GAME CHANGERS
BY KEYDRA MANNS
On the small screen, Jen Lilley is known as the affable and quirky lead in some of your favorite made-for-TV holiday movies (Mingle All the Way, B&B Merry, and others). Off camera, she’s fighting for child welfare in the United States. When she learned that child abuse is reported every 10 seconds, and that 6% of U.S. children under 18 will enter the foster care system at some point, she wanted to help. “Adoption is important to me because of my faith,” Lilley says, recalling Bible verses that inspired her to get involved. In 2011 she became a mentor to kids in foster care, volunteering through the child abuse prevention nonprofit Childhelp, and in 2016 she and her husband started fostering a baby boy. They eventually adopted him and his little brother, now ages 7 and 5. She has also lobbied Congress about the importance of avoiding premature reunification (when a child is placed back home too quickly) and helped launch Christmas Is Not Cancelled, a fund-raising company that helps procure school supplies and holiday gifts for kids in need. Can’t foster or mentor? Lilley says anyone and everyone can help in their own way. “Whether you’re a hairdresser or a mechanic, foster kids and their families need your services,” says Lilley, who uses careportal.org to connect with local families. “Do small things with great love—that’s how you change the world.”
It was that time of year again for Nina Parker. The Emmy-nominated TV host and journalist was covering the red carpet for E! and needed to find a dress, which, as any plus-size woman knows, is no small challenge given the limited range on most racks. For Parker, the struggle had been a constant throughout her career. “We reached out to a couple of major designers who had dressed plus-size women before, but we just didn’t hear back,” she says. So she teamed up with a stylist and dressmaker to design her own gown. On Oscar night, Parker tweeted a photo of herself wearing a stunning midnight blue ballgown, captioned “I’ll create a lane of my own. You CAN have couture AND curves!” It went viral, and a year later, she started collaborating with Macy’s on her eponymous line. “We all want to look good and feel good in our clothes,” Parker says. “Some days I want to be girly, and some days I want a casual look. It’s shocking how you can’t even fi nd the right joggers or T-shirt.” Now Parker creates the clothes she always wanted to buy: bodysuits, jeans, colorful work sets, and more. Unlike brands that simply make scaled-up versions of standard sizes (often with unflattering results), Parker designs for fuller bodies. “Our models have rolls in the back and the front. They have belly and hip dips,” she says. “I want somebody who puts on one of my pieces to know I made it for them.”
COURTESY OF FOSTER LOV E /JEN LILLEY; COURTESY OF NINA PARKER