. Most of them are positive but there are some which are competitive and very self centered- you have to win at any cost. Learning these through sports and school, the Fourth Estate is a whole mind shift about community and helping one another– a group-team effort. It’s important to get outside of a traditional school format, in that everything we learn is based in curriculum and geared toward testing. Although it’s a good structure, the Summit allows students to get out of that box and learn about things they’re passionate about and care about around the world.
What didn’t you expect from the Fourth Estate Summit?
I didn’t expect the type of speakers that were there to be there. A lot of them were names I never really heard of before so I didn’t know who they were until they started telling their stories. For instance, Gary Haugen. He stood out to me and I’ve read his books since then and followed him. Sean Stephenson is the most inspirational person there is. But when I saw all these names on the list, I figured they were all IC staff. But once you hear their stories, you realize what incredible people they are.
Who did you meet that you didn’t expect to meet?
When I was at the Fourth Estate, my dorm was the farthest away from everything, so we had vans who would take us to and from. My driver was Maggie (our current Executive Assistant). The only way I met her was because she was my van driver and she’s very empowering. Later, I find out she was going to be on the Roadie team for Texas. She became my contact and since I was so inspired by the Summit and meeting her, I wanted to do something to help her to show her how great she was. So I planned a screening with my sorority and it became an official event. Over 600 people attended and we raised thousands of dollars. It was cool to see my sorority open up and care about something. None of that would’ve happened if Maggie didn’t drive my van.
What are you expectations for this year’s Summit?
It’s going to be even more incredible because there’s been so much momentum for this organization in the past year. I think IC has grown a ton, even in the 4 months I’ve been here, so we’re more prepared. Especially since we’ve done this before, we know what needs to be changed and fixed, it’s going to be twice as great.
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