We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andra Liemandt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andra below.

Andra , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My journey to creating the nonprofit organization, The Kindness Campaign, began with a horrible tragedy when my daughter’s friend died by suicide. I saw how the effects of bullying, loss, and grief and how they were affecting my entire family. As you can imagine, when I heard the news…my world stopped. Right then and there, knew I had to do something about it. As a family, we started journaling together to process our emotions after this devastation. We started talking, deeply, about our feelings.

I was grieving the loss of a family friend as well and the outlet of journaling helped my daughters and me cope at that time. It felt like unfamiliar territory, but it was a focused healing session that resonated with all of us. We made note cards of our emotions, started coming up with a sweet character who could help us with our emotions and embarked on a little family art project that would one day become a journal. We called it “I Am Enough,” and I made a few Xeroxed copies. I started thinking…I wonder if other young people might like this? Clearly, there are children in pain. Maybe this is a helpful tool? I took a stack of the I Am Enough journals to take to my daughter’s school in 2015, just enough for her class.

To my shock, the principal asked for copies for the entire campus and then four additional schools. Quickly after that, I met with the director of health and wellness at Austin ISD to learn more about how we could help the student body. We learned the need was there! Now, this is the point where I usually say, “and then I started The Kindness Campaign,” but I have to be honest with you, that it was more like I unleashed it. We collaborated with emotional health experts, teachers, and curriculum writers and launched TKC in 2015 with a grade-specific emotional health curriculum for Pre-K3 through 5th grades. Since then, we continue to expand and serve all individuals, starting at age 3 with accessible emotional health tools.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Andra is the Founder & President of The Kindness Campaign (TKC), a nonprofit organization on a mission to create and provide accessible emotional health tools for all individuals, starting at age 3. Since our founding in 2015, TKC has provided in-depth, hands-on curriculum and programming to over 230,000 children and families and continues to expand across the nation.

Heartbreakingly, recent research shows that 25% of children who come into the school system have experienced some form of trauma by the age of 3. Deaths by suicide are also on the rise, particularly among adolescents. These statistics drive us to create change. As we work alongside teachers, counselors, and parents, our goal is to make sure that every child knows that they matter.

At TKC, we create and provide prevention-based tools built on the core belief: “I Am Enough.” We believe that mental health is a fundamental piece of human development and with the right tools, individuals of all ages can build agency and significantly improve their emotional health. We offer specialized curriculum that teaches emotional health skills, activations including our Enoughie Buddy’s Magic Mirror™, KindMusic™, KindArt, and on-site programming where we conduct educational workshops for children and adults to promote a strong foundation of kindness in classrooms and at home. Everything we teach is based on four SEEC pillars: Self-image, Emotional Awareness, Empathy, and Community.

Each day, I’m proud of the work we put in to make this world a kinder place.

Any advice for managing a team?

I try to lead by example. I know that leadership at The Kindness Campaign starts with me, so I do my best to check in regularly to ensure my employees are reaching their full potential. We have started to incorporate monthly “Magic Questions” with our TKC team and have noticed lots of positivity come from them. I ask the following questions to my team to help us open up and see each other as the human beings we are and empower us to problem-solve. Then, we make a game plan about how to get to the next level! ⁠⁠
On a scale of 1-5:
⁠
How are you feeling about your life at work?⁠
⁠How are you feeling about your personal life?⁠
⁠How are you feeling about your Work From Home (WFH) setup?⁠
⁠How are we performing as a company?⁠
⁠What is it like to work with the rest of the team?⁠
⁠What is it like to work with me?⁠

This allows us to create an environment of trust and vulnerability to feel respected and are more motivated to contribute to a shared vision.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Just like everyone else, COVID caused The Kindness Campaign to pivot in so many different ways.

After being in schools and getting to connect with students face-to-face for years then all of the sudden having to change to virtual was a big challenge. We weren’t able to bring any of our emotional health tools to school. In one of the most isolating times in history, we knew that we needed to step up somehow. That’s when we made a plan B to digitize our curriculum for students who needed it now more than ever.

Thankfully, we are now moving back into the rhythm where we can go into schools and make those personal connections with the students.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://andraliemandt.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andraliemandt/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndraLiemandtOfficial/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andraliemandt/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/andraliemandt