Subject: Kate Hudson Background Info
From: "Erin Cochran" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, "Shannon Hiskey" <[email-masked]>, "Rick Leach" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2015 19:47:11 +0000

Hunter - below is some general background info on Kate Hudson, what she does beyond acting and some thoughts on successful celeb/NGO partnerships. You and Rick will talk in greater detail together about what the "asks" may be of her.

To be blunt, she's a bit all over the map right now when it comes to her non-acting work, as you'll see. Will be interesting to see why she's interested in global hunger efforts.

Background on Kate Hudson

Born into an acting family, Kate Hudson is the daughter of Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson. She turned down a place at NYC to pursue an acting career and by the age of 21 had won an Oscar nomination for her as Penny Lane in the movie, "Almost Famous." She has been cast in and well known for her comedic roles in "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" and "My Best Friend's Girl," among others.

She is the mother of two boys - Ryder and Bingham - who are 11 and 3.

In 2013 she launched Fabletics, a fitness line for women. When asked why she started the business, Hudson explained, "One thing my mother really ingrained in me is that what you do should give back in some way. When I've considered projects outside of acting, I always ask myself: what's the bigger message behind it? What's most exciting about Fabletics is that we are creating a community of women who are supporting and inspiring each other to get fit and be more active."

This year she launched a wine label with her ex, Matt Bellamy, called Hudson Bellamy Wines. A portion of proceeds from the label will benefit The Hawn Foundation (Goldie Hawn's charity) and War Child (which provides children and their families with education, opportunity and justice).

CAA also informed us that Hudson is producing a documentary about the plight of women, mothers and children as a result of the unrest in Syria.

With regards to her charitable work, Kate has been involved here and there with a number of different organizations in a variety of capacities, including:

  *   In January 2015, Hudson went to Mexico with her son on a field visit with the Starkey Hearing Foundation, a nonprofit that treats hearing loss around the world.
  *   In Nov 2014, she was honored by Baby2Baby, which provides low-income children, ages 0-12, with diapers and clothing.
  *   In January 2013, she joined the ANNpower Advisory Council, Ann Taylor's partnership with Vital Voices that works to empower young women from across the U.S. with the leadership skills they need to affect global progress, invest in their communities and begin their journeys as the next generation of leaders. (FYI: Hudson was the face of Ann Taylor's Spring/Summer 2013 fashion campaign)
  *   In 2008, she teamed up with hairstylist, David Babaii, to create David Babaii for Wildaid - a range of hair products and styling tools, with a percentage of the revenue from the line reserved to benefit WildAid, the global wildlife conservation organization.
  *   She is very supportive of her mother's charity, The Hawn Foundation, which has promotes a program called MindUp that teaches social and emotional learning skills that link cognitive neuroscience, positive psychology and mindful awareness training for educations and children.

Thoughts on Celebrity Ambassadors

Meaningful partnerships between NGOs/charities and celebrities work when the celebrity's interest is authentic - in other words, they genuinely care about your mission and want to make a difference - and the NGO understands where the celebrity feels they can make the most impact.

These partnerships are not effective if the celebrity is simply interested because he/she is trying to change the public's image of him/herself by attaching him/herself to a 'do gooder' cause. Concurrently, if the NGO has a rigid view of how the celebrity can support its work and is not willing to fit the Ambassadorship to the individual, the organization can risk underutilizing or even poorly managing the relationship.

The best example of an effective celebrity/NGO partnership is perhaps the most well-known: Angelina Jolie and UNHCR.

Jolie's interest in humanitarian affairs was piqued in 2000 when she went to Cambodia to film the adventure movie, "Tomb Raider." Shortly thereafter she went on her first overseas mission - an 18-day trip to Sierra Leone and Tanzania. She followed that up with a two-week trip back to Cambodia and then met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

In 2001 she was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. Since that time she has carried out more than 40 field missions to some of the most remote regions of the world to highlight the plight of millions of uprooted people and to advocate for their protection. In addition, Jolie has made it her mission to give a voice to refugees and internally displaced people. When asked in an interview in 2002 what she hoped to accomplish she said, "Awareness of the plight of these people. I think they should be commended for what they have survived, not looked down upon. I think people are often uncomfortable and don't like the idea. They seem to shy away because of what it means to them. I think these are really amazing people that are not really understood."

Jolie undertakes advocacy on their behalf, representing UNHCR and the High Commissioner at the diplomatic level and engaging with others on global displacement issues. She has donated more than $5 million to UNHCR since 2001.

Erin Cochran
Vice President, Communications

<http://usa.wfp.org/>

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