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A woman who's tackling revenge porn, and 9 other women changing the world for the better.

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L'Oréal Paris Women of Worth

Despite facing numerous social and political obstacles throughout history, women have always been powerful agents of change.

Every era has its heroines — women who inspire, empower, and offer the world an extra dose of awesome. Some of these women are household names, while others fly under the radar, improving their communities and impacting people around them with little fanfare or fame.

Those unsung female heroes are who L’Oréal Paris had in mind when they created the philanthropic program, Women of Worth. Every year for the past 12 years, 10 women have been chosen from thousands of nominees to be honored for their selfless volunteer work as advocates and founders of charitable causes.


For 2018, the list of nominees is impressive. Of these 10 women, one will be chosen (by you, if you vote before the end of November) as a National Honoree and receive an additional $25,000 for her organization.

Get ready, because reading about these extraordinary women will make you want stand up and cheer.

In 2014, Shreya Mantha was tutoring sex-trafficking survivors to help them get their GEDs. Then she started her own foundation — at age 13.

Shreya Mantha. All photos via L’Oréal Paris.

Shreya is now 17 and her Foundation for Girls is a thriving, youth-led social venture hoping to change the life-trajectory of at-risk girls and youth in Charlotte, North Carolina. Through a network of “caring coaches” and programs in digital literacy, financial wellness, leadership, and health and wellbeing, teen moms, homeless girls, refugees and trafficking survivors receive the skills and structured support they need to realize their full potential and take charge of their futures.

As of June 2018, Foundation for Girls has reached 1,480 girls and youth, has almost 300 workshops and completed more than 14,000 hours of life-changing investment.

Adding to the “Wow, these kids!” factor, Alisha Zhao was 17 when she founded Kids First Project to help homeless kids achieve their dreams.

Alisha Zhao

When she was 14, Alisha volunteered at a homeless shelter, and it struck her how all of the kids there had big dreams and ambitions, but limited opportunities. A few years later, in 2015, Kids First Project was born. The initiative helps bridge the gap between homeless kids and the resources they need to reach their full potential.  

Today, the Kids First Project is in 10 locations with more than 400 volunteers in the Portland and San Francisco Bay areas — serving approximately 500 families who are experiencing homelessness each year. The now 20-year-old says her goal is to "work on the issue of youth homelessness and human rights for my entire life," and that this honor will help her "empower children experiencing homelessness to reach their full potential and help break the generational cycle of poverty."

Meanwhile, 25-year-old Hannah Dehradunwala is tackling food waste in New York with her platform Transfernation.

Hannah Dehradunwala (right).

Where Hannah grew up in Pakistan, no one let food go to waste. But when she returned to the United States to attend NYU, she was struck by the amount of food that got thrown out after catered events on campus. So she created Transfernation, a platform for companies and corporate hospitality groups to donate extra food to those in need of food assistance.

By coordinating ride-share drivers and bike messengers to pick up leftover catering and deliver it to community based organizations, the organization is helping empower businesses to reduce their environmental footprint and decrease food waste. So far, Transfernation has rescued 530,000 pounds of food and provided 510,000 meals to those without reliable access to food sources.

Veteran Genevieve Chase was severely injured in the line of duty. Now she’s channeling that experience into helping other female veterans.

Genevieve Chase

While deployed in Afghanistan as an Intelligence Soldier with the Army Reserve, a car filled with explosives plowed into Genevieve Chase’s truck, leaving her with external wounds and a traumatic brain injury. What's more, when she came home, like so many other soldiers, Genevieve suffered from PTSD and struggled with depression and suicidal ideation.

And as she dove into veteran advocacy, she felt the absence of awareness and support for female veterans. So she attempted to fill that void by starting the non-profit organization American Women Veterans, which honors and empowers military women, veterans and their families. The 40-year-old’s goal is to create “a community of empowered and inspiring women who will continue to ensure that all military women and veterans get the care and benefits we’ve earned so we can continue service to our communities both in and out of uniform.”

Holly Jacobs is helping victims of another form of trauma —nonconsensual porn — with her Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.

In 2011, Holly was blindsided when nude photographs she’d shared privately with a romantic partner showed up on the internet without her consent. Her identity was exposed, and she felt like running from the world. Instead, she decided to fight back — for herself and other victims of “revenge porn.”

Holly Jacobs

Today, the 35-year-old’s Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) serves thousands of victims around the world. Advocating for technological, social, and legal innovation to fight online abuse and discrimination, CCRI has helped advise legislation in 30 states, Washington, D.C. and the federal government. And the CCRI Crisis Helpline serves hundreds of callers per month. “Nonconsensual pornography is intended to make women feel worthless,” Holly says. "I want to tell victims like myself that they don’t have to run or hide in shame. They are not alone, and together we have the power to speak up and fight online abuse.”

Chicago police officer Jennifer Maddox fights crime by providing after school programs for at-risk kids.

Jennifer was a single mother working two jobs when she founded Future Ties, an after-school program that provides a haven for young people in the Chicago's Woodlawn area. She had noticed that most crime and gang activity took place after school, so in 2009 she set out to give kids a productive, empowering "safe space" where kids go instead — using her own money to purchase supplies.

Jennifer Maddox

Today, Future Ties serves about 40 elementary students, with adult volunteers, parents, and young people from the community serving as role models and tutors. Since its founding, gang-related activities have declined and crime has decreased by 50 percent. Jennifer, now 47, wants to expand Future Ties' life-changing services to help the 1,200 young people living in her community.

Laura Reiss, 49, also started an after school program, encouraging kids to be kind and contribute to their world.

Laura's foundation started out as a free after-school kindness program at her children's elementary school in Boca Raton, Florida. That single club morphed into The Samaritans365 Foundation, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that teaches kids to be kind to themselves and others, and make a positive impact in their communities and the world.

Laura Reiss

The Samaritans365 Foundation, Inc. now has more than 400 ambassadors and 4,050 members in 90 chapters across nine states. All together, they have collected and distributed $1,347,000 in goods, raised $2.5 million in disaster relief, and invested 613,213 community service hours. Laura's strong formula for empowering people is helping her reach her goal of "leaving this world better for having been here."

Christy Silva took a parent's worst nightmare and turned it into a life-saving screening program.

In 2010, Christy's seven-year-old son Aidan collapsed without warning and died of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. They had no idea he had a heart condition, and despite investigations, the cause of the arrhythmia that led to the heart attack is still unknown. Then Christy learned 70 percent of conditions that cause SCA in kids can be detected by a simple, non-invasive EKG (electrocardiogram). She decided she had to help other families avoid the same fate.

Christy Silva

Thus was born Aidan's Heart Foundation, which provides awareness, education, support and coordinated screening efforts. Through screenings of 1,800 youth in Pennsylvania, the Foundation has detected previously undiagnosed and potentially life-threatening heart conditions in 25 young people. It's also helped pass legislation to equip schools with updated defibrillator (AED) devices and trained more than 4,500 sixth-grade students and 400+ adults in life-saving CPR-AED skills. Christy, 44, says "Aidan may be gone, but our work is keeping his legacy alive.”

Betty Mohlenbrock proves it's never too late to make a difference with her nonprofit reading program for incarcerated parents.

Betty is a retired classroom teacher who has always been committed to improving kids' lives. In 2010, at age 70, she came out of retirement to found Reading Legacies, a nonprofit dedicated to negating some of the devastating effects of incarceration on families by fostering relationships between incarcerated parents and their kids through the simple act of reading aloud together.

Betty Mohlenbrock

Last year, Reading Legacies facilitated 8,000 read-aloud experiences among family members participating in its programs. Based on research the org's conducted, 73 percent of children enjoy reading more and nearly 70 percent communicate more with their parents since starting the program. Every teen who has volunteered with Reading Legacies says it has strengthened their leadership skills, and 94 percent of incarcerated parents participating have felt a boost in morale and feel more connected to their children at home.

Betty, now 78, wants "to give people hope, especially if they haven’t had a reason to be hopeful for a long time.”

As a two-time cancer survivor, Carolyn Keller understands how important a wig can be for women undergoing chemo.

Carolyn was diagnosed with cancer in 2002 and again in 2005. When she lost her hair while undergoing chemotherapy, she started using wigs to cover her hairless head. Then, when her sisters-in-law were diagnosed with cancer, she passed her wigs onto them. Carolyn felt how empowering it was as a survivor to pass on wigs to another woman going through cancer treatment. As Carolyn, now 57, says, "Sometimes simple gestures can be the most healing."

Carolyn Keller

That's why she founded EBeauty Community, Inc. Through the organization's Wig Exchange Program, more than 25,000 women have received and donated wigs, and 10,000 wigs are distributed each year to women across the country through a network of hospital partners. EBeauty is considered the largest wig exchange program for women undergoing treatment for cancer in the country. And so far, Carolyn's goal "to help women embrace their identity and dignity when everything else in their life feels out of control” seems to be right on target.

Does one of these women's stories stand out to you? You can offer her your vote.

Throughout the first three weeks of November, anyone can cast a vote to choose this year's Women of Worth National Honoree. If you'd like to help one of these women receive an additional $25,000 for her cause, go to the L'oréal Paris website, and vote before November 30th, 2018.

Good luck choosing just one, though. They all deserve all the kudos.

Race & Ethnicity

Woman's rare antique turned away from 'Antique Roadshow' for heart-wrenching reason

"I just love you for bringing it in and thank you so much for making me so sad."

Woman's antique turned away from 'Antique Roadshow'

People come by things in all sorts of ways. Sometimes you find something while at a garage sale and sometimes it's because a family member passed away and it was left to them. After coming into possession of the item, the owner may be tempted to see how much it's worth so it can be documented for insurance purposes or sold.

On a recent episode of BBC One's Antique Roadshow, a woman brought an ivory bracelet to be appraised. Interestingly enough, the expert didn't meet this rare find with excitement, but appeared somber. The antique expert, Ronnie Archer-Morgan carefully explains the purpose of the bracelet in what appears to be a tense emotional exchange.

There would be no appraisal of this antique ivory bracelet adorned with beautiful script around the circumference. Archer-Morgan gives a brief disclaimer that he and the Antique Roadshow disapprove of the trade of ivory, though that was not his reason for refusing the ivory bangle.

"This ivory bangle here is not about trading in ivory, it’s about trading in human life, and it’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about. But talk about it we must," Archer-Morgan says.

Ronnie Archer-Morgan, Antiques Roadshow, BBC, antiques, ivoryRonnie Archer-Morgan on an episode of the BBC's Antiques RoadshowImage via Antqiues Roadshow


Turns out the woman had no idea what she had in her possession as she purchased it from an estate sale over 30 years before. One of the elderly residents she cared for passed away and the woman found the ivory bracelet among the things being sold. Finding the bangle particularly intriguing with the fancy inscription around it, she decided to purchase the unique piece of jewelry.

After explaining that his great-grandmother was once enslaved in Nova Scotia, Canada before being returned to Sierra Leone, Archer-Morgan concluded he could not price the item.

Antiques Roadshow, BBC, Ronnie Archer MorganRonnie Archer-Morgan holds the ivory bracelet he refused to valueImage via Antiques Roadshow/BBC

"I just don’t want to value it. I do not want to put a price on something that signifies such an awful business. But the value is in the lessons that this can tell people," he tells the woman.

In the end the woman leaves without knowing the monetary value of the item but with a wealth of knowledge she didn't have before visiting. Now she can continue to share the significance of the antique with others. Watch the full explanation below:


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This article originally appeared last year.

Love Stories

Newlyweds land paid job living for free on gorgeous, uninhibited Irish island

They beat out 80,000 other applicants for the job of a lifetime.

Camille Rosenfeld; Alice Hayes

It's their dream of a lifetime.

What’s your dream job? President of the United States? A famous influencer with millions of followers and brand partnerships? A former NBA player who now cruises the airwaves with his besties, à la Charles Barkley? No? Well, what about this: Moving to a remote, uninhabited island in Ireland where there’s no running water, no hot showers, and no electricity? Sound enticing?

While that may not exactly sound like “heaven” to most folks, for newlywed couple Camille Rosenfeld (26) from Minnesota and James Hayes (37) from Tralee, Ireland, this version of the island life is exactly what they signed up for. From April 1 to September 30, the newlywed couple will become the caretakers of Great Blasket Island, a remote and uninhabited island off Ireland’s coast in the Atlantic Ocean.

stone homes near the ocean The beautiful, brutal Great Blasket IslandGreat Blasket Island

Once there, they’ll be trading modern conveniences for candlelight and the constant company of seagulls—an existence not terribly dissimilar from the one depicted in Robert Eggers’ 2019 movie, The Lighthouse—and the couple couldn’t be more delighted.

“Oh my gosh…it seems like such a dream come true,” Rosenfeld gushed to CBC Radio. “You wouldn't even think it would be a possibility. We feel really lucky that we were chosen.”

But make no mistake: this is not a vacation. Like Jack Torrance in The Shining, Rosenfeld and Hayes will become Great Blasket’s live-in caretakers, tasked with attending to the principal island of the Blaskets in County Kerry, Ireland. They will live in a small stone house on a windswept hill overlooking the gray, stormy seas at night. By day, they will run five holiday cottages and a coffee hatch for day-trippers visiting the island. “I genuinely think we will fall in with the rhythm of our new life and sense of freedom,” said Hayes, who has been to the island once before. “We won’t have the responsibilities of our jobs or day-to-day life, so it’s a chance to live a simpler life.”

“It looks like something from The Wizard of Oz

Located about a mile off the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Great Basket Island— or in Irish, An Blascaod Mór—is a place of stunning natural beauty, where emerald hills glisten and below the cliffs lie sparkling turquoise waters. “It’s just so green, the greenest grass you’d ever see,” Rosenfeld said. “During a few weeks in the summer, there’s these beautiful purple flowers that bloom all across the fields. It looks like something from The Wizard of Oz.”

seals on beachHello, seals Start Travel

Once a flourishing fishing and farming outpost, Great Blasket Island was previously home to a tight-knit Irish community. For centuries, residents ate wildly caught fish and rabbits and harvested potatoes. In its heyday, the island nurtured a vibrant literary culture, with voices like Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin immortalizing the raw beauty and hardship of life there. However, by 1953, the island’s remaining inhabitants were forced to evacuate due to dwindling numbers and the lack of emergency services there during storms. Now, the island is a living museum of Gaelic heritage and a place where wildlife thrives.

While the island may not have many humans these days, Great Blasket Island is home to a great number of marine life: Gray seals (also known as “horseheads”) are the island’s star attraction, with their short flippers and hidden ears (gray seals lack ear flaps). During the late spring, thousands of gray seals come to Great Blasket to congregate, where they can be spotted among sharks, dolphins, whales, and seabirds. “We have no fears of anything around island life, not even the large number of seals that make their home on the beaches there,” the couple said. “We will deal with any issues as they come along.”

Landing the job

Billy O’Connor and his wife, Alice Hayes (no relation to James), who own the small collection of holiday cottages Camille and James will soon oversee, first advertised the live-in position in 2020. Initially, they were awash with over 80,000 applicants. Now, for their own sake, they’ve capped the number of applications to a mere 300. To deter hopefuls looking for a pleasant holiday, Billy and Alice try to stress the grueling nature of the job: “First, we try to put them off because if anything, it is quite romanticized,” says Alice. “But during the season, it can be quite intense for the caretakers. Most people, when they finish work, go home to their safe haven and relax. But I often say to people going out there that they won’t have that. You close the half-door where you were serving coffee, and you are home.”

Camille and James, on the other hand, are excited to trade a life in the fast lane for one that's much simpler. The two met in 2021 at the Burren College of Art, where Hayes was in residency as a visual artist, and Rosenfeld was studying abroad at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she studied art and business. They’d actually applied for the caretaker position the year before, but the timing didn't work out because of their scheduled wedding.

couple, selfie by the waterMeet your new stewardsCamille Rosenfeld

When they reapplied the following year, Alice and Billy were ecstatic. "When we saw that Camille and James had applied again for the positions for this year, we were delighted as they are just so enthusiastic and committed to outdoor life," says Alice.

Stewardship: A growing interest in Europe

Besides being an excellent adventure for a newlywed couple, this hands-on approach to land stewardship is part of a growing trend in Europe. Land stewardship is increasingly being recognized as a practical and rewarding tool for nature and biodiversity conservation, often found at the intersection of environmental protection and sustainable economic practices. In the United Kingdom, for example, such land trusts play a significant role in managing protected areas and sites of natural importance. Ahead of their new jobs, Camille and James reflect on the part they’ll play in this larger context. "I think both Camille and I feel that we have been living our lives on aeroplanes travelling over and back to the US and out of suitcases with no set familiarity to our lives over the past three years and longer," James explains. Camille adds: "It will provide the time to take stock, immerse ourselves in island life and start the next chapter or new book of living our lives together in one place.”

Heroes

Nazis demanded to know if ‘The Hobbit’ author J.R.R. Tolkien was Jewish. His response was legendary.

J.R.R. Tolkien had no problem telling his German publishing house exactly what he thought.

J.R.R. Tolkien didn't mince words when asked his opinion on Nazis

In 1933, Adolf Hitler handed the power of Jewish cultural life in Nazi Germany to his chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels established a team of of regulators that would oversee the works of Jewish artists in film, theater, music, fine arts, literature, broadcasting, and the press.

Goebbels' new regulations essentially eliminated Jewish people from participating in mainstream German cultural activities by requiring them to have a license to do so.

This attempt by the Nazis to purge Germany of any culture that wasn't Aryan in origin led to the questioning of artists from outside the country.

J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Nazi, Nazis, book burning, censorship, The HobbitA Nazi book burning in GermanyImage via Wikicommons

In 1938, English author J. R. R. Tolkien and his British publisher, Stanley Unwin, opened talks with Rütten & Loening, a Berlin-based publishing house, about a German translation of his recently-published hit novel, "The Hobbit."

Privately, according to "1937 The Hobbit or There and Back Again," Tolkien told Unwin he hated Nazi "race-doctrine" as "wholly pernicious and unscientific." He added he had many Jewish friends and was considering abandoning the idea of a German translation altogether.

lord of the rings hobbits GIFGiphy

The Berlin-based publishing house sent Tolkien a letter asking for proof of his Aryan descent. Tolkien was incensed by the request and gave his publisher two responses, one in which he sidestepped the question, another in which he handled in '30s-style with pure class.

In the letter sent to Rütten & Loening, Tolkien notes that Aryans are of Indo-Iranian "extraction," correcting the incorrect Nazi aumption that Aryans come from northern Europe. He cuts to the chase by saying that he is not Jewish but holds them in high regard. "I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people," Tolkien wrote.

Tolkien also takes a shot at the race policies of Nazi Germany by saying he's beginning to regret his German surname. "The time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride," he writes.

Bryan Cranston Mic Drop GIFGiphy

Here's the letter sent to Rütten & Loening:

25 July 1938 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.

My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.
I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and
remain yours faithfully,

J. R. R. Tolkien



J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Nazis, Nazi, Germany The letter J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to his German publishersImage via Letters of Note

This article originally appeared four years ago.

Pets

A woman reunited with her beloved cat she thought had died in catastrophic fire

After two months, Aggie was miraculously found among the rubble close to her former home.

Images courtesy of TikTok/@carolynkiefer1

Aggie is getting the treatment she needs.

Losing your home and belongings in a house fire is devastating enough, but losing a pet that you can't find before you're forced to evacuate is even worse. No one wants to say goodbye to a beloved pet even under normal circumstances, but to lose them in a fire is too tragic to think about.

So, imagine getting a call that your pet you thought had perished along with your home has been found alive.

Katherine Kiefer got that call from Westside Animal Shelter in Los Angeles two months after her home was destroyed in the Palisades fire. The 82-year-old had been at a radiation treatment appointment for lung cancer the morning of January 7, 2025, when the fire reached her neighborhood. Katherine's daughter Carolyn told Upworthy that Aggie had fled as the family gathered belongings and pets to evacuate while fending off the fire with hoses. They searched and searched, but finally they had no choice but to flee without her.

"Telling my mother that we had not found Aggie was devastating," Carolyn says. "We had failed. The next morning we were able to drive into the Palisades and saw we had lost our home. It felt like a warzone and it seemed impossible that Aggie would have been able to survive such a firestorm. The following two months have been very dark for my mother. Losing the home was painful but losing Aggie made it especially heartbreaking. My mother told me that when she was having a hard time with her cancer treatment and felt down she would remind herself, 'at least I have Aggie.' Now, she was gone."

But she wasn't. Aggie was miraculously found among the ash and rubble near their former home in early March and taken to Westside Animal Shelter, where workers scanned her microchip. Carolyn says the family thought the call from the shelter was a scam at first, but once they confirmed the chip number they knew Aggie really had survived. The shelter had sent Aggie to ChatOak Animal Hospital 40 minutes away for treatment, and Katherine got to reunite with her there.

"I have never seen my 82 yr old mother move so fast and be so impatient," says Carolyn.

Watch:

@carolynkiefer1

My mother is reunited with her beloved, Aggie. #palisadesfire #cat #reunited #rescueanimals THANK YOU @LA Animal Services 🙏

"Seeing them reunited was life changing," says Carolyn. "My mother has really struggled and Aggie's survival has brought her back to life. She is completely different since learning about Aggie. She is really a part of our family and we felt broken without her."

Carolyn's video of their reunion got over five million views on TikTok, but people wanted to see the original recording without the music added. In the unedited version, we get to hear the vet tech share how sweet Aggie had been, and we hear Katherine greet Aggie with, "Hi, sweetest girl!"

Sweetest girl indeed. Oof.

@carolynkiefer1

Replying to @Spasztic.bpd😏🙃🖤🩵🧡

Aggie was suffering from starvation, anemia, a fever, and minor burns when she was brought in. She had to have some matted fur removed and received the blood transfusion, and she will receive ongoing care until she is well enough to join her family again. A GoFundMe to help cover Aggie's veterinary bills has raised over $27,000 in just a couple of days, which is surely a relief for a family already dealing with so much loss.

@carolynkiefer1

Replying to @Yas Thank you for all the support for Aggie. Gofundme link in bio. 🙏 Thank you, Sarah Garrity, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM)! #palisadesfire #cat #aggie


How do you keep pets safe in a house fire?

Everyone wants to think they would just grab their pets and go if a fire threatened their home, but it's not always that simple. Animals have instincts to protect themselves and will often hide if they sense danger, so it can be hard to find them in a fire situation.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

The American Red Cross offers these tips for giving pets the best chance of survival in case of a fire:

- The best way to protect your pets from the effects of a fire is to include them in your family plan. This includes having their own disaster supplies kit as well as arranging in advance for a safe place for them to stay if you need to leave your home.

- When you practice your escape plan, practice taking your pets with you. Train them to come to you when you call.

- In the event of a disaster, if you must evacuate, the most important thing you can do to protect your pets is to evacuate them, too. But remember: never delay escape or endanger yourself or family to rescue a family pet.

- Keep pets near entrances when away from home. Keep collars on pets and leashes at the ready in case firefighters need to rescue your pet. When leaving pets home alone, keep them in areas or rooms near entrances where firefighters can easily find them.

- Affix a pet alert window cling and write down the number of pets inside your house and attach the static cling to a front window. This critical information saves rescuers time when locating your pets. Make sure to keep the number of pets listed on them updated.

However, even the best laid plans don't always go the way we want them to, and sometimes there's nothing we can do but hold out hope that our pets' natural survival instincts will save them like Aggie's did. Her tragedy to triumph story is is a good reminder of how resilient animals can be, even in the most unlikely of circumstances. Here's to a speedy recovery so Aggie can be home with Katherine where she belongs as soon as possible.

Elmo got real on his Chicken Shop Date.

For some, little is more daunting than the question: "What's your 5-year plan?" No matter the generation, it can be anxiety-inducing at best. Sesame Street's Elmo was asked this very question by English comedian Amelia Dimoldenberg on her popular web series Chicken Shop Date.

On the show, Amelia has various "dates" where she peppers celebrities with awkward and often endearing interview questions. Obviously, Elmo was the perfect guest, though it's specifically noted on YouTube that Elmo is having a "play date" since he's only three and a half years old, of course. But when she bluntly asks him, "What's your five-year plan?" Elmo is confused. "What's that mean, five-year plan? Elmo is me." She restates, "Yeah, you need to have a plan. You need to have a five-year plan."

gif of Amelia DimoldenbergDisappointed Amelia Dimoldenberg GIF by Chicken Shop DateGiphy

On the show, Amelia has various "dates" where she peppers celebrities with awkward and often endearing interview questions. Obviously, Elmo was the perfect guest, though it's specifically noted on YouTube that Elmo is having a "play date" since he's only three and a half years old, of course. But when she bluntly asks him, "What's your five-year plan?" Elmo is confused. "What's that mean, five-year plan? Elmo is me." She restates, "Yeah, you need to have a plan. You need to have a five-year plan."

And then Elmo becomes all of us. "Elmo doesn't really know what he's gonna do in the next five hours!"

@emil1yc

😭 #chickenshopdate

When this clip was posted on TikTok, the followers definitely saw themselves in Elmo. "Me, in a job interview," says the top commenter, with over 25,000 likes. Another writes, "I just panicked, like am I supposed to have a 5-year plan? Marriage? Do some people have a five-year plan?!?"

This person asks, "Also, isn't Elmo like 5 or 6 or something? She's basically asking him what he's gonna be doing after another lifetime." (Repliers rightfully point out that Elmo is three and a half years old in perpetuity.)

Since that clip went viral three months ago, people have been having a field day on TikTok answering the question for themselves. Many simply lip-sync with Elmo, expressing how much they relate. But TikTok user @GenX_Michelle took it a little further. In their video, we see a woman at the grocery store with a giant raven perched on her arm. The chyron reads: "When someone asks me where I see myself in 5 years."

The comments are not only supportive of the OP, but they're impressed by the grocery-shopping woman, as well. "This woman is a goddess, because you don't choose a raven, a raven chooses you."

@genx_michelle

Raven Lady of Vegas has a nice ring to it... 😉 #raven #5yearplan #ravenladyofvegas #genx_michelle #besties_chosenfamily


Many therapists and career counselors nowadays actually believe you don't need a 5-year plan, and that the very idea of them is obsolete. In Lily Zhung's article "Why You Really Don't Have to Have a 5-Year Plan" for The Muse, she cites John D. Krumboltz’s Happenstance Learning Theory, where she reports, "He posits that unplanned events are to be expected because they’re inevitable and, in fact, necessary to every career."

person in an office saying, "New plan."Plan Change Of Plans GIFGiphy

She then asks, "How many successful people actually followed a plan to get to where they were? Maybe a handful. Most were (and continue to be) superbly hardworking and just really good at recognizing and acting on opportunities that come their way."

Success, she says, comes from grabbing opportunities when they arise and being as prepared as possible for the moment. "Ultimately, the goal of career planning is not to have a step-by-step plan, but to maximize the opportunities for you to learn and to be in the right mindset to take advantage of opportunities as they come."

Zhung quotes Shonda Rhimes from a commencement speech she gave at Dartmouth in 2014: "Maybe you know exactly what it is you dream of being, or maybe you're paralyzed because you have no idea what your passion is. The truth is, it doesn't matter. You don't have to know. You just have to keep moving forward. You just have to keep doing something, seizing the next opportunity, staying open to trying something new. It doesn't have to fit your vision of the perfect job or the perfect life. Perfect is boring and dreams are not real. Just do."