Brittany Snow and TOMS Are Here to Level up Your Hot Girl Walks

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Say what you want about “hot girl walks,” but they really do reign supreme. If only for a moment, taking a stroll around your neighborhood and plugging in some music can help you disconnect from the world. Footwear is hardly the most important part of this routine, but having a comfy pair that makes you feel good can certainly help you along your mental health journey—especially if you’re supporting a brand that takes actionable steps toward making the world a better place, such as TOMS. And together with Brittany Snow, they’re here to support you with every step of the way.

Yesterday officially marked the end of Mental Health Awareness Month, but we know that condensing any of the struggles and complex ideas that exist within us to a measly 31 days will never be enough—nor should it. Year-round, TOMS puts their money where their month is and helps fund access to mental health resources for the millions of people who need them. But money is just one part of it. This May, TOMS also created a campaign, “Wear Good. Share Good.” where, in addition to sharing actionable mental health-related tips and resources through social media, they’ve also tapped Snow as a partner to spread awareness.

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TOMS

As a mental health advocate who shares her story through many forums, including online, Snow’s involvement in the campaign feels full circle. Paired alongside the release of her new book, September Letters: Finding Strength and Connection in Sharing Our Stories, which wrote alongside Jaspre Guest as well as her directorial debut “Parachute,” a mental health drama that she debuted at SXSW, Snow is focusing on paying it forward.

Below, Cosmo spoke to the Prom Night actress about her life in the spotlight, how she takes care of herself, and the impact Pitch Perfect has had as a comfort film over the years.


You’ve been a loud advocate in the mental health space. What about TOMS made you want to partner with the company?

I have known about TOMS for a very long time. I’ve been aware of what they do for the world and what their brand does for so many different people in organizations across the world for so long. I remember when I was about 23, I went to a TOMS event and it was a documentary about them going [abroad] and giving shoes—and I just remember crying and wanting to be involved. Ever since then, I've followed them and their work. When I learned they were doing a mental health focused campaign, I really wanted to be involved because I think it's so important to put really positive things on social media. It's a really triggering place for a lot of people and I think that to counteract that we have to do what we can even in the most simple ways.

I love that TOMS is really focused on making sure that they are doing what they can, not only with the making of their shoes and other products, but they really are focused on being a great company that shares good information.

TOMS has some of the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn! One of the easiest ways to make myself feel better when I’m feeling down is taking a walk. Do you have a routine for yourself or things you like to do when you're feeling sad or upset?

Yes, I definitely do. Lately, I was actually just talking to a friend of mine and they were like, “How are you doing lately? This has been a really big couple of months for you.” And it's actually been really strange how much I’ve needed to go into my “toolbox” and get centered. I have been doing check-ins with myself about what really matters. [I think] putting on some good music and checking in on other people is [also] really helpful sometimes.

Walking outside and getting out of your head in nature helps, but I also think sometimes we forget to connect with other people. When you're going through a really hard time, it's really nice to just be of service to somebody else. So that's something that I definitely do, I like to connect with someone else when I'm having a bad time. I feel like I feel better about myself when I am understanding that we're all going through something and I can help someone else.

Speaking about connecting with people, I’m not sure if you’ve seen but Pitch Perfect has been having a major moment on Netflix as a top movie recently. It’s such a comfort film for so many. How do you keep in touch with your former castmates?

I think that what's really great about the girls and the whole cast is that we do things that have nothing to do with Pitch Perfect. We're actually ingrained in our other friend groups and we've made friendships that kind of span out to other people that other people have done movies with. People have been making fun of me lately because I talk about it all the time but we're actually friends. I'm really appreciative that people still care about us because it's been so long now.

Since you’re all still so close, would you be open to returning for Pitch Perfect 4?

Obviously all of us would be open to that because we love each other, but it's not up to us!

That franchise will forever live on thanks to social media. I actually noticed that in honor of Mental Health Month, TOMS has been sharing small tips on their Instagram each day to help others on their journey. What’s been a piece of advice that has stuck out with you?

What's been really helpful with TOMS’ tips is that they've been posting very actionable items and they're very simple. Sometimes you just need that really, really simple [piece of advice ]in a slide on your social media to be like, “Oh, that's something that I should do.” One of my favorite quotes is “Progress not perfection.” It’s a mantra that I say to myself and [I] try to really talk to myself like someone I love. I sometimes get really in my head about needing to be perfect or needing to make sure that this went exactly right. It’s important to know that everyone is doing the best they can and that mistakes don't mean you're a bad person. I really like that tip. I need to put it on a Post-it note on my mirror and remind myself!

There’s a quote I really love that you’ve been sharing on your own Instagram from Brene Brown that says, “One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through and it will be someone else's survival guide.” How do you balance taking care of your own journey while creating a space for others?

It's been interesting to hear a lot of people say, “Well, you're just going through something,” or, “Suck it up,” and, “Who cares? All this mental health talk is so silly and self-serving.” I think that what is missing from that is the understanding that every single person has something that they've gone through or they're going through. It's really about helping the next person and it's not complaining and it's not being, you know, down in the mire of something. It's sharing your vulnerability so that you can help the next person. That's a really altruistic thing. It's not just talking about it to talk about it. It's talking about it as a full circle moment. I think that's what the survival guide is, is realizing that we're all connected and we're all going to be going through something at some point that we can help the next person by sharing how we got through it.

Your new book September Letters: Finding Strength and Connection in Sharing Our Stories just dropped, how did it feel to release something so personal? What’s your hope that readers take away?

For people to want to have conversations around mental health and hoping that someone opens it and feels connected to a story, even if it's one letter that might make someone feel like they've gotten a hug from someone. I hope they can relate to a story or they feel connected to that vulnerability—that's the reason for the book. There's also tangible evidence in the book from experts about how to make yourself feel better after you read these letters. My goal is to just make us feel connected to each other and make the conversation around mental health a little bit more in the vernacular of everyday talking points so it doesn't feel like there's a stigma around it anymore.

Oftentimes people have the outlook that famous people live a shiny and perfect life. What was it like for you to get to tap in your friends in the industry (like Kid Cudi and Maddie Ziegler) to write very vulnerable letters for your book? How do you think the public will react?

The common denominator of mental health in general is that we all have struggles regardless of what you do for an occupation. I think it was really nice for my friends to be able to open up about their stories. Some of them are in the entertainment business and some of them are not. I think that the cool thing about mental health conversations now is that so many people are brave enough and willing to have these conversations. It gives a platform for someone else to do the same. And I think my friends trusted me to know that it wasn't going to be a salacious sort of thing, it was in service of a large collective goal to help.

It's really funny that people would imagine or think that because of your job, things could be perfect or not. I find it more often than not that it's actually not shiny. It's kind of just boring and I would rather hear about other people's stories than mine. There's so many more important things going on in the world than what we're doing.

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