When she received an email asking if she wanted to join Lady Gaga and numerous other sexual assault survivors on stage for a performance at the Oscars, Julie Smolyansky said she only had to think about it for “one second” before replying with a yes.
Smolyansky, CEO of Morton Grove-based Lifeway Foods, and an executive producer for the documentary, “The Hunting Ground,” said her experience at the Oscars “was probably one of the most powerful things I’ve ever done in my life after having kids.”
Lady Gaga performed the song she co-wrote with Diane Warren, “Til it Happens to You,” for the documentary film about sexual assault on college campuses. It was nominated for best original song but was passed over for the award.
Smolyansky said she’s worked as an advocate for victims of sexual assault and rape since she was a teenager.
“I am a survivor [of sexual assault] myself – that’s how I ended up on that stage,” she said. “Everyone on that stage had to be a survivor.”
Smolyansky, who at age 27 was reported as the youngest CEO of a publicly traded firm when she took over the Morton Grove company her father founded, said she hooked up with “The Hunting Ground” producer Amy Zeiring during a panel where both spoke about the importance of women in positions of leadership and power.
Smolyansky said Ziering’s film, “The Invisible War” – an Oscar-nominated documentary about sexual assaults in the military – had a powerful impact on her.
“I mentioned that this issue is not unique to the military,” she said. “It is an issue all throughout the world, really globally, from churches to college campuses, to high school campuses, offices and all sorts of places.”
Smolyansky, who served as an associate producer of the “The Home Stretch,” a documentary that follows three homeless teens struggling to stay in school, signed on as an executive producer for “The Hunting Ground,” which was written by Kirby Dick and produced by Ziering.
Being a part of the creation of the documentary was an opportunity for Smolyansky to help tell survivors’ stories, elevate the issue of sexual assault on college campuses and “give everyday advocates and people who care about these issues in our world tools to have conversations around.”
As a female CEO, Smolyansky acknowledges that she’s “a sort of rare anomaly” and feels a deep responsibility to use her voice to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the health and safety of women and girls.
She said Lady Gaga’s support for the cause is “really, really important.”
More Top Picks Bose Soundlink Micro
“Having her voice connected to this movement gives survivors a sense of strength and unity,” Smolyansky said.
Her own advocacy work stems back to her time at Niles North High School, Smolyansky said, where she helped craft curriculum around dating violence in the Chicago area, volunteered at a shelter for women and children in Evanston and in college became a certified rape crisis counselor.
Advocacy work continues to be a significant part of Smolyansky’s life. In addition to helming her dairy business, she also serves on the Chicago board of Rape Victim Advocates and co-founded the nonprofit Test400k, an organization that raises awareness of and advocates for the testing of an estimated 400,000 untested rape kits across the U.S.
The statistic cited in “The Hunting Ground” – that one in five women in college are sexually assaulted – motivates Smolyansky to continue to use her voice and her resources as a woman in a position of power to create awareness about the issue and keep it at the forefront of public consciousness, she said.
“My number one mission is to end violence and if it’s not talked about, if light is not being shone on it, the statistics will never change,” Smolyansky said.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.