Vanessa Williams and Jillian Hervey of Lion Babe Team Up with Burlington Stores and WomenHeart
Kicking off February’s American Heart Health month with a bang, Burlington and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, joined forces to not only raise awareness, but to fight back with their #KnockOutHeartDisease campaign. With heart disease being the number one killer of women in the US (48 million women are at risk or living with heart disease), they've teamed up with two major fighters to assist in getting the word out. Multi-Platinum Recording Artist, Award Winning Actress and New York Times Best-Selling Author Vanessa Williams, as well as her daughter, Jillian Hervey of Electro-Soul duo LION BABE are dedicated to the cause and encouraging all women to get their heart health screenings.
The powerhouse mother-daughter duo got candid with Teen Vogue and shared their personal stories around heart health, fashion's influence on the issue and what it means to live in power.
Burlington will be offering free heart health screenings at select locations, and will be encouraging customers to donate $1 or more to knock out heart disease in all stores through March 31st .
Teen Vogue: We'd love to hear about #KnockOutHeartDisease and your collaboration with WomenHeart and Burlington.
Vanessa Williams: At the #KnockOutHeartDisease launch, we heard three heart disease survivors...they were called WomenHeart champions. We heard three speakers with amazing stories, two of which had heart issues in their twenties. They all were very effective. Jillian and I shared our stories and got testing done, as well. We got our fingers pricked, checked our cholesterol levels, our blood levels taken and we’re in great health. I lost both of my grandmothers at a very young age so heart health is an issue we hold close to our hearts.
TV: How did losing your grandmothers’ affect how you lived your own life?
VW: I only knew one grandmother. She died at 65. My father’s mom passed at 28. He was 3. It made my parents take particular care of their hearts and it was great habit I learned and passed on to my own children so now they practice it. All my kids either dance or swim or ride horses or ski. They’re very active and eat really clean.
You got one body and you got one life. You think you’re going to live forever but it’s what you practice at a young age that makes living healthy easier to maintain.
Jillian Hervey: Right. When you go get screened, you get your chart and the nurses help you identify the ranges. I wasn’t even aware of what those numbers looked like but seeing them for myself showed me "okay, I get this." It’s very straightforward. My mom and I had very different numbers but were healthy on all levels.
TV: Jillian, you’re no stranger to mixing fashion with an initiative, whether it be music or now #KnockOutHeartDisease. How do you feel fashion brings the issue of heart health to the forefront?
JH: Fashion, just like many different forms of art, is just a great way to express and communicate on all different forms of life. For me, as a musician, I love how open and universal music can be. There’s that moment of a song that starts thumping and then everyone has a narrative or it brings up a memory or something like that. Fashion is the same way. With this month being heart month, red is just a powerful color for women and just for what it stands for. My mom and I were thinking about what to wear that day and it just made sense to wear red as a way to stand together. There’s the #MeToo movement and the white roses on the carpet - there are many ways to unify people through fashion and bring an interesting, cool, creative relatable way to bring a cause dear to your heart to other people.
Sometimes, people only get to see the visual of you, especially through social media. Sometimes you’ll see the image before you actually get to hear what they have to say. So it’s equally important. You can say a lot with what you’re wearing.
TV: You wore your mom’s iconic sequined leotard when you moved to NYC, so you're clearly into serving looks. Would you ever follow your mom's footsteps in launching your own line?
JH: I love fashion. When my mom and dad would travel, they would bring us amazing outfits from all over the world and it was great because you learn about cultures that way, whether it be wooden shoes or kimonos. I’m personally an avid vintage shopper. I love pieces that are unique and special. So for me to have a line...I don’t think there’s one thing that defines me or my statement. I do have Lion Babe merch so that’s like my first step into doing stuff like that. I have tons of ideas so if my business expands in that capacity, I’d definitely create more Lion Babe wearable stuff. I think we could have a lot of fun with it.
TV: Okay, Lion Babe! When considering this heart campaign, what does it mean to be lion-hearted?
JH: Lion-hearted is very much the core of what Lion Babe was when we were thinking about the name in general and the feeling we were trying to evoke...having a sense of strength but also matching that with vulnerability. Being able to be authentic and comfortable in your skin and having that be the thing that makes you strong and able to deal adversity and challenges and...everything. Because when you know yourself, you know your heart, you follow your heart, you listen to your heart. People will recognize that and a sense of confidence comes about because you’re focusing on your inner soul. I think that changes how you interact with people in the world, what you’re making, how you’re dealing with your challenges. To be lion-hearted is to be strong and powerful and also very open and ready to take on the world.
TV: Speaking of taking over the world. Let's talk our girls. In regards to heart health, what advice do you have for young women?
VW: As a mom, I’d say follow good examples of heart health: stay active. It doesn’t mean to go to the gym everyday and getting a personal trainer. It means to do something - even if it’s walking, one hour a day.
JH: I’m definitely not a mom but for sure, I was led by example. My parents cooked a lot. When you have a relationship that’s personal with food, you’re going to stores and looking at produce, you know what these things are and you can experiment with them. Sometimes, I go online and look at workout videos or sometimes, I dance! When it’s nice and warm out, you can walk around. Long walks are always fun. Just keep moving and surround yourself with people who are active and healthy - it will rub off on you and you’ll be the same to them. Then, you’ll have a support system dragging each other to this and this and it’s nice because you have someone to hold you accountable and you’re having fun.
With one in four women dying from the disease, the first step in knocking out heart disease is to know one’s health numbers. Burlington customers will have the chance to get a free heart health screening today, February 6 as well as on March 20 at 50 select Burlington store locations nationwide. This screening will allow women to have their blood pressure, pulse, cholesterol, and BMI checked by a certified health professional and receive bilingual (English/Spanish) women’s heart health information and tips for living heart healthy. To encourage women to participate in one of the free heart screenings, Burlington will donate $5, up to $25,000, to WomenHeart for each in-store screening. To find a screening near you, visit www.BurlingtonStores.com/HeartHealth.
Related: Jillian Hervey's Star-Studded Fashion Campaign Is the Most Inspiring Thing You'll See All Day
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