A (4:36)

Wow. So how did you organize? Was it all. Was it on social media or was it like you said, through signal?

C (4:44)

Yeah, first we. First we like more in internal organizing through Signal, but we then took the identity, collect the traction of leading online, I mean, leading offline into online, and then built our online presence using, you know, the momentum we had, and funneled people who were interacting with us online into offline. You know, a lot of people were like, oh my God, I wasn't able to make it to the next one. How can I show up at the next one? Or when are you going to have another mutual aid drive? Like, you know, I was able to collect massive amounts of donations of goods to give out to community members through the means of social media. And primarily Instagram is how I started.

A (5:24)

That's really cool. I think that we forget that social media can still be used for good and for mobilization. Wow, that is absolutely amazing. So you've gone on to build both Digital movement media and Truce Cinema. Can you share sort of the mission behind each and how you founded them?

C (5:48)

Yeah, I founded both last year. I'll start with True Cinema because. Because that came first I founded Truce Cinema April 25, 2025. That was three days after I saw Sinners in the movie theater. When did I. Yeah, I saw, I saw it twice. That was my second time seeing it. On the 22nd was my second time seeing it. And the second time I was seeing it I was like, oh my gosh, everybody black needs to see this movie. But then I realized I live in Detroit, Michigan. I live very close to the downtown, like the city center. And you have to drive 40 plus minutes to go see a movie and that's on like non peak driving hours. And so I realized then and there I was like, oh, everybody black in Detroit can't have this movie going experience with other people in a packed theater because you have to worry about transportation, reliable transportation. You have to worry about access to resources like gas. And you also want to have a good time when you go out. So I realized, I did some research and I was like, something's up. Why is there not a movie theater in this city?

A (6:50)

Right.

C (6:51)

It's all out in the suburbs. And I learned that there was one in the Renaissance Center a while ago. And there's a couple of indie movie pop ups and indie movie spaces where they do like old film movies, but nothing for blockbuster, nothing for new things coming out. And so I realized, okay, I'm gonna realize is my favorite word. Nice. And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna build a movie theater, a boutique movie theater, central downtown Detroit that will bridge the gap between blockbuster local and indie films, but also give discussion after films. You know, I don't know if you've ever.

A (7:29)

Oh, yes. Yeah.

C (7:31)

When you leave the movie, you're like awkwardly holding the door for someone else and then you leave and it's just like an awkward exchange even though you just watch something that possibly changed how you view the world. Right. And so yeah, that's. I really want to build community through the medium of film out here in Detroit and give some and give back to the local filmmakers here and then Digital Movement Media. I founded Digital Movement Media in July 2025 after I had decided that the impact I was looking to create couldn't be done working underneath an organization. It had to be done working alongside where I can make the decisions and show them. You know, this framework is based on past work, but it is something that. This is how it has to be implemented. Yeah. So I decided to be my own boss and yeah, it's great.

A (8:21)

And then yes, being your own boss, it's often like A total roller coaster. That is so amazing. So I'm just thinking, like, just, just.

C (8:30)

I have.

A (8:30)

So I have another question about the cinema. So to build something like that, I imagine you had to work with a lot of community members. And I think that, you know, nonprofits can really understand, like, they see a problem, they see an issue, they see a gap that they want filled. And I love that. So, like, what was the first step

C (8:47)

you took to fill that gap? Yeah, the first step I took was I reached out to the city actually, because they have a, like, film department in the city where the film resources, it's called Film Detroit Outreach, Film Outreach Detroit. And they were having a fair, kind of a fair of film resources and, and places to connect with for local filmmakers. And I reached out to city and I was like, hey, can I table here? I really want to run this survey out to get, like, to get data for my business to validate my business plan and model. And they were like, yeah, of course, you can definitely have a table. And so I tabled there. I collected surveys, but I also interacted with a lot of Detroiters, black Detroiters, that every time I told them, every time I reiterated what I was doing and what I was working on, they very much, you know, they were like, yeah, yeah, we need that and how can we support and signing up for my mailing list and doing the survey? And so I got in front of people's face instead of operating, you know, behind my, behind my screen just because this is new, something new. And then I started using threads and I made a couple of posts on threads about what I was working on and who I am and went semi viral. And I realized I made the post and I didn't consider a call to action at the end of the post because I wasn't really trying to do any call to action. I was just trying to bridge awareness. But then I started getting traction and people saying in the comments, how can we help? How can we help? How can we support what like. And so I was like, oh my God, quick call to action. Sign up for my mailing list. And that day I got 160 new mailing list sign ups. Yeah.

A (10:30)

So the power of like in person organizing and the power of digital, that seems to me be a real theme in your work, which I think is so interesting. And I think that is just hope, you know, a lot of non profits also can recognize that. So that's really cool. So, so is that kind of what spurred your digital to action framework? A lot of the things that you Saw really worked in your own life. Can we talk about maybe the origin of the framework and then maybe some of the core components?

C (10:59)

Yeah, yeah. So the origin of the framework was definitely the beginning of the 2020 movements and I've had to enhance it throughout the years because the digital, digital space changed so much. And you know, you said something earlier where you said we forget that social media can be used as like a tool for progress. And Stu. But I don't even think that we forget. I think that it was never, those platforms were never made for us to use it in this way. And so it takes, you know, people like me, people like you, people who do digital strategy work in that, in that, in that space and so on social media platforms to then manipulate and leverage these platforms to do really good work. And I think that, yeah, I think that that's something that collectively we should be more cognizant of because yeah, we didn't. These platforms did. Mark Zuckerberg did not make Instagram and say, oh, we're going to. Social impact organizations are going to love this. You know, they only.

A (11:54)

Let's not give Mark Zuckerberg credit for Instagram.

C (11:56)

Those. That's also very true.

A (11:59)

But he didn't buy it and then say. And he didn't create Facebook.

C (12:02)

Exactly.

A (12:02)

So the point is that I totally agree with you. And yeah, big tech, they wanted to

C (12:08)

sell big tech, did not want to have social justice tied to it. And you know, them, them doing the. I remember when they did the donate feature for the first time on Instagram, I actually used it as soon as it dropped. And this is, this goes into the strategy and the framework. I'm sorry, I'm going off on it.

A (12:25)

No, I love this. I love this. I used it too when it first

C (12:28)

came out, first dropped I. The heat. There was the, the situation with the Haitian migrants at the Texas border in 2021. And me and the other co founder, warriors in the Garden took to our Instagram. We grabbed the horrible images of, you know, like border patrol agents on horses, like whipping Haitian migrants in 2021 and then use the donate feature to raise funds in less than 20. We raised $15,000 in less than 24 hours for the Haitian migrants at the border for an organization that was on the ground. And so yeah, I very much. There's many, there's many aspects that go into the digital to action framework that the first thing that I, the first thing that I've noticed in my time, you know, building it, enhancing it, is that you have to be doing some Kind of on the ground work or on the ground, like alluding to on the ground work or some kind of activation. Right. If you're not. And on the ground can mean many things. It can mean a soup kitchen, it can mean doing a mutual aid drive, it can mean hosting a rally, it can mean running your program for the youth. On the ground can look very different in this context. If you're not doing like in person work, this framework will not work for you. Because, because you can, you can build an audience and you can mobilize people without being on the ground, but it is so much harder to get people to trust what you're doing. And so, yeah, so being on the ground is, is a requirement for this. Doing, doing actual work in person work, impacting communities, impacting people is a requirement for this framework. And when you do that, this is when storytelling, this is where you capture getting your images, getting your videos, getting your testimonials, getting your impact, showing it. This is where that comes to play. And then you take it to your digital audiences and you, you know, you put it all nice and pretty. That's where design comes in. And then you set your schedule and you, you push your content out. Right? Once you push your content out, the engagement you're getting on your content is someone who's interested in what you're doing, what you posted, what you have to say and, and what your organization's mission is. Right? And so that, that is then time for you to make sure you have a call to action for people who are looking at your content. The call to action should be something. It shouldn't be like, save. Share this post it should be something like. And our next activation is coming up in two weeks. Register now. I'll DM you the link. And now there's automation tools where, you know, people can comment a word and get the.

A (14:57)

Oh, I love that feature on Instagram where it's like, say, remind me. Yeah, yeah, I use it for like TV shows. But yeah, I'm imagining it could be used for other things.

C (15:09)

Yeah, yeah, the remind me button when you set a calendar event. Yeah, yeah, you can use that. What I like to do too is before ManyChat became a thing. Are you familiar with ManyChat?

A (15:19)

I'm not on ManyChat, but I know what it is.

C (15:22)

Yeah, before it became a thing, I was doing semi automation, but for this organization, I was working for seeding sovereignty. And basically I would use, I would draft a saved reply as an emoji and just to save more time and so Whenever I was interacting with someone from the content and I'd go to go message them, I just put the emoji in and the whole message would load and I'd send it and then keep interacting and keep engaging. That way you have to engage your audience. So, so it starts from on the ground work being a requirement, storytelling, visually pleasing, graphic pleasing, good content. And then engagement after the engagement portion is really important because that's where you funnel people through different channels. Right. I think all nonprofits should think about how they can get their, their communities not completely on these platforms. Because like we just said, those big tech platforms weren't meant for that. So whether it's a newsletter, whether it's a signal chat, whether it's telegram, whether it's another way your audience can interact with you, that's off these big tech platforms, that way you have them engaged. If, let's say Instagram shuts down or TikTok gets sold by the US and they just saw 150% users leave TikTok. So it's like when you think about that, that's a whole chunk of nonprofit audiences that were engaged with the nonprofit on TikTok, you know, so it's like if you don't have another channel, you could lose a really big chunk of your support.

A (16:51)

And so, yes, I love that because that's what I sort of teach as well. These platforms are really great, like you said, for mobilization, for awareness, but for long term support and to build your donor file. That's not what they're built for and that's not what they do best. And to get people off the platforms onto like your email list or onto like a chat feature. The American Heart association does this really well. I, a few years ago I signed up for or I made a donation and the chat feature, it messaged me in Facebook messenger and it said, you know, thank you so much. Would you like some more resources? And of course I clicked yes. And then it kind of went. It's all automated. Yeah, but they send me, they don't message me very often, but they sent me a message like on giving Tuesday, they sent me a message for year end, just like a reminder, you know, like, hey, you're participating with us, you're interested in us.

C (17:51)

Yeah.

A (17:52)

And it cuts through the clutter, of course, like a text message.

C (17:56)

Yeah.

A (17:56)

Whereas seeing that in my feed, you know, how do we, like, how do you work with your clients on the sort of decimated organic reach? Like, do we have to put some money behind this framework?

C (18:10)

I actually am so against like paying for ads, paying for visibility.

A (18:15)

We don't want to make them richer.

C (18:17)

We don't, we don't want to make them richer. And I also just do not believe that it's necessary when we're talking about movement building work right on the digital framework. There are now the tools of collaboration where if you collaborate with many different partners, like, let's say it's a campaign. What I do is if we're doing a campaign, we have five to 10 partners that we want to tap into their audiences. Tap into. That's where you start building your relationships and your partnerships. You tag them into the campaign. I've done this many times. And you, you build out the campaign. You decide who's going to carry what workload. Are we going to work on the graphics together, like, what is the messaging? And you put it out and you collaborate with everyone and you take, you take the engagement that's happening throughout the campaign and you interact with those real people, right? So it's like using the collaboration feature is like my best, my best tool. I love that feature. I'm so happy that they created it because you tap into other audiences. You know, let's say if you are a organization who is running a campaign, I've done this. Actually. I ran a campaign for Black history month in 2024, but I focus it on climate because I was working with the organization that was super focused on climate. And, and throughout the whole month, I, I worked with, I collaborated with 10 Black climate activists who have their own platforms and, you know, do their own work. And we had, I did that through a live, like, we did like, live discussions.

A (19:45)

Oh, cool.

C (19:47)

And then I collaborated with bigger organizations like Congo Friends and Intersectional Environmentalists because they have a really big platform and their audience cared about climate. And I felt like it was my responsibility in the role I was doing to educate around African American struggles within climate and environmental justice. And so, yeah, I collaborated with those three organizations. Like, I choose really intentional partners and their audiences. I take into account and also what I believe, what I believe is missing, right, in terms of knowledge, the knowledge gap, the access to information for audiences that are tapped in. What. What would they care about? And all of these, this whole campaign did very great. But the collaboration post did the best and the most amazing. I think, I think we've gotten the Congo Friends post. I think we got like 35,000 likes and like hundreds of comments of people saying, like, oh my gosh, thank you for this information. I didn't know about this information. That's a whole new list of. Of people who are getting into your content and getting into what you're about and tapping into all of those people who are engaging, whether it's in the comments or in your DMs, that's so important. Yep.

A (21:08)

Can you tell people a little bit about collaboration posts and then also, like, how do you find those partners and approach those partners? If you're just like a small nonprofit, you don't really know many other organizations.

C (21:21)

Yeah, I am like a really big, cold emailer. That's how you.

A (21:26)

Oh, good.

C (21:27)

You and I connected. I cold email you and I was like, hey, I just saw your. Yes. I just saw one of your presentations. And like, we're in the same line of work. Can we have time to chat? And so I'm really big on reaching out. And if, if my reach out didn't. Didn't, you know, trigger something, I would go to someone else that I know who has some kind of connection. I would try to find some kind of work way to connect with the people I need. Because at the end of the day, in my experience, what I've learned is if you are an organization, no matter if you're small or big, if you're doing the work and if you have a really good mission and it's tight and it's solid and it has impact, I believe that from my experience, other organizations will see that in whatever interaction you have and will likely be open to doing some collaborations with you. And also, even if you're a smaller organization, collaborating with smaller organizations is just as effective. It's just. It's a smaller number of people you're engaging, but you're engaging people regardless. Right? Right.

A (22:36)

Oh, I love that so much.

C (22:37)

So which.

A (22:38)

Which digital platforms do you find drive the most engagement?

C (22:43)

That is such a good question. I think all the platforms are really different in their own ways. Instagram is my favorite. I. I have built so much on Instagram, and I've created a lot of impact through Instagram. And I see now, like, I mean, even in, for example, in 2020, I'm seeing what happened in 2020, where, you know, there were just. There was just a page in New York City called Justice for George nyc. And that page posted actions every day, no matter where in the city. It could have been in the Bronx. It could have been up uptown. It could have been in Queens. It could have been any part of the city. It was just keeping people. It was like a. It was like a board for activations in the city. And I'm Seeing it now with like the Ice protest. Right. It's like all of these activations you see and it's how people are getting informed on how to show up. And so Instagram definitely has a really big impact with how people are consuming what's going on around us on a social impact standpoint and also what they can do. And then there's Tick Tock, but you know, that's Tick Tock's we're losing, we're losing platforms. Right. Tick Tock is. Tick Tock's users are down by, by 150, which is ridiculous. And after U S takeover. That makes sense. But now that's a whole chart, that's a whole platform. Platform basically, you know, in the end zone. Same thing with Twitter now. X It's like in the end zone. And so it's like before, before TikTok and Twitter went into the end zone. I think that they were also super

A (24:18)

impactful because that's where Twitter was amazing. When it was Twitter.

C (24:22)

Yeah, when Twitter was Twitter. That's where I got all of my news from. Like, yes, it was just so quick. But now, now it's shifted and it's, it's, it's Instagram and I feel like Threads is contending really hard right now. But these are meta platforms and I don't trust meta platforms as much. So yeah, it is, it's kind of bittersweet that Instagram is the one for me and that I've seen do a lot of good work. But.

A (24:47)

Right.

C (24:47)

It is meta owned and trying to break away from that. So.

A (24:51)

But you're seeing traction on Threads. What about like Blue sky are people I've been on.

C (24:56)

I've, I've, I have an account. I made an account for a client before I actually was reading, I was doing a lot of data search for platforms and you know, like their demographics and stuff. And I think I read, I think it was like 55% of blue sky is like mainly men. And so I think it's, I think there's things going on over there. It's definitely an audience over there. But I have not tapped into it with clients yet because I think, I think the intentionality behind it, I think for any platform you're getting on, and this is another topic, the intentionality and the use, like is so important. What are you trying to get from it? Right? Like what are your, what are your goals from the platform and which audiences, which platforms has the audience you're looking for? Yes, is more important. You don't need every single social Media platform. You don't need every single social media platform. If you want to get into. With Gen Z, I would say Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. If you want to reach the millennials, I would say Facebook. And you know, if you want to reach Gen Alpha, I'm going to say like Roblox or something.

A (26:07)

Oh, my gosh. My son is on that and my daughter. Yeah, that's like the one thing they both play together. And she's 16 and he's 11. So that's like the. Oh, my God. Yeah, if you could advertise on that, you're gonna be. But Also I think YouTube, because in terms of ads, like your advertising, because my kids are both on YouTube constantly and actually YouTube, to me, I think crosses generational boundaries. Like, my mom is on YouTube constantly, I'm always on YouTube and my kids are on YouTube. So it's almost like crossing the boundaries. But it's not as. It's not like Instagram where it can be like a sort of a bulletin board for activation. You really have to have good video content, even if it's like shorts, you know, YouTube shorts or something like that.

C (26:56)

Yes, I agree with you. Short form video is really. It's all about like the first three to seven seconds, you know, like, how much can you engage someone within that time frame? And I really, I am more of a conscious consumer when it comes to consuming content. Yeah. And yeah, if I don't feel inspired or like I'm learning something or there is something beautiful, even a place I've never seen before, or like, you know, something I've never heard of before, or, you know, even something that's completely funny and crazy that I would never think of. Like, thinking outside the box when it comes to how you're going to engage your audience is so important when you're creating these videos.

A (27:38)

Absolutely. Those three to seven seconds are so important. Can we talk about storytelling? So do you. In the digital auction framework, is it a combination of storytelling and information? Like, how do you balance statistics around the problem and then also the compelling stories that people need to get them to take action?

C (27:59)

Yeah, I think it. There's so many ways you can do it when you're creating content. Right. You can. The ways that I've done it in this framework is I would, let's say I'd use photos from a photographer in a movement and then I'd. In the, in the caption, I'd give off like tidbits of information that would, that would help inform people on what's going on. And what the pictures are about and the data around it. Then there's, you know, infographics, everybody's favorite thing. I create infographics if there's a topic I'm expanding on that doesn't need to be in a like six paragraph Instagram caption. You know, if there's so much data or if the topic is very large and there's many aspects of the topic, that's how I'll turn it into a campaign. For example, I did a, I did a disability justice campaign for a week in July of 2024 and I created all the graphics, but I pulled from disability justice advocates the information, information that they have, the data they have constructed. And I just made it more accessible and easier to grasp for people in the audience. I was engaging and yeah, I was able to inform people about disability justice and disability justice marches and fights for the reason why we have like, you know, like first aid. Not first aid, sorry, the reason why we have like aid ramps and elevators and stairs, like the reason why we have that are because of disability justice advocates saying we are human too. And so making sure I tapped in with the visual storytelling of getting pictures from those marches all those years ago and making sure I could properly convey what that was like and the stories that existed within that while also tying in informational data. It is a very interesting art because you have to know how to not do information overload, but also inform properly and also get people following up after you're informing them with, here's how you can support this issue. Here's how you can support this organization. Here's how you can support these people that are doing this work. Here's how you can support our work here. You know, like, like making sure you have a good flow of telling the story, whether it's yours, a constituent, or people in the past, past movement makers telling that story, not information overload, overload. Making sure you can properly convey the data and the information, the knowledge and then making sure you tie it all together with, okay, you just learned all of this. Here's a way to keep supporting.

A (30:42)

What is the most common mistake you see nonprofits make in their digital strategy?

C (30:47)

Not having one.

A (30:48)

Right, right.

C (30:50)

Not having one. A lot of non profits do not have digital strategy and they're, they just do like impact posting where they'll post like a picture of donations they got and say, wow, oh my God, thanks. We fed all these kids. Or you know, we. Or a picture of soccer balls and things say, oh my God, thank you for these donations. Soccer balls. Now we can have, like, our annual soccer game or, you know, like, it's. No, digital strategy goes into a lot of postings that I've seen. And I understand the IT nonprofits have not yet built in the structure for digital strategy and digital engagement into their budgets.

A (31:26)

Right.

C (31:27)

And I think that that needs to change, especially as we keep entering digital spaces each time breaking news happens.

A (31:36)

Right.

C (31:36)

Like, so many nonprofits that service communities are impacted by what's going on in our country and in the world, they're scared. And it's like, you have to. We have a responsibility to help lift each other up in the ways that we know how. And the digital space is one of them because that's where we all get informed. That's how we all see the atrocities happening. That's how we all just interact. And it's time to strategize around that because it's the. Let me look at the other side. Look at the side we're fighting. Right. I despise that other side. But they are so organized digitally and unified.

A (32:16)

Organized. And have tons of money to back them up.

C (32:19)

And have tons of money. And so when we talk about, you know, what I like to do is I like to work with clients where they're at, and I try to offer, like, as low as I can for the impact that I. That I know they want to create, because I know that it's not factored into the budget, but it is still a need. And that's why I also have, like, my training modules on this digital action framework, so that instead of, like, paying for my services each month, I'm teaching this digital to action framework to nonprofits and. And then they can just implement it and enhance it. Yeah.

A (32:54)

All right, well, where can people find this, these training modules? Where can they connect with you and learn more about you?

C (33:03)

Yeah, you can find more about me in the training modules. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. I am always on LinkedIn.

A (33:10)

Yeah.

C (33:10)

LinkedIn. Yeah.

A (33:11)

What do you think about LinkedIn? Not to interrupt you.

C (33:13)

Really? Oh, yeah.

A (33:14)

We didn't talk about LinkedIn.

C (33:15)

We didn't talk about LinkedIn. I actually like LinkedIn a lot. And there's some, like, interesting. Whenever I'm on another platform and I see what they have to say about LinkedIn, I feel a little bit jaded because I'm like, wait, like, that's not my experience. I know there are some crazy posts out there, but I do like the community building around professionalism. I did see a couple of posts recently where people were saying, like, why are we continuing business as usual on here? And I thought that was a really great conversation to be having because it felt, it felt really weird to see like impact reports and like, and like impact pictures and gala pictures and stuff. Like it felt really weird to see business as usual when outside is like turmoil.

A (33:58)

The world's burning. Yeah, yeah.

C (33:59)

The walls are burning. So I actually liked that that conversation started to happen on LinkedIn and I like, I like the community aspect of LinkedIn. It feels so communal. And I do believe that nonprofits, when they do it right, they can, can definitely find grant partners or more constituents to rally for their cause on LinkedIn.

A (34:21)

Absolutely. Okay, so you're on LinkedIn. I'll put the link in the show notes and where else?

C (34:26)

Yeah, and then Digital Movement Media's website. So you can also put that in the show notes too. The 4 module, the module training program is actually on my website in a, in a small like informational way, like kind of what each module is about. And then you can fill out like, like inquiry form on my website and I'll reach out to people who are really interested in learning this framework because that's, that's my impact, making sure I can have it exist outside of me and keep it going. Like that's, that's really, that's how I'm impacting society.

A (35:02)

Yes. I love it. Well, thanks so much for being on the podcast. This was so helpful, so informative. I love to talk about social media, but I love like different perspectives and I love a framework. So I think my audience is going to get a lot of out of it.

C (35:18)

But thanks Kiara for being on the podcast. Thanks Julia, for having me. This was such a fun chat. Thank you.

B (35:32)

Well, hey there. I wanted to say thank you for tuning into my show and for listening

A (35:36)

all the way to the end.

B (35:38)

If you really enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app and you'll get new episodes downloaded as soon as they come out. I would love if you left me a rating or a review because this tells other people that my podcast is worth listening to and then me and my guests can reach either more earbuds and create even more impact. So that's pretty much it. I'll be back soon with a brand new episode, but until then you can find me on Instagram. Juliacampbell77 Keep changing the world, you non profit unic.