Sophie Simmons is a busy woman yet prefers the laid-back west coast to the hustle and bustle of New York. “I lived in New York for a minute and I just always felt like I was late or behind.” That admission doesn’t sound like the work of a go-getter but for this daughter of rock ‘n roll royalty—her father is KISS founder Gene Simmons and actress Shannon Tweed—a slow-paced life is not in the lyrics for the singer/activist. In addition to her budding musical career with the debut of her first single, “Black Mirror,” back in February, it’s Sophie’s social causes regarding positive body image and child advocacy that are making this star shine as an activist for the millennial generation.
With over 500,000 Twitter followers, the girl’s got reach. Sophie has focused her attention to re-defining beauty as the host of Refinery 29’s Body Image School digital series and as the face of Adore Me’s “all women campaign,” designed to show women how lingerie looks on all sizes of women. On her Refinery 29 digital series, Sophie talks about every day photos on social media and how they can play into a negative sense of body image. It’s is a powerful and uplifting tool to teach millennial girls the byproducts of body shaming in the age of instagram and other other digital platforms.
Sophie also runs a child abuse advocacy center called Sophie’s Place in Vancouver, Canada. “It’s really important that kids can have a place to go where they can be taken seriously, and where they can express what’s happened to them in a safe environment,” says Sophie.
“I work very strongly, very closely with child advocacy and that’s something that’s very close to my heart and I have made a difference there where I can. But also when you see people of influence supporting a hundred different charities. It’s not that it’s bad, but it kind of dilutes the impact. I think Leonardo Dicaprio does an amazing job of being very impactful with one message really strongly.
“I’ve wanted to be an artist and songwriter for most of my life and avoid it because I didn’t want to go into the line of work that my parents were in, you know? I didn’t want that comparison, I wanted to be my own person first and I think I accomplished that and now I can go back to music and I have. Be myself and my art.”
Politically speaking, Sophie feels it’s not her place to share what she thinks on certain topics “because I’m not an expert. If people want my opinion on music I think I’m more qualified than maybe some people. But when it comes to politics or religion or you world issues, I am not an expert and so I think sharing my opinion most of the time would a detriment. I mean even something as simple tweeting ‘I don’t like an app’ we saw this with Kylie Jenner and Snapchat stock plummeted.” But Sophie does however says topics like voting or the country’s trillions in debt are not major concerns for millennials because the biggest millennial problem is mass shootings. “That’s what we’re dealing with. We’re not thinking about national debt we’re thinking about how can we be safe. That’s our biggest worry at the moment.
“I think that can only benefit us as a whole if the citizens in the country live in all take more of a mental responsibility and intellectual responsibility to better their communities. I see myself as a citizen of this country and also Canada, and I do my best to contribute to it whether it’s donating to causes that I believe in or starting Sophie’s Place. Some sort of philanthropy that I believe in. I think that changing the minds of naysayers is not going to be done by a tweet of an artist. It’s going to be done by seeing it for themselves. It’s unfortunate that it’s going to take that, but that’s what it takes for people to be personally impacted by something to change their view on it.”
