UPTOGOOD.org is part crowdfunding, part petition platform and partly a platform for committing people to change their behavior, all driven by video stories. Founded by sisters Mika and Emi Onishi, the site is focused on causes.
[Jump to page 2 to watch the live interview.]
Mika explains the motivation for creating the site, "Our original inspiration came out of the genuine overwhelm of wanting to do GOOD but not always knowing the best way to direct our desire to help after watching social change documentaries online that tugged at our hearts."
She notes that many of these stories are important, but are "far from what was breaking the internet."
Emi adds, "#StoriesThatMatter," writing with a favorite hashtag, "often don't get enough attention in today's media and is difficult for some to figure out what actions can and should be taken."
"Users can create a video-based impact campaign designed to bring attention to #StoriesThatMatter and have the opportunity to provide long-term support to the causes they are passionate about with a choice of four UPTOGOOD actions: FUNDit, SIGNit, PROMISEit, SHAREit, offering an easy way for good-hearted people to take action on what they just watched; creating concrete and immediate actions through the click of their mouse," Emi said.
Mika agrees, "We are making it easier for people to direct their inspired hearts into action that generates more GOOD in this world after watching a story that just moved them."
Mika is enthusiastic about the future. "We believe impact and change can happen in numbers. It’s not always one person taking monumental action. It can actually be as simple as lots of people taking a little bit of action. By making GOOD much more accessible by offering a clearer course of action at the right time, we hope to see momentum for GOOD. That is how things move, and that is how we make an impact and arrive at a world that is UPTOGOOD."
Emi enthuses that the success of UPTOGOOD "will get people to authentically engage in topics, raise awareness on social issues and influence individual perspectives, attitude and behavior to inspire actions and social impact."
On Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 3:00 Eastern, Emi and Mika will join me here for a live discussion about UPTOGOOD. Tune in here then to watch the interview live. Post questions in the comments below or tweet questions before the interview to @devindthorpe.
You can download an audio podcast here or subscribe via iTunes.
More about UPTOGOOD:
Twitter: @UPTOGOODorg
UPTOGOOD is a video-based impact campaign platform designed to bring attention to #StoriesThatMatter in order to inspire action and promote more GOOD in our world. At UPTOGOOD, anyone can create a campaign around an inspiring social change documentary, a DIY video taken with your smartphone or anything in between. The campaign then comes with a choice of four simple actions: FUNDit, SIGNit, PROMISEit, and SHAREit, offering an easy way for good-hearted people to take action on what they just watched. It is a place where everyone is encouraged to “Watch. Get Inspired. ACT.” all through the click of your mouse, all in one place.
Mika's bio:
Twitter: @mikaonishi
Mika is Cofounder of UPTOGOOD, a video-based, user-generated platform that harnesses the power of social media for GOOD, where anyone can create a campaign around an inspiring documentary or video clip - a story that matters. On UPTOGOOD, inspired hearts can take action on what they just watched with a click of their mouse to help direct their participation via a choice of four actions: FUNDit, SIGNit, PROMISEit, SHAREit.
Prior to UPTOGOOD, Mika was President & Publisher of Clique Media Group, parent company to popular fashion editorial brand, Who What Wear. There, she oversaw and scaled the strategy and operations of the company from the ground up. Before Clique Media Group, Mika represented Dentsu, Asia’s largest ad company, as an expert digital media delegate to MPEG and other international industry standards bodies. Previously, Mika developed digital media strategies for entertainment studio clients. She also produced PROMAX/BDA award-winning promotions, 3D attractions, CGI and video games for Square USA, Sony, Disney and others. Mika holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.
At Clique Media Group, Mika established an in-house creative services and influencer agency representing top fashion bloggers. She honed her expertise by creatively executing campaigns, leveraging influencers and social media to help fashion and lifestyle brands connect with their audience. During this time, watching the documentary Forks Over Knives inspired a Netflix binge in social change documentaries in her personal life. As the Watched List grew, a desire to be part of something more began to bloom, but not knowing what and how, coupled with overwhelming choices and their inaccessibility were paralyzing. This revealed a disconnect juxtaposed between work enveloped in glamour and celebrity to these pressing narratives deserving of more attention. It was also apparent this good-hearted community of social change documentary filmmakers and activists, full of wonderfully inspirational people, often spoke amongst themselves in an echo chamber due to frustratingly limited distribution and monetization vehicles. An opportunity was revealed; make social change stories -- stories that matter -- immediately actionable, packaged within an accessible, fashionable brand that attracted a mainstream audience. A platform leveraging the power of storytelling by providing an easy way for good-hearted people to take action on what they just watched. She saw how this could ensure better access to resources for these important storytellers to continue their craft also. After revealing her inspiration to her sister, Mika was ecstatic to discover Emi was on a similar path. It was a natural fit. The sisters were excited about the prospect of utilizing their complementary expertise to build something meaningful together and thus, UPTOGOOD was born.
Emi's bio:
Twitter: @emi_onishi
Emi is Cofounder of UPTOGOOD, a video-based, user-generated platform that harnesses the power of social media for GOOD, where anyone can create a campaign around an inspiring documentary or video clip - a story that matters. On UPTOGOOD, inspired hearts can take action on what they just watched with a click of their mouse to help direct their participation via a choice of four actions: FUNDit, SIGNit, PROMISEit, SHAREit.
Prior to UPTOGOOD, Emi was a seasoned product management, digital media and technology executive with a proven track record of building innovative products and consumer experiences, leading products at companies such as Fox Interactive Media, Myspace Music, IGN Entertainment, Textplus and M-GO. She oversaw product development, roadmap, strategy, design and user experience, and successfully launched major products; a digital entertainment service, user-generated music service, digital download and streaming store-fronts, audition platforms and free texting and calling mobile applications across multiple platforms.
While Emi enjoyed her career building fun and innovative products in the tech industry, she had harbored a strong desire to join the social impact space for many years. In particular, she had been a passionate fan of Participant Media’s work and their powerful films around social change, and had long aspired to participate in their line of work. Watching social change documentary films over the years made her discover the power of story-telling, leaving her feeling the desire to build a product for social impact. While she attempted to do more and support the causes she cared about, she knew it could be difficult for some to figure out what actions can and should be taken, as it certainly was for her. She was inspired by the work of amazing storytellers and their ability to move people and saw the opportunity to bring her expertise and best practices from the digital media / product management world to the impact space to help solve this quandary she strongly identified with. The mission to simplify the process of giving, providing an easy way for good-hearted people to put their post-viewing inspiration to action was a logical answer and a worthy entrepreneurial pursuit, in line with her desire she had to participate in the social impact space all along. After revealing her inspiration to her sister, Emi was overjoyed to discover Mika was on a similar path and that she can share this journey of building something that matters with her sister.
