Inspiring Words from Rosario Dawson @ Kenneth Cole Book Launch

When celebrities rally to support important causes like curing world hunger, funding AIDS research, or in Rosario Dawson's case, fighting for the Latino vote, it’s logical to assume that questions in the realm of, “So, what’s your favorite Christmas present ever?” are probably off-limits. But then again, no one said it was logical to assume that logic is popular these days. At Kenneth Cole’s launch party for his new book, Awearness -- a compilation of 86 stories and essays by prominent media figures like Bill Clinton and Jon Bon Jovi -- a crowd almost uniformly clad in head-to-toe black (Kelly Cutrone would’ve been proud) lounged as journalists pressed belle of the ball and book contributor Rosario Dawson about what she likes to unwrap under the Christmas tree.

Dawson, not to be sidetracked by thoughts of holiday cheer, remained focused and shared her advice for all the dreamers out there who think that saving the world is for superheroes. “The first thing is to really see what it is in your community you want to change,” she said. “Is it the road services, the schools in the neighborhood, a bunch of elderly that are not being treated well, a lot of crime in the neighborhood, teen pregnancy, the dropout rates? What is it that’s actually happening there that you want to target? Figure that out, then inform yourself as much as you can about it. Figure out locally what other people are trying to do, because you know they definitely are. There are 1.4 million nonprofits that are running in this country right now.”

“Volunteerism is a huge thing, and you have the internet and the resources to ask people and go, ‘Hey, how do I make this better, how do I do this better? What do I need to do?’ Really just start talking to people, you’d be really surprised. For me, the thing that I try to tell people is that whatever it is that you’re going to really jump into, have it be something that really moves you. Because that’s what’s going to get you through the hard parts, make you make those phone calls when you get those rejections. It’s hard to go through that, but if your mother’s sick and Diabetes is important to you, you’re going to keep picking up that phone. So that’s what you really have to use, whatever makes you angry, whatever makes you passionate, use it, and that’ll get you through, and that will make the difference.”

After Dawson’s inspiring advice, it seemed tawdry and unfeasible to battle to interrogate other Cole contributors, like Stanley Tucci, or our favorite gay best friend, Sex and The City’s Mario Cantone, especially during Matisyahu’s live performance. But the man of the hour, Mr. Kenneth Cole himself, did manage to peel his attention away from the stage just long enough to report that this is only the beginning. “The goal is to make this bigger and to make this as big as it can be, maybe global, and to create a platform for people to identity their resources and make a positive change.”


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