International Bullying Prevention Conference
 


Title
Founder
Company
Sit With Us, Inc.
Bio
Sixteen year old Natalie Hampton is a Los Angeles high school junior, anti-bullying activist, app developer, and the founder of Sit With Us, Inc. Natalie was severely bullied in middle school, and was forced to eat lunch alone nearly every day. After she switched schools, and quickly fell in with a great friend group, she would invite anyone who was eating alone to join her lunch table. Those people became not only her friends, but friends with everyone in the group, and were invited to social gatherings. She saw that one simple act of kindness made a big difference in their lives. This inspired her to create the Sit With Us mobile app, which serves as a free lunch planning tool for middle and high school kids so that no one has to eat lunch alone. Kids can use the app’s features to coordinate lunches with their friends. They can also volunteer to be Sit With Us Ambassadors for their schools and post open lunch events on campus so that anyone looking for a table to join can find one. The app has been featured by Apple under “New Apps We Love” in the App Store, has been downloaded by 85,000+ people in seven countries worldwide, and has garnered the attention and acclaim of international media and press. Natalie has spoken at conferences such as “Girls Can Do” (Washington D.C.) and Renaissance Weekend (Charleston), and also spreads her message to schools by visiting in person, or connecting via Skype. In 2017, she will be an invited speaker at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Just Peace Summit, Say No to Bullying’s annual conference, and a TEDx event. Natalie is also proud to be partnering with six prominent anti-bullying organizations, including Born This Way Foundation, PACER, and Champions Against Bullying. In addition to creating the Sit With Us app, Natalie volunteers extensively for her community. She is a counselor for United in Harmony, a non-profit organization that runs a sleep away camp for underprivileged and homeless kids, and she also tutors underprivileged kids at the Otis Booth campus of Children’s Institute International. Natalie is a member of several prestigious programs including Davidson Young Scholars, Profoundly Gifted Retreat, Johns Hopkins University’s Center For Talented Youth, as well as Mensa. Natalie has been actively involved in theater productions at her schools since 7th grade, and has studied acting and improv both in and outside of school. She loves photography, has taught herself how to play the piano and guitar, likes creative writing and has a passion for filmmaking. “I believe that real change starts with us - the students. I also believe that every school has upstanders like me who want to invite others to join the lunch table. Something as seemingly small as lunch can make huge strides in making a school more inclusive, and the kids much happier. Having been on both sides - the person who was excluded and the person who invites anyone sitting alone to join the lunch table - I know that my app can make a difference.”