On September 22, 2020, “Channel Kindness,” a compilation of fifty-one stories of acts of kindness, bravery, and resilience from people all around the world, released and it spoke broadly to a young audience. Stories were collected by the Born This Way Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta. It’s main goal was to spread kindness and optimism throughout the world, in effort to break the stigma surrounding mental health.

The purpose of the book is to raise awareness of people being kind and compassionate in their daily lives. “Channel Kindness shines a light on the everyday stories of compassion, resilience, and bravery that inspire our work at Born This Way Foundation,” Co-Founder and President Cynthia Germanotta said in an interview with Opera. 

The book has been well-received, liked by 100% of Google users who rated the book on Google and receiving a score of 4.1/5 on Goodreads and 3/5 on Common Sense Media. In her review, Common Sense Media’s Mandel Caroll said “This heartfelt collection of stories, an outgrowth of the Channel Kindness website, aims to promote compassion and positivity in our world, where negativity often gets the limelight.”

On their website, the organization describes the book as “a collection of inspirational stories written by young people as well as personal notes of empowerment from Born This Way Foundation co-founder Lady Gaga. Within these pages, you’ll meet young changemakers who found their inner strength, prevailed in the face of bullies, started their own social movements, and decided to break through the mental health stigma.” The organization goes on to describe the young authors of the book in more depth, saying that in the book, the writers “share how they felt, created safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, and embraced kindness with every fiber of their being by helping others without the expectation of anything in return.”

The organization  describes the authors as “a diverse group of young changemakers […] contributors to Born This Way Foundation’s Channel Kindness program, which seeks to uplift youth voices by providing a storytelling platform for first-person accounts of everyday acts of bravery and kindness.” They add that “Through the years, we’ve collected stories of kindness, bravery, and resilience from young people all over the world, proving that kindness truly is the universal language. And now, we invite you to read these stories and follow along as each and every young author shares their powerful story just as Lady Gaga has shared hers.”

 Cynthia Germanotta also had many kind words to say about the young authors who contributed to this book.

“My daughter and I are so proud of every single young author who helped bring this book to life as their stories show the world what we already know to be true—kindness is transformational, and its effects are never ending. Our book, Channel Kindness, is filled with hope, covered with love, and serves as an inspiration for readers of all ages around the world to be kind and do good,” Germanotta said in an interview with Opera