Social Media Stars Making a Social Impact: Why & How Megan Murphy of ‘The Kindness Rocks Project’ Is Helping To Make Our World A Kinder Place
An Interview With Edward Sylvan
I wish someone told me that creating on social media was a full-time job and then some. In order to engage with people on social media you must be consistent and available for messaging each day.
As a part of my series about leaders who are using their platform to make a significant social impact, I had the pleasure of interviewing Megan Murphy, CPC.
She is a Women’s Empowerment Coach, Business Mentor, Kindness Activist, Meditation Instructor, Author and Lecturer.
Megan is a business mentor for SCORE, Freelance Writer, and Founder of The Kindness Rocks Project. She resides on Cape Cod, MA with her husband, three daughters and two giant dogs.
Megan has been featured on The Today Show, NBC Boston, WCVB Channel 5; 5 for Good segment, The Boston Globe, The Detroit Free Press, The Washington Post, Parents Magazine, Highlights for Kids Magazine, Country Living Magazine, First for Women Magazine and many more.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Often a career path unexpectedly finds us. That was the case for me as six years ago while I was amidst a transitional moment in my life. My personal hobby of painting inspirational rocks and leaving them around my community went viral on social media and lead to my current position. I am Founder of The Kindness Rocks Project, an International grassroots kindness initiative that can be found in over ninety countries around the world.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?
There are so many interesting stories to share surrounding this project and the most interesting of all began with a simple text message from a friend.
On the first day that I began writing inspirational messages on beach rocks, I wrote just five messages and dropped them along a mile and a half stretch of beach covered with rocks. For anyone to fine one of my rocks would be like finding a needle in a haystack. I created them for myself, as a way to generate the inspiration that I needed personally during this transitional period. I never expected anyone to find one.
That evening I received a text message from a friend with a picture of one of my rocks. She asked, “Did you leave this rock on your beach walk today?”. I was shocked and replied, “No, why?” as I did not want anyone to know about my hobby. However, it was what she replied next that became the catalyst for me to continue my work. She replied, “If it was you, I was having a bad day and the rock made me feel much better.” It was in that simple moment that I knew that I had to continue leaving the uplifting messages in my community.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I often misspell words on my rocks. One of the funniest mistakes I made read, “just breath”.
Which doesn’t make much sense and isn’t inspirational at all! The beautiful lesson I learned from this mistake is that people are kind and forgiving as many of my followers commented on my post that they too make mistakes often. Being authentic on social media creates greater connections.
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
Making an impact on social media can be a challenge as social media is flooded with content creators. My advice would be to be authentic, engage with your audience, be consistent and most of all be intentional!
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the core focus of our interview. Can you describe to our readers how you are using your platform to make a significant social impact?
With great success comes and even greater responsibility and my main role is to help others create kindness in their communities. I provide people with the resources and tools to create community-based rock painting groups so that they can build greater connections. The idea is simple, “One message at just the right moment can change someone’s entire day, outlook or life.”
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by this cause?
I have received hundreds of stories from people around the world whose lives have been impacted from a painted rock that they found at just the right moment when they needed inspiration.
A woman who has just finished her final round of chemotherapy found a kindness rock in the parking lot of the hospital that read, “You are brave!” She believed the message was a sign that having conquered cancer she was stronger than ever.
A Navy veteran found a kindness rock while walking in the park with his family and began painting rocks on his own. Today, he believes that the art therapy he practices daily while painting rocks has helped him overcome PTSD and depression.
Was there a tipping point that made you decide to focus on this particular area? Can you share a story about that?
When people began reaching out to me on social media sharing their stories about the impact that the project was making on their lives, I decided that I would do whatever I could to continue my hobby and amplify it on social media to inspire others to join me.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
We all must be kinder to one-another, it is as simple as that!
What specific strategies have you been using to promote and advance this cause? Can you recommend any good tips for people who want to follow your lead and use their social platform for a social good?
In order to advance a social- movement you must engage in social sharing. Sharing the work of others is imperative in creating a community and building greater connections.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
- I wish someone told me that creating on social media was a full-time job and then some. In order to engage with people on social media you must be consistent and available for messaging each day.
2. I wish someone told me the best apps to use for photo editing, creating video content, etc. The time I spend researching apps to help me create was time consuming and frustrating. That being said, my favorite photo editing app is Snap seed and my favorite video editing app is In shot.
3. I wish someone told me that I would be inundated with people trying to “collaborate” with me and that most of those requests wouldn’t have my best interest in mind.
4. I wish someone told me what hashtags were all about. I learned the hard way, by asking my teenage daughter.
5. I wish someone told me how twitter works. I still have no idea; I simply tweet things and hope that I’m doing it right.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I am living that dream right now. Inspiring people to be kinder to one another is extremely fulfilling and I am proud that Kindness will be my legacy.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite quote is, “One moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world.” By Buddha
I am inspired by it as we all have a gift to share with the world and when we share our gifts together, we create real change.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
If I could have lunch with anyone, it would be Brene Brown as I am inspired by her work on shame and vulnerability. She is one of my role models.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find The Kindness Rocks Project at www.thekindnessrocksproject.com and on several social media outlets @TheKindnessRocksProject
This was very meaningful, thank you so much!
About The Interviewer: Growing up in Canada, Edward Sylvan was an unlikely candidate to make a mark on the high-powered film industry based in Hollywood. But as CEO of Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc, (SEGI) Sylvan is among a select group of less than ten Black executives who have founded, own and control a publicly traded company. Now, deeply involved in the movie business, he is providing opportunities for people of color.
In 2020, he was appointed president of the Monaco International Film Festival, and was encouraged to take the festival in a new digital direction.
Raised in Toronto, he attended York University where he studied Economics and Political Science, then went to work in finance on Bay Street, (the city’s equivalent of Wall Street). After years of handling equities trading, film tax credits, options trading and mergers and acquisitions for the film, mining and technology industries, in 2008 he decided to reorient his career fully towards the entertainment business.
With the aim of helping Los Angeles filmmakers of color who were struggling to understand how to raise capital, Sylvan wanted to provide them with ways to finance their creative endeavors.
At Sycamore Entertainment he specializes in print and advertising financing, marketing, acquisition and worldwide distribution of quality feature-length motion pictures, and is concerned with acquiring, producing and promoting films about equality, diversity and other thought provoking subject matter which will also include nonviolent storytelling.
Also in 2020, Sylvan launched SEGI TV, a free OTT streaming network built on the pillars of equality, sustainability and community which is scheduled to reach 100 million U.S household televisions and 200 million mobile devices across Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV and others.
As Executive Producer he currently has several projects in production including The Trials of Eroy Brown, a story about the prison system and how it operated in Texas, based on the best-selling book, as well as a documentary called The Making of Roll Bounce, about the 2005 coming of age film which starred rapper Bow Wow and portrays roller skating culture in 1970’s Chicago.
He sits on the Board of Directors of Uplay Canada, (United Public Leadership Academy for Youth), which prepares youth to be citizen leaders and provides opportunities for Canadian high school basketball players to advance to Division 1 schools as well as the NBA.
A former competitive go kart racer with Checkered Flag Racing Ltd, he also enjoys traveling to exotic locales. Sylvan resides in Vancouver and has two adult daughters.
Sylvan has been featured in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and has been seen on Fox Business News, CBS and NBC. Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver.
Social Media Stars Making a Social Impact: Why & How Megan Murphy of ‘The Kindness Rocks Project’… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.