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In May 2020, Kenneth Cole founded The Mental Health Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to dismantling the stigma surrounding mental illness and providing tangible access to care for those in need. “Two thirds of [people] living with mental health struggles do so in the proverbial shadows because resources are rendered inaccessible, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Cole tells ELLE.com. “Our goal is to make it easier to talk about mental health and to find a vocabulary that people are able to access, and show it’s okay to be vulnerable.”
To kick off Mental Health Awareness Month this May, Cole, his wife, and MHC staged a benefit dinner hosted by Donna Karan and Andrew Rosen in New York City to help raise awareness for the cause. The event also spotlighted brand ambassador Rachel Platten, who performed her 2024 song “Bad Thoughts.” The singer first wrote the song in 2020 as a way to work through anxiety brought on, in part, by postpartum depression. Since then, performing the “Fight Song” follow-up anthem has been a cathartic part of the her healing process.
Cole and the Emmy award-winning singer initially connected when he invited her to perform for MHC’s Wellbeing at Work Day in December 2024. Platten described their first collaboration as inspirational. The two immediately connected over their passion for raising awareness about the pervasiveness of mental health struggles. Cole describes his initiatives as a natural extension of his brand, explaining, “It makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts when everybody here participates in something substantive like this.” Platten echoed this to ELLE.com: “He wants to end the stigma around mental health. When I actually stop and think about what [Cole and the MHC] are saying, it’s like a lifeline for someone in the dark feeling ashamed and alone.”
Now, the two have partnered for the second installment of Cole’s Purposeful Voices series. The campaign features Platten performing “Bad Thoughts,” dressed in full Kenneth Cole spring 2025. “Rachel is so wonderfully talented, and she gives a literal voice to this specific issue that’s been very personal to her, and at the same time, she gets to connect to the brand,” Cole said. From May 1-4, 100 percent of the proceeds from online sales will be donated to The Mental Health Coalition.
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