Last month, on several of my social accounts, I was receiving the same question over and over – “Where are you?” In sharing photos of various celebrities and motivational figures, people were wondering where and why all these famous stars were gathering together. It was all in honor of the WE Day California.
2014 WE Day California Event
The first and only stop of the WE Day event tour in California happened to be in my area and, together with my family, I had the privilege of going there. Tickets to this event could not be bought, they could only be earned though hours of volunteer service. 16,000 students and educators from across the state were attendance to see the all-star line-up:
- J. Cole (@JColeNC) – GRAMMY®-nominated hip hop artist
- Big Sean (@BigSean) – American hip hop recording artist
- Rico Rodriguez (@StarringRico) – Actor from the hit television series Modern Family
- Raini Rodriguez (@Raini_Rodriguez) – Singer and actress on Disney® channel’s Austin & Ally
- Laila Ali (@TheRealLailaAli) – TV host, Four-time world boxing champion and daughter of global icon & humanitarian Muhammad Ali
- Evanna Lynch (@Evy_Lynch) – Actress known for her role of Luna Lovegood in the “Harry Potter” movie franchise
- Clemantine Wamariya (@Clemantine1) – Rwandan Genocide survivor and former refugee, Yale graduate, accomplished public speaker
- Selena Gomez (@SelenaGomez) – Actress and multi-platinum recording artist
- Seth Rogen (@SethRogen) – Canadian-born actor, writer, director, and producer
- Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) – NBA legend, two-time hall of famer, philanthropist and co-chair of We Day California
- Orlando Bloom – Actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
- Martin Luther King III – Human Rights advocate and eldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Lauren Miller (@IAmLaurenMiller) – American actress and screenwriter
- Martin Sheen – Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award-winning actor and activist
- Hannah Simone (@HannahSimone) – actress from the hit TV series New Girl
- Jesse Giddings (@JesseGiddings) – E! News correspondent and Free The Children ambassador
- The Tenors (@TenorsMusic) – Award-winning, multi-platinum vocal super group joined by up-and-coming hip hop sensation, Young Stitch (@YoungStitchSS)
- Craig and Marc Kielburger (@CraigKielburger) – Co-founders of Free The Children
- Spencer West (@Spencer2thewest) – Me to We inspirational speaker, Free The Children ambassador, author and double amputee who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro
- Hannah Alper (CallmeHannah.ca) – 11-year-old Me to We inspirational speaker, Free The Children ambassador, blogger and youth activist
- Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers
What what is this all about?
We Day is part of a family of organizations, including Free The Children and Me to We, that has a shared goal: to empower a generation to shift the world from ‘me’ to ‘we’—through how we act, how we give, the choices we make on what to buy and what to wear, the media we consume and the experiences with which we choose to engage.
Takeaway From WE Day California
It was so great to experience the energy of all these young people working to the benefit of others. Speakers like Spencer West, Clemantine Wamariya, and Selena Gomez delivered moving speeches but we couldn’t hear Orlando Bloom or Seth Rogan over all the teen screaming 🙂 It would have been awesome if Selena Gomez actually performed though.
Overall, we didn’t really get much out of WE Day California. It seemed more like a series of commercials with some music sprinkled in between. The crowd was loving it though. I guess, for them, coming to the SF Bay Area, seeing some famous people, and being at an exclusive event, was really the icing on the cake for their charitable efforts throughout the year. Getting kids to be more concerned about others than they are themselves is something I’m all for and glad there are programs like these to encourage it.
14 comments
Oh bummer that it felt more like commercials.
I’m sure the organization does great work, and hopefully for future events they’ll make it seem a little less Hollywood and produced.
Yes, I saw a few of your pictures and wondered where you were! Looks like a great lineup!
Sounds like a fantastic organization and some great people on board. Awesome that you were able to go and share it with others via social media!
Sounds like a really interesting event!
Sounds like an awesome event!
I guess it would be kind of a cool thing to be invited to that if you had worked hard volunteering all year. I hope that some of the presentations were helpful for the kids, and keeps them fueled for volunteer work in the future.
Sorry it wasn’t more fun. Like Liz said, hopefully they will learn and make it better next year.
I was wondering where you were for the photos. It sounds like an interesting event.
What a great line-up and amazing experience. I was hearing about this all over the place, but wasn’t sure what it was all about.
Definitely a great lineup of appearances and I really appreciate your honest review of the event. Still fun you got to go and I love encouraging my children to give back!
That’s quite a list of people. Sorry you didn’t get much out of it, though.
Wow, what a lineup. There were many celebrities in attendance.
You had me at Orlando Bloom. 😉 I would think it would be pretty exciting to be there in person, though.
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