Megan Bull of Reclaim Foundation Wins Victoria’s Secret PINK With Purpose Project Award
By: Naba Ahmed
Megan Bull of Reclaim Foundation has been selected as a 2021 PINK with Purpose Award recipient out of thousands of other applicants. Now in its third year, the PINK with Purpose Project annually provides 15 inspiring young adults between 18-25 years of age with $25,000 in funding for their projects supporting community, mental health, and sustainability.
Megan Bull (President, Director, and Founder of Reclaim Foundation) had been in the process of filing the official papers for Reclaim Foundation when she saw a flyer for the PINK with Purpose Project. Given Reclaim Foundation’s mission to support trauma survivors in their journeys to reclaim their lives, she thought the mental health category for this project was fitting.
Even though submissions were closing soon and Megan thought they would likely have hundreds of submissions, she and the team buckled down to create their submission within a week. In the next few days, they pulled together a video sharing Megan’s journey and Reclaim Foundation’s origin story.
Not only did this provide a chance for the team to come together on another project, but it provided the opportunity for them to present and showcase Reclaim Foundation in a different capacity, Megan said.
For the contest, judging was based on a 5-point scale for five different criteria: how well they described their mission, how much their project will impact its intended audience, how effective will their project be in the short- and long-term, how passionate they are about the project, and how they are positively impacting diverse communities, equitable business practices, and fostering a sense of inclusion.
Each submission was evaluated by a panel of judges including Grammy-nominated sister singing duo Chloe and Halle Bailey, PINK CEO Amy Hauk, fitness influencer Chloe Ting, International Digital Assistant Manager Valerie Kan, former award recipient and Aid the Journey Founder Kennedy Walls, and Love is Louder Founder Courtney Knowles.
After submitting the video, Megan received an email calling her submission “incredible” and inviting her to a video interview with judge Courtney Knowles. All contestants had been notified that in the event there were more than 30 top entries, a select group of judges would re-judge. With that information in mind, Megan went into the interview thinking it was the next step before final judging.
After Megan answered a series of questions which involved recounting her story and Reclaim Foundation’s purpose, judge Courtney Knowles appeared to be wrapping up the interview. Megan then recalls Courtney asking her, “How happy are you going to be when you find out you’re a winner?”
That’s when Megan knew she had won.
“I started crying, I immediately went from nervous to being in shock,” Megan said. “Both his excitement towards our project and conveying how he thought we were on the right path to make a difference, and the fact that PINK was recognizing us left me speechless.”
Megan immediately called Reclaim Foundation’s Marketing Coordinator Nicole White, who had been on the frontlines shooting the video and putting together the submission, to share the news.
“All our hard work had really paid off; it was such great validation that a big company like Victoria’s Secret and PINK believed in us so much was really heartwarming,” Nicole said.
After they received the news, Megan had a pre-production meeting with a few of the other winners and the Victoria’s Secret Marketing Strategy team to discuss how they would be promoting the recipients. In lieu of their typical in-person photoshoot where they fly everyone out, they sent PINK clothing items to all winners with branding and style tips.
“I’m not used to being the model but it was a really fun experience and brought me out of my comfort zone,” Megan said. “It was also really exciting to have this recognition and know that they [PINK] saw our mission and felt connected to it.”
As a winner of the PINK with Purpose Award, Megan Bull will be awarded $25,000 which will first go toward building out the Reclaim Foundation Portal. This portal will allow survivors and allies to interact with one another, share challenges, accomplishments, and discuss moments throughout their own healing journeys. Reclaim Foundation plans to also use the prize money to hire mental health and trauma counselors for their community to use and work with, as well as to help develop resources that can be accessed on their site. The prize will also be used to supplement the costs to hire lawyers to help with contract work and web developers to continue building out the Reclaim Network.
In addition to the cash prize, this award offers a way to connect and collaborate with other nonprofits to create mutual relationships and learn how to keep growing, Megan said.
PINK will be using the final Zoom “interview” and the photoshoot pictures in their upcoming promotional materials. Keep an eye on their Instagram and their website to see Reclaim Foundation featured.
“Outside of our team, no one even knows that we are doing this. We haven’t posted it publicly,” Nicole said. “[Reclaim Foundation’s] launch is in unison with winning the award from PINK. “It's especially awesome that PINK recognized an organization like our own, in its early stages, giving us the chance to grow.”
Watch the full Victoria’s Secret PINK with Purpose Project Winner Reveal video here.