My mood pressing "publish," knowing Positive DONUT is about to hit your inbox and brighten your day: 

We have a jam-packed issue this week filled with positive stories from around the globe. I hope they make your day even the smallest bit brighter! Thanks for being here. 

Have a fantastic week. 

- Kailyn 🥰

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today's newsletter takes ~3.65 minutes to read (973 words)

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Take your pick from the list below, and have an amazing day💕

It's no secret that Americans are facing an obesity and health crisis. But while life expectancy has declined nationwide, the health crisis has disproportionately affected African-American women.

• More than half of Black women ages 20 and older have heart disease, according to the American Heart Association.
• This same population is also at the highest risk for strokes. The CDC reports nearly 3 out of 5 Black women suffer from high blood pressure, and 3 out of 5 Black women suffer from obesity.

Finding hope through health: While these statistics may be discouraging, friends Vanessa Garrison and T. Morgan Dixon decided over a decade ago not to let them define their health. The friends founded the nonprofit GirlTrek, an organization with one goal in mind: To heal Black women through walking. 

• “It wasn’t because we were walking enthusiasts or because we love to walk," T. Morgan shared about the organization's humble beginnings. "When we started, we were just trying to save our own lives." 
• Fast-forward to today, and GirlTrek has over one million members across the country dedicated to taking control of their health and futures. 

The playbook handbook: GirlTrek encourages its members to get out and walk for 30 minutes/day. They have more than 1,000 organizers who put together community walks and sisterhood events as part of the mission.

• “Women are connecting with their neighbors, their friends, the women at their church, the women on campuses, and when you walk you talk,” T. Morgan told CNN.
• GirlTrek has also morphed in part into a support community, where women who are alone or suffering any kind of depression/anxiety/stress can walk, talk, and slow down with friends.
• The organization and its walkers also find inspiration in heroines like Harriet Tubman. Walkers receive Harriet’s Handbook, which provides 1,000 walks and a step-by-step guide to help women stay motivated.

Leaving a legacy... “We grew up in households where our mothers and grandmothers and our aunties always chose to come last; they would always push those extra couple of hours to give to their family. And we’ve modeled that behavior and, in fact, we celebrated that behavior and it is the only way we knew how to navigate this world and get by. We created entire identities around our service to others,” Garrison told CNN. 

🥾 Bottom line: “...I tell you it is OK for you to put yourself first today for this 30 minutes and then in fact when you do that your family becomes more powerful, your community becomes more powerful.”

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Mattel just announced its two newest Barbie designs: a blind Barbie and the first Black Barbie with Down syndrome.

• The dolls are part of Barbie's 2024 Fashionistas Line, an inclusive range of dolls with over 175 varieties of skin tone, eye color, hair color and texture, body types, disabilities, and fashions, USA Today reports.
• Both designs were created in partnership with nonprofit agencies that advocate for those with vision impairment and blindness and people with Down syndrome – and the attention to detail is astounding.

💬 What they're saying: “We recognize that Barbie is much more than just a doll," Krista Berger, Senior Vice President of Barbie and Global Head of Dolls, said in a press release. "She represents self-expression and can create a sense of belonging."

🎨 Art for everybody... Thousands of art lovers came together across the US this past weekend as part of One Nation/One Project’s ambitious nationwide project, Arts for Everybody. The project spans 16 states and involves a multitude of different art installations and community events, and has been more than a year in the making.

❤️ Food for the heart... Parisian Manu Solidaire may not be competing in the Olympics, but he's a winner in all our hearts. The 33-year-old TikToker spends hours preparing dozens of meals in his small kitchen before hopping on his bike and distributing the food to people living on the streets of Paris. He hopes to use his online platform to change perceptions around homelessness.

💪 For the girls... The Watch Me! sports bar opened its doors in Long Beach on Friday, becoming one of five sports bars in the US dedicated to broadcasting women's sports. "[It] means so much for us to be creating a space not just for [young girls watching], but also for the older generation who didn't get their due,” according to bar owner, Jackie Diener. “We're trying to celebrate all of the sports, the athletes and women who've been out there.”

How has July already come and gone?! 

With the start of August sneaking up on us, let's take a moment to reflect and reset for the month ahead.

📝 Grab your journal and get going on the monthly reset prompts below: 

1. What was the highlight of last month? 
2. What was something you struggled with last month?
3. What's one memory from July you don't want to forget? 
4. What do you want to focus more on this upcoming month? 
5. What's something you want to accomplish this month? 
6. What do you want less of in August? 
7. What do you want more of in August? 

27,000 trees are cut down each day for toilet paper. That felt like way too many, so the female-founded brand, honeycomb, created luxury 3-ply toilet tissue made from bamboo. It feels just like regular high-end TP but doesn’t harm trees.

• 🎍Why bamboo? It’s the fastest-growing plant in the world, growing 100x faster than the average tree.
• ⏩ That means thousands of rolls can be produced in the time it takes a single tree to grow back.
• 🙌 Biodegradable and always 100% plastic-free, honeycomb delivers straight to you.

Donut readers can use code DONUT30 for 30% off their first honeycomb purchase. Valid for the next 24 hours.

Welcome to my favrotie part of the newseltter, What's Your Win, where we get to celebrate all of the good news happening right here in our Positive DONUT Community. Check out a few of the submissions we received this week! 

🏀 Margaret W. from Florida is ready to cheer on her team...

• "I'm leaving to go on a once in a lifetime trip to the WNBA All-star Game. I am so excited not only for myself but for how far Women's Basketball has come." 

❤️ Leah C. from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is finding joy in the little things...

• I finally am taking the time to prioritize myself and my family. This world constantly pushing us to go and do and see and achieve, but I finally have started to let go of the workhorse mentality and find enjoyment in the little moments again. Today's win was allowing myself to go for a morning walk without checking my phone in the morning."

📚 An anoymous subscriber from Louisiana is feeling grateful for her students...

• "A few weeks ago I received a message from a student I taught nearly 20 years ago. She happened to see my name somewhere, looked for and found me on Facebook. She sent the sweetest message telling me how much she appreciated me as a teacher. Yes, tears came to my eyes. I remember her and her family quite well. She's now married and has a child graduating from high school."

🦁 Louise M. from London, UK, is proving it's never too late to chase your dreams...

• "It’s been a scary journey, to change up my whole life at 31, but I got accepted onto a course that will help me become a zookeeper and I couldn’t be more excited (and terrified). I already volunteer at a local zoo and this course will help qualify me and make me more employable. Onwards and upwards!"

🎶 One anonymous subscriber from California is proud of her sis...

• "My win this week was attending my sister's summer band concert, which was fantastic overall. What was more surprising is that I met/saw multiple friends from previous music programs there, who I didn’t know would be there! The surprises continued as later that week, we discovered that the teacher from the free music program I introduced my sister to was actually an amazing professor at a prestigious music school. Even more excitingly, my sister had a change of heart and is now considering pursuing music—an incredible turn of events and perfectly timed! Although it was technically my sister's wins (concert and teacher and all that), I feel blessed to have witnessed these inspiring moments unfold." 

There's always something to celebrate. Whether it be a new job, a heartwarming conversation with a loved one, crossing an item off your bucket list, or simply enjoying your day a little more than usual, we want to hear about it.

Sharing is caring... Submit your day-to-day wins with us here to be featured in a future newsletter. Who knows? Sharing the positivity in your life might inspire someone to recognize the good in theirs🥰.

Share your wins here.

Today's theme is general knowledge. How many questions can you get right? 

1. What is the rarest M&M color?
2. According to Greek mythology, who was the first woman on Earth?
3. Which singer’s real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta?
4. How many ribs are in a human body?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like Positive DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize.

Start referring.👇

1. Brown 🟤
2. Pandora 🏛️
3. Lady Gaga 🎤
4. 24 🩻

Hit that reply button and let me know, I read every response. Have a great week!🥰

–Kailyn

P.S. Enjoying this newsletter and want to support my work? It'd mean the world if you told a friend or two about Positive DONUT. You can even win sweet, sweet prizes for each person you refer using your unique link (found two sections above).