Tag Archives: VAW

Paint It Purple Ambassador Cupcakery: Two Cousins Bakery – Coventry, UK

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What motivates a busy baker to dedicate his or her talents to The Pixel Project? In this interview series, we find out! All Paint It Purple Ambassador Cupcakeries/bakeries were invited to share with us the reasons they chose to take part in the Paint It Purple campaign and the inspiration behind their unique twist on the classic Paint It Purple cupcake design. The first interview is with Two Cousins Bakery in Coventry, England whose 2-week Paint It Purple Bake Sale in benefit of the Coventry Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (CRASAC) and The Pixel Project.

Two Cousins Bakery is… you guessed it… two cousins, Leigh Ashby and Andrea Daly! Being so close in age we’re actually more like sisters. Two Cousins Bakery comes from our mutual love of baking, creating and eating cakes! We bake fun and funky cakes and cater for all dietary requirements. We will sell Paint It Purple Cupcakes for 2 weeks from 8th October. A box of six cupcakes will cost £12.00 and we will donate £6.00 to the Paint It Purple campaign to be shared by Coventry Rape and Sexual Assault Centre and The Pixel Project.

Tell us about Two Cousins Bakery and why you decided to take part in this year’s Paint It Purple campaign.

We feel privileged to have been able to turn our passion for baking into a successful business. Being women and mums in business we are involved in a community of independent businesses and outstanding women entrepreneurs. Every woman should be able to fulfill her passions and dreams and not be suppressed by the violent actions of others. We could name a hundred reasons why we decided to take part, but couldn’t come up with one reason for not supporting it because of the importance of the work it is doing.

Tell us about the special Paint It Purple cupcake you have designed for the campaign this year. 

The cakes will be vanilla or chocolate sponge to give people a choice. They will be topped with a light purple vanilla buttercream swirl. We wanted to keep the symbol of the campaign, so have decided to re-create the purple/white ribbon on the cupcake in edible sugarpaste. The cakes will also be decorated with white butterfly sprinkles. Butterflies go through a transformation and become beautiful butterflies from a caterpillar. On our cakes the butterfly will be a symbol of hope that the work of the campaign will support many women to be free of violence, who can then go on to transform their lives.

What do you think independent businesses such as Two Cousins Bakery can do to help with efforts to prevent and stop violence against women in communities worldwide?

Being a cupcake bakery our key customer group is women of all ages. In our daily business we use social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with our potential customers. We can use these sites to help promote charities such as The Pixel Project and hopefully raise more awareness of violence against women, as well as hopefully providing somewhere to go for information for women who are looking for help.

In your opinion, how can we encourage people (especially men and boys) to take an interest in and step up to help stop violence against women?

Men need to be involved in the campaign promotion. Although we are well-placed with our customer group being women, the campaign shouldn’t just be promoted by women at women. We need to relate the campaign messages to how violence against women could affect any woman…men’s sisters, daughters and so on.

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About The Pixel Project’s Paint It Purple campaign

The annual “Paint It Purple” campaign raises awareness about Violence Against Women (VAW) by getting a global audience to “paint” the internet purple during the campaign using social media. The campaign also raises funds for The Pixel Project, our partners and participating VAW nonprofits worldwide through cupcake bake sales and “Paint It Purple” parties. For more information, visit http://paintitpurple.thepixelproject.net

Paint It Purple 2012: Painting it Purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Month with People, Pets and Pretty Cupcakes

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1 October 2012: The Pixel Project, the award-nominated global volunteer-led online nonprofit working to end Violence Against Women (VAW) worldwide, is proud to launch their third annual global “Paint It Purple” campaign in support of their mission to inspire men and women to work together to prevent, stop and end VAW. The campaign begins in Domestic Violence Awareness Month on 1 October and runs until 24 November 2011 which is the eve of International Day of Elimination of VAW and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign.

This year’s Paint It Purple online awareness-raising highlight action is the “People and Pets say NO” initiative gets people to submit a photo of themselves wearing a purple outfit and posing with their pet and a sign with their name, their pet’s name, their country  and the declaration “We say NO!” Regina Yau, Founder and President of The Pixel Project, said: “One factor that can keep a woman tethered to her abusive situation is her reluctance to escape without her pets because they usually also suffer violence from the abuser.” Through this initiative, The Pixel Project will build an online gallery of these statement photos over the campaign period to show these women and their pets that they are not alone and that help and support is out there.

The “People and Pets say NO” photo campaign is the latest addition to the campaign’s efforts to raise awareness about VAW by getting the global online community to “paint” the internet purple through social media. Participants do so using ‘Paint It Purple’ twibbons, buttons, banners, avatars, blog posts and YouTube videos where they step up to say “NO” to VAW while wearing purple.

The campaign also raises funds for The Pixel Project and participating anti-VAW nonprofits worldwide via “Paint It Purple” parties and bake sales held by The Pixel Project, anti-VAW nonprofits, and grassroots groups. The bake sales and parties feature cupcakes with The Pixel Project’s signature purple-and-white ribbon signifying men and women working together to end VAW.

The “Paint It Purple” 2012 bake sales in conjunction with local anti-VAW nonprofits and independent bakeries will be held in 5 cities in 3 countries. Anti-VAW nonprofits and charities benefiting from this year’s bake sales include: All Women’s Action Society (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Abused Women’s Aid In Crisis (Anchorage, AK, USA), YWCA Pierce County (Tacoma, WA, USA) and Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (Coventry, UK). In Denver, CO, the bake sale is coordinated by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and funds raised will be put towards supporting the Celebrity Male Role Model Pixel Reveal campaign which will be launched in 2013 in benefit of NCADV and a number of other anti-VAW nonprofits.

Cupcake picture courtesy of Bisou Bake Shop, Kuala Lumpur

This year, The Pixel Project also welcomes 5 independent Paint It Purple Ambassador Bakeries on board including Corina Bakery (Tacoma, WA), Superstar Pastry Design (Anchorage, AK), Cake Crumbs (Denver, CO), Two Cousins Bakery (Coventry, UK) and Bisou Bake Shop (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).

Ms Yau said: “By making “Paint It Purple” a fun, creative and inclusive campaign that anyone can become involved with, we hope to further galvanise widespread support for action to end gender-based violence which continues to affect millions of women and girls worldwide.“

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For further information about “Paint It Purple”:

About The Pixel Project (www.thepixelproject.net)

The Pixel Project is a volunteer-led nonprofit organisation whose mission is to taking fund-and-awareness raising for the cause to end violence against women into the 21st Century by delivering innovative, powerful viral campaigns across various online and virtual channels including social media. Their first project is to turbo-charge global awareness about VAW using social media while raising US$1 million for the U.S.A.’s National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and other anti-VAW nonprofits by getting a global audience to collectively unveil a million-pixel mystery collage of Celebrity Male Role Models at US$1 per pixel.