Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaylin Bergeson.
Hi Kaylin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We started our organization in June of this 2020 after my co-founder, Maya, and I found ourselves furloughed from our dream jobs, working in the Broadcast Production department at Disney. Instead of treating the furlough as a vacation or being bitter about losing the jobs we had worked our entire lives for, we founded Diversify the Classroom with the hope of brightening the future for generations through education and representation. In our youth, we were both avid readers that read a diverse selection of books, and as adults we are able to understand the importance of us reading about so many topics and cultures.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We started with no experience in non-profits and had to research and learn as much as we could (and we’re still learning)! But we’ve been met with nothing but support from friends, family, and strangers alike.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
When we aren’t working our jobs in TV Production, we dedicate as much time as we can to our on-profit. We’re are most proud of having shipped out 80 book bundles across the nation. That’s 720 books! We’ve also raised over $11k. We’re also proud of our partnership with our local Barnes & Noble who help us package and ship our books across the nation. We’re different from other book donation non-profits because we specialize in donating diverse books.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
We love living in a big city where everyone seems to know each other. We don’t love the traffic and how spread out everything is.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@diversifytheclassroom.com
- Website: diversifytheclassroom.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/diversifytheclassroom
- Facebook: facebook.com/diversifytheclassroom
- Twitter: twitter.com/diversifyUSA
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1V9iRKl9szQizpK13UIGQ?feature=emb_ch_name_ex
Image Credits
Maya B Photography
