Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Candler Kimsey.
Anna Candler, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I found out about Zero in Five when it was in the very early stages of development from a mutual friend of the founder’s and mine. Founder, Elisa Tunac, was crowned 2017 Miss Krimson and Kreme of the Omicron Iota chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and would be using her platform from the pageant to start an organization at Kennesaw State University based around sexual assault.
When I heard about Zero in Five, I knew that it was something I wanted to be a part of. When I first started out in Zero in Five, I served as the Vice President of Fundraising and Community Outreach and after some restructuring, was elected President of the organization in November of 2017. Unfortunately, sexual assault hits very close to home for me. I have had friends and family members who have experienced sexual assault firsthand, and I also have experienced sexual assault. Even if this was not so personal to me, sexual assault, specifically on college campuses, is an epidemic throughout our country. It is approximated that one in five women and one in sixteen men will experience some form of sexual assault during their time in college–this is where the name Zero in Five came from. Our goal is to decrease those numbers.
Our motto is, “Defying the statistic. Erasing the stigma. Continuing the movement.” We aim to raise awareness about sexual assault by educating our fellow students while also serving our community in ways that help people who have been victims of sexual assault or domestic violence.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being apart of a cohesive organization, especially at the beginning, can be very difficult and trying at times. I would say it is definitely a lot of responsibility being the President of an organization at a large university, but it is incredibly fulfilling. There are definitely days where I feel like I’m working a full-time job, in addition to being a student and a human! When things get stressful or overwhelming, I always remind myself why I joined Zero in Five and how great it feels to know that we have made a difference in others’ lives. There have been times where we struggled with effective communication and organization, but every obstacle we have encountered has been part of a process that was both necessary and rewarding and has made us stronger as an organization. It’s difficult for me to think of a time that was so trying that it overpowered the good of the organization; the memories I associate with Zero in Five bring me joy and the people I work with, I hold dear to my heart.
Zero in Five – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Zero in Five is an organization at Kennesaw State University that raises awareness for sexual and domestic violence within our college community, but within the greater Atlanta community as well. We hold events in which we discuss the complexities of sexual assault, including topics like human trafficking, sexual health, consent, self-love and how it relates to being a victim of sexual violence, how to be an active bystander, and even events geared towards men presenting themselves in the most positive light and informing them as to how they can be allies to victims of sexual assault, as well as use that knowledge to educate their friends and family on sexual assault.
Additionally, we participate in community outreach by partnering with organizations like Out of Darkness and Georgia’s Partnership Against Domestic Violence. We have collected feminine hygiene products, leggings, and toiletries for women who have been victims of sexual or domestic violence, put together toiletry kits for LiveSAFE and volunteered our time to organizations such as Ahimsa House and the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. I think what makes me most proud of Zero in Five is just seeing the effect that we have had on our college community just within the past year. So many people, even outside of KSU, have reached out to us about how Zero in Five has affected them in some way. Sexual assault is a really difficult topic to discuss, but if we normalize discussing things like consent and being an active bystander, we can teach people about intricacies of sexual assault and hopefully, in turn, lower the number of assaults occurring on college campuses.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
There are two moments I would say tie for the most proud moment of my time with Zero in Five. They are very related, but the first is a kit-making drive we hosted with Ladies of Distinction and the Women’s Resource Center in which we collected feminine hygiene products and various toiletries that we separated into over 100 kits and donated to LiveSAFE Resources in Marietta. This drive was part of a build up to a larger event we hosted with those two organizations and Shakira Bell, known as Blurred Lines. Blurred Lines is an event created by Shakira Bell that discusses sexual assault, while also incorporating elements such as dance, theatre, and spoken word into the event. I hosted this event with Shakira and Taylor Whitley, who serves as the President of Ladies of Distinction. Hosting this event was a very proud moment for me because I had never hosted a large event before and seeing something we had worked so hard on for months come to fruition was an extremely rewarding feeling. We ran out of programs and there were people standing in the back. To see that amount of college students who have their own lives and things going on show up to an event about assault tells me that we are truly making a difference at our university.
Contact Info:
- Email: ksuzeroinfive@gmail.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/KSUZeroinFive
- Twitter: Twitter.com/KSUZeroinFive
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