Episode #98: Larissa “Larz” May
Larissa “Larz” May is the founder of #HalfTheStory, a non-profit community and media platform, dedicated to empower the next generation's relationship with social media, through advocacy, education, and providing access to resources for youth. What started as a grassroots movement on the Vanderbilt University campus, for students to share more authentic stories on social media, #HTS has taken a leading role in facing a modern mental health epidemic. The platform has received over 8000 stories from 99 different countries around the globe receiving media attention from Time, Forbes, Refinery29, Good Morning America, and CNN. After achieving non-profit status in 2018, #HalfTheStory launched a nationwide educational workshop series and debuted an off-broadway show “Brainfood,” addressing mental health in the modern age.
As the executive director of #HalftheStory, Larz May is focused on an invisible struggle we’re all facing: our relationship with technology. Larz became aware of her own relationship with social media during college, when she was experiencing challenging symptoms of depression and anxiety. She was passionate about the fashion industry, and social media was the fast track for the career she envisioned. But it also created a sense of isolation and made her feel “less than,” and she realized that the story she was presenting on social media was very different from her reality. On today’s episode, Larz and I talk about her journey of managing her own mental health, and why she believes it’s important to seek out therapy before you’re facing the worst of your symptoms or in a moment of crisis. We talk about why she’s passionate about digital wellbeing, and her decision to found #HalftheStory, her nonprofit aimed at empowering young people’s relationship with technology. Finally, we talk about how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted people’s digital wellbeing, and what realizations of her own she’s had during this time.
“The story I was sharing was so different from the one I was living.”
Here are some of the things Larz and I chatted about:
The periods of anxiety and despair she felt at 16, and what that time of her life was like
How, as she struggled with her mental health in college, it was both visible and invisible
Beginning to understand, in college, that anxiety and depression wouldn’t just go away
How, when it comes to therapy, it’s challenging to get help when you need it the most
Her reality check about how technology impacted her life, and how it made her feel less than
Talking with people around the world about how tech affected them, and what she learned
How #HalftheStory teaches young people to create healthy relationships with technology
What it means to have healthy boundaries around technology right now, during Covid-19
How she measures the success of her mission, both in the short-term and the long-term
Why it’s not all about trying to reduce screen time, it’s about emotional well-being on the whole
Her recent move to a ranch in Northern California, and why she decided to leave NYC
Realizing, after the Global Day of Unplugging, that she needed to write a new story for herself
Her current relationship with technology, and how it’s helped her find an authentic voice
Her decision to opt out of video meetings unless they’re for fundraising or something important
The best way to have a conversation that helps someone struggling with their mental health
How to support people in crisis, which is something that many don’t know how to navigate
What’s next for #HalftheStory, and how youth lobbyist groups play into her vision of the future
“Our society just needs to get better at taking care of ourselves. And that means our bodies and our minds and our relationships.”
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