Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Sheline and Anahita Sharma.
Hi Amanda and Anahita, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Most of the founding Guardians were in another character volunteer group. In June 2020, after the worldwide events following yet another brutal murder at the hands of the police, many members became frustrated with the lack of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The founders of that group decided it would be better to disband the group entirely, rather than engage in antiracism.
Our hearts were broken. Antiracism and volunteering should go hand in hand. Many of us felt especially hurt that the group we’d been in for so long fell apart so easily when there were so many paths forward into inclusiveness and compassion. We lost longtime friends in that disbanding. After we’d spent a couple of days recovering from the shock and loss, it was both easy and so difficult to put our pain into something beautiful: the creation of a brand new, actively antiracist, compassionate, inclusive group!
And so, we were thrilled to create Guardians of Heart as our purest intentions laid bare: we took our heartbreak and tried to make something much better with it.
Alright, 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?
The biggest struggles came from the fact that none of us had ever started a nonprofit. We had the passion and the experience with character volunteering, but there was paperwork and fundraising and a lot of downtime. We also started in the middle of a global pandemic, and it was hard to gather interest and grow a business without being able to see or meet new people safely!
Additionally, there’s still a lot of racism in the world of character volunteering. It’s common to see characters with deeply rich cultural history portrayed by actors or volunteers who have no shared roots! That does a disservice to the characters and other potential volunteers, but especially to children who look forward to finally meeting characters who look just like them.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Guardians of Heart: We’re a nonprofit character volunteer organization that provides uncommon and authentic representation for all children! We specialize in having incredibly highly-trained volunteers; our volunteers receive several hours of training on equity and inclusion, sensory needs, character etiquette, and consent and respect. We’re so proud of the fact that our organization has such strong values, and our community partnerships have come about because of those values! We have a monthly partnership with an incredible safe space coffee shop called Community Grounds here in Columbus. As an organization, we lead with our values first, and we’re so proud of how that’s reflected in our interactions with the community. We prioritize volunteer and community safety, even two years into the pandemic, and we’re inclusive of all people who want to volunteer! Even on our board of directors– many people are disabled, part of the LGBTQ+ community, or plus size. Even so, no child has ever commented on Ariel being plus size, or Cinderella being a person of color– we bring the magic AND the representation!
Amanda (Director of Booking): I work as a Life Enrichment Coordinator for a retirement community. There I am known as the creative one who can create and decorate whatever is needed. I am also is currently attending Columbus State in the process of getting my Associate of Arts Degree. In my spare time, I enjoy pursing other creative projects like painting and costume creation. I’m most proud of the Christmas Belle gown that I made for myself. It was the first ballgown I made, and it turned out exactly as I imagined it. I’m also pretty proud to have been a part of creating Guardians, and the years of character volunteering I did before. It really allowed me to grow and embrace the creative and dramatic side of myself I’d never explored.
Anahita (Director of Identity): In my personal life, I’m a full-time artist and part-time “influencer” (I use that term very loosely)! Self-employment as a disabled person has opened so many doors for me– my work background is in higher education, first as a racial justice educator and then as a college coach for first-generation students, but I’m pretty far away from that now as an artist. Still, my background in those roles definitely informs my artwork and my platform. I’m known for the importance I place on vulnerability and on the representation of marginalized people in my art. I was recently a featured TikTok LIVE creator, with only 20 artists on the whole platform being featured in the same way, and that’s something I’m pretty proud of!
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
We took on a lot of responsibility, starting a business, staking our personal money and time on something that wasn’t guaranteed. Risks are an important part of life because they are what lead to new things and opportunities, and with risk comes vulnerability! Starting a nonprofit organization during a pandemic put us in a deep state of vulnerability, as we asked our friends and family members, and community to believe in us and support us, emotionally and financially. We were doing something that has never been done before: creating an equitable character volunteer group with strong values of antiracism and inclusion of all people because that was what our community needed. Of course, with that risk, we’ve struggled to form partnerships with the same organizations many of us worked with before; we’re sure that we could’ve had a much easier time gaining footing without such clearly stated values in a world that prefers neutrality. However, we’re here for the people to whom it matters that we have these values, people who would otherwise not be included in the world of character volunteering, and that is both a risk and an incredible reward.
Pricing:
- Birthday Parties: For one hour, and one character. $100.
- Charity Events: Free
- Large Events: 4 or more characters, starting at $200 for one hour.
- Video Call: Five-minute video call with your favorite character. $10
- Virtual Classroom Visit: We love teachers! 15-minute virtual classroom visits with one character. $15
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.guardiansofheart.org/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/guardiansofheart/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/guardiansofheartOH/
Image Credits
Guardians of Heart
Bluehot Dog Media Community Grounds
