Benni Cinkle from the Rebecca Black "Friday" video is using her Internet fame to take on bullying, discrimination, and other tough issues.
She was only 13 years old when she shot to Internet fame as "That Girl in Pink" from the Rebecca Black "Friday" video, but you wouldn't know it from all that's happened since that time. That's because Cinkle has been the kind of person who's not afraid to stand up for what she believes in and take action.
After the Rebecca Black "Friday" went viral, Cinkle gained hundreds of thousands of followers on social networking sites like Facebook, tumblr, and Twitter. Cinkle embraced her new-found voice and used her Internet presence to reach out to her fans and share her views on important issues that all teenagers face.
Long before the Rebecca Black "Friday" went viral, Cinkle was reading a website called SixBillionSecrets.com and wishing there was a way she could reach out to kids who were posting anonymous stories of neglect, shame, and bullying. "I couldn't believe the hardships kids my age have to face everyday," Cinkle stated. "I had to write down what I was feeling just to make sense of it all."
Cinkle decided to turn her journal entries about SixBillionSecrets.com into a song. After the Rebecca Black "Friday" video went viral, Cinkle decided to show the lyrics to her mom. "Benni saw an opportunity to release a song that really meant something. Not just to her, but to a lot of other teens as well," Pati Cinkle explained. "Benni's song was meant to be a ballad but she thought something with an upbeat tempo would really put a smile on the faces of kids in need."
Just a few weeks later, Cinkle was in the recording studio to create her debut single, "Can You See Me Now."
After recording her song, the next step was for Cinkle to create a music video, which she did by weaving together six common themes found in stories on SixBillionSecrets.com. The video deals with child abuse, homophobia, teen pregnancy, bulimia, bullying and cutting. "My video sheds light on the experiences some kids and teens face every day. If this is really happening, we need to be talking about it," Cinkle stated. "I wanted to get the conversation started and show my support for teens who face these tough issues."
The sixth story in the video is Cinkle's own and conveys the cyberbullying that she experienced in the aftermath of the Rebecca Black "Friday" video release. "Every word that flashes on the screen in that part of the video is something that I was called online," Cinkle said with a shrug. "That was my experience, and I knew that if I was going through that, someone else was, too."
Despite the video's weighty topics, Cinkle's goal for the video is to convey a sense of hope and encouragement. "I just want to show my support so kids who face these tough issues don't have to face them alone. Overcoming these obstacles will only make them stronger." Cinkle is proud to state that her goal for the video is "to touch just one other life. If my video helps someone else then I've done my job."
She was only 13 years old when she shot to Internet fame as "That Girl in Pink" from the Rebecca Black "Friday" video, but you wouldn't know it from all that's happened since that time. That's because Cinkle has been the kind of person who's not afraid to stand up for what she believes in and take action.
After the Rebecca Black "Friday" went viral, Cinkle gained hundreds of thousands of followers on social networking sites like Facebook, tumblr, and Twitter. Cinkle embraced her new-found voice and used her Internet presence to reach out to her fans and share her views on important issues that all teenagers face.
Long before the Rebecca Black "Friday" went viral, Cinkle was reading a website called SixBillionSecrets.com and wishing there was a way she could reach out to kids who were posting anonymous stories of neglect, shame, and bullying. "I couldn't believe the hardships kids my age have to face everyday," Cinkle stated. "I had to write down what I was feeling just to make sense of it all."
Cinkle decided to turn her journal entries about SixBillionSecrets.com into a song. After the Rebecca Black "Friday" video went viral, Cinkle decided to show the lyrics to her mom. "Benni saw an opportunity to release a song that really meant something. Not just to her, but to a lot of other teens as well," Pati Cinkle explained. "Benni's song was meant to be a ballad but she thought something with an upbeat tempo would really put a smile on the faces of kids in need."
Just a few weeks later, Cinkle was in the recording studio to create her debut single, "Can You See Me Now."
After recording her song, the next step was for Cinkle to create a music video, which she did by weaving together six common themes found in stories on SixBillionSecrets.com. The video deals with child abuse, homophobia, teen pregnancy, bulimia, bullying and cutting. "My video sheds light on the experiences some kids and teens face every day. If this is really happening, we need to be talking about it," Cinkle stated. "I wanted to get the conversation started and show my support for teens who face these tough issues."
The sixth story in the video is Cinkle's own and conveys the cyberbullying that she experienced in the aftermath of the Rebecca Black "Friday" video release. "Every word that flashes on the screen in that part of the video is something that I was called online," Cinkle said with a shrug. "That was my experience, and I knew that if I was going through that, someone else was, too."
Despite the video's weighty topics, Cinkle's goal for the video is to convey a sense of hope and encouragement. "I just want to show my support so kids who face these tough issues don't have to face them alone. Overcoming these obstacles will only make them stronger." Cinkle is proud to state that her goal for the video is "to touch just one other life. If my video helps someone else then I've done my job."
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