Today Is My Last Day at DoSomething

Date Published: June 1, 2021

As Editor-in-chief, I’m supposed to know what to say. And yet, as I reflect on my nearly nine years here at DoSomething and prepare for the next adventure, only two words come to mind. To my coworkers, our partners, my family, my friends and, most importantly, our community of members: thank you.

Thank you for your brilliance, your creativity, your courage, and your collaboration in accomplishing so much together.

Together we helped decide the elections by registering over 350,000 new voters since 2018. We ran the largest youth-led denim drives, period product drives, and sports-equipment drives ever. We sent Ramadan Mubarak cards to every mosque in the US. We kept 1.4 million pounds of clothes out of landfills and took 3.7 million cigarette butts off the streets. We saved lives as one of the top youth recruiters to the national bone marrow registry. We awarded millions of dollars in scholarships to enable students to pursue their best futures. We literally changed the dictionary’s definition of "nude" and “black.” And the list goes on.

(Of course we didn’t do any of this for the accolades...but we earned nearly two dozen awards and nominations anyway, most recently taking home prizes from The Civvys and The Digiday Awards.)

The last fifteen months have been particularly challenging for all of us. And still, our staff and our community responded to every single crisis with resilience, compassion, and action. Beyond powering historic youth voter turnout amid a pandemic and widespread voter suppression, we also provided hundreds of thousands of meals, masks, and health products for our neighbors in need. Together we fought the effects of isolation and kept over 25,000 seniors connected through digital story swaps. At the peak of the pandemic, our community created a first-of-its kind student-powered mental health guide. And our members stepped up to start over 47,000 anti-racist conversations with their loved ones, as they pledged their joint commitment to fighting for racial justice.

Beyond our collective impact, I’m also deeply grateful for the ways I’ve grown, thanks to all of you. When I started at DoSomething in 2012, I was a naive 23-year-old who dreamed of being a writer and still listed “President of the Emory Breakdance Club” on his resume. The ol’ body doesn’t work like it used to (and I never quite mastered headspins), but in the intervening years I’ve experienced so much.

I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience (three times!) on my volunteer sabbaticals to Japan, South Africa, and Kenya. I had the chance to speak everywhere from Austin to Atlanta to DC; I also spoke at my high school alma mater’s commencement in Bexley, Ohio, and in a TEDx Talk in New York. I had the fortune of interviewing or writing scripts for Shawn Mendes, Yara Shahidi, Katie Couric, Olivia Wilde, Olivia Munn, Jason Genao, Joel Courtney, Keke Palmer, Skai Jackson, Ayo & Teo, Marsai Martin, Logan Browning, Jeremy Lin, Hannibal Burress, Ilana Glazer, Sasheer Zamata, Harry Shum, Jr., and so many more. (I also watched Tyler Oakley support The Trevor Project while trying to fix the made-up marriage of a sloth puppet named Puppet Sloth and yes, it’s as bizarre and incredible as it sounds.)

I have worked with and learned from the smartest, most talented, most passionate human beings on the planet, and I am beyond fortunate that so many have become my life-long friends. We’ve experienced weddings and funerals together. We’ve welcomed their kids into the world. We’ve shared in each other’s greatest triumphs and greatest sorrows. We’ve cried together, and we’ve laughed so much that it made all the tears worth it. There is so much I’ll take from my experience at DoSomething, and these relationships are by far the most important.

Once I leave DoSomething, I’ll be taking a little time off before deciding my next move, and you’ll start receiving DoSomething emails and texts from Anthony and Jackie. (You’ll get to know them much better, but in the meantime, it’s important for you to know that the former absolutely destroys Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” in karaoke, and the latter was ranked #1 in Arkansas for Pokémon trivia.) Both are fantastic writers, even better human beings, and easily some of my favorite coworkers of all time. If you want to stay in touch with me or read my latest writing, check out my personal website (when I get around to updating it), or let’s connect on LinkedIn or @bkassoy if I ever get back on social media (it’s been a while).

Outside of gratitude, my most prominent feeling today is one of hope. Amid the hardships of the last year, and at every moment of tragedy and fear over the last nine, it’s been young people showing up for themselves and their communities with solidarity, strength, and solutions.

I’m talking about the likes of Greta Thunberg leading movements, Amanda Gorman inspiring millions, and Darnella Frazier altering the course of history. I’m talking about the young Black, LGBTQ, Indigenous, AAPI, and Latinx activists fighting every day for climate justice, racial justice, queer liberation, period equity, mental health, and so much more. And I’m talking about the millions of DoSomething members, who represent every US area code and 131 countries, who are, at this very moment, in their communities creating more inclusive education, dismantling skin-tone discrimination, curbing the climate crisis, protecting their loved ones’ mental health, and so much more.

All of you have given me a reason to believe in the future. You’ve inspired me to be better, stronger, braver, and more empathetic. You’ve given me more and mean more to me than you’ll ever know.

I will forever be a supporter of DoSomething’s staff, community, and mission, and I’ll forever be a believer in the power of young people to create a sustainable future and a safer, more loving, more joyful, more just, more equitable world. Thank you for the opportunity to witness and experience that power in action every single day. I can’t wait to see what you do next.

Let’s Do This,

Ben