Pay it Forward Lady Gaga, changing the world one sequin at a time

Pay it Forward Lady Gaga, changing the world one sequin at a time Pay it Forward: Lady Gaga, changing the world one sequin at a time image source: Los Angeles LGBT Center YouTube ChannelSHE is  of the most famous  modern  celebrities, but much of the  Lady Gaga  news headlines don’t cover her  altruism and actions away from the spotlight that truly capture the hearts of  fans. The humanitarian impulses of this most media-savvy of pop stars has, of course, helped to fuel a social media following of more than  148.3m people. But this  exposure enables  Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta use the Lady Gaga brand for initiatives that have nothing to do with music, but  everything to do with (to paraphrase the singer), changing the world one sequin at a time,  or striving to improve  life for unconfident disadvantaged young women, victims of social prejudice, victims of natural disaster and victims of illness.She’s a  one-time outsider  who boasts  61.4m  Facebook likes, 61.8m  Twitter followers, 18.1m  Instagram followers, and 7m  Youtube subscribers. She’s  the toast of the pop charts and the entertainment indus try, and has also made an impact in the world of acting, appearing in Sin City A Dame To Kill For, Machete Kills, and American Horror Story: Hotel.But she has never forgotten her roots as the young outsider, born in Manhattan on March 28th, 1986. The eldest of three siblings, she fostered an  early interest in music performance and drama at her  Roman Catholic school, where she also experienced the kinds of artistic epiphanies that would later fuel her experimentation with image and artifice.“I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didnt fit in, and I felt like a freak,” she later explained, giving an insight into the empathy for the outsider that has made her humanitarian efforts  as much about Lady Gaga as the songs, live performances and flamboyant fashion for which the singer is famous worldwide.So as AGENT’s alternative to the Lady Gaga news headlines with which most of us are more than familiar, here ar e some of the chief ways in which Lady Gaga has worked to improve the world in which we live. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Relief Work[WPGP gif_id=9131 width=750]image source:  GIPHYVICTIMS of natural disaster and other humanitarian crises have been  notable beneficiaries of Lady Gaga’s altruism since the beginning of her career. The singer donated all the proceeds from her landmark 2010 concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to fund the rebuilding of homes and buildings destroyed in the Haiti earthquake. It has been reported that along with profits from her online store, she raised a total of a half-million US dollars for the effort.In March 2011, following the massive  and tsunamis in Japan, Lady Gaga designed a Japanese Prayer Bracelet and posted it on her online store. Purchases of the items and other donations from her fans are estimated to have raised some $1.5m for the relief effort.The following year saw the  singer donate $1m to the American Red Cross, which the relief organisation used to support victims of Hurricane Sandy, HIV/AIDS research  and  support, and programmes to educate young women about the diseases.Born This Way FoundationIMAGE SOURCE:  BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATIONSELF-confidence is a huge factor in Lady Gaga’s success, and how to achieve it is a core principle of the non-profit organisation she launched in 2012,  the Born This Way Foundation (BTWF). BTWF works  to empower youth by focusing on self-confidence, anti-bullying, and career development.Sharing its name with Lady Gaga’s album and single Born This Way, the foundation is supported widely. In 2012,  Office Depot  donated 25% of its  sales of limited edition back to school products.  And in  October 2015, Gaga  joined 200 high school students and academics at the Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence  to discuss how  to recognise and channel emotions in positive ways instead of negative.The organisation’s work continues right up to the present. Already this year,  BTWF has joined  Intel, Vox Media and Re/code  in a campaign aimed at stamping out online harassment. And in May 2016, she andElton John  released a Macys clothing line named Love Bravery. A literal case of changing the world one sequin at a time, 25% of each Love Bravery label sale is donated to the BTWF and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); LGBT ActivismIMAGE SOURCE:  YOUTUBELADY Gaga  is  a prominent  activist for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights. She attributes her early mainstream success to her gay fans, and praised chat show host Ellen DeGeneres Show as  â€œan inspiration for women and for the gay community”. She also spoke at the National Equality March in Washington DC in 2009, and described it as “the single most important moment” in her career.At a vigil held in LA in June 2016 following the gun attack on the Pulse gay nightclub in  Orlando, Florida, the singer delivered a spee ch in which she named all  49 victims  aloud. Subsequently she  appeared  with  other celebrities in a Human Rights Campaign tribute video for the victims of the attack.video  source:  YOUTUBE