When my friend Audrey Bandley – who happens to be an incredibly talented singer/songwriter – saw our beYOUtiful campaign, she was inspired with an idea that she approached me about. She said, “Cristi, I keep thinking that your beYOUtiful campaign needs a song.” I gulped and said, “Um, do you want to write one?!” (I couldn’t believe I was asking her to do it. I couldn’t believe this campaign had turned into something so amazingly big and beautiful and so – way – beyond me or Jessi or Hiya Papaya.)
Unfortunately, because of a few crazy months that I have had (health-wise) I haven’t been able to be as “present” in the process with Audrey as I would have liked to have been. And yet she has not only followed through with her prompting to write a song, she took it two steps further. She got the song produced, professionally recorded in studio and … wait for it … she just released a MUSIC VIDEO for the song, which is titled “Beautiful You.”
The story of how it all came to be is amazing. Audrey is a HUGE example to me. I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone who pushes and works as hard as Audrey does. Have you heard the quote by Gordon B. Hinckley that says, “Get on your knees and pray and then get on your feet and work?” That describes Audrey to a T. She doesn’t just hope for things to happen in her life. She WORKS for those things to happen. And she works hard. And because of that, she has been blessed. And she has blessed the lives of now thousands of people through her music and her gifts and talents – and her hard work, dedication and sheer determination.
Audrey collaborated with another amazing vocalist on the project (who also happens to be a friend of mine) – Jen Marco. When the two came together, magic happened.
She wanted Hiya Papaya to be involved in the music video since the song was inspired by our beYOUtiful campaign, after all. I was unable to make it since I was on crutches at the time of filming and still not “okayed” by my doctor to photograph. But Jessi made it down to Mona and you can see glimpses of her in the video. (I can’t WAIT to post a link of the finished product for you guys to watch!! You’re going to LOVE it!!)
The set was SO fun. Very eclectic and whimsical. (You can see our photographs scattered around set, too. So fun! Past clients, look for yourselves in this post and in the music video!) The best part about it is that it was set up in a real, dirty, working barn. That’s right – they did the music video shoot in one room with cows and chickens roaming around in the other! You can read all about it on Audrey’s blog: audreybandley.blogspot.com
I was still able to be involved in the project as Audrey ran ideas by me along the way. (THANK YOU, Audrey!) And even though Jessi took the pictures and was in the actual video, I was able to edit them all here for the blog post. So I’m grateful for the small part I played.
As I looked through the pictures again tonight and as I watched the video (which I will post a link to after this), I couldn’t help but get teary-eyed as I watched this labor of love come to life. I realized all the good that has come from a single prompting that came to me one night that all women deserve to feel beautiful – because every woman is beautiful. And the beYOUtiful campaign was born.
Lesson learned from that experience of mine and from Audrey’s writing of “Beautiful You” – follow through with your promptings and act on them. Because you never know how far reaching it can be and how many lives you may end up blessing along the way.
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