By Jessica Wedemeyer
7:43am PST, Nov 27, 2018
Now that Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, it's time for arguably the most important day of the holiday season: Giving Tuesday. Wonderwall.com caught up with Sophia Bush as she promoted PayPal's initiative to boost the annual day of charitable giving (more on that later!) and got the scoop on the super-personal cause that's near to her heart this year, as well as her thoughts on the privilege and responsibility that come with celebrity and why it's important for her to use her platform for good. The "Chicago P.D." alum also revealed the holiday tradition she absolutely refuses to miss — even if work calls, which it will be this year as she shoots the CBS pilot "Surveillance." Keep reading for highlights from our chat, including how Sophia is handling the fear that comes with making her first foray into producing for television with the NSA drama, her goals for 2019 and more…
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Sophia Bush on Giving Tuesday:
"Let's be real here: We all know the holidays are very stressful. Giving Tuesday, to me, is the thing that really recalibrates us all. Holidays are about family and community — and the whole season revolves around giving. But where is our giving going? I started joking years ago with my friends, like, 'I don't need another sweater. I love you. I'm good. Let's figure out how we can take all of this love and turn it out into the world.' That's what Giving Tuesday is all about. It's a dedicated day of giving to charitable causes, and I think it's just such a profound idea to remind us really what this is all supposed to be for."
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Sophia Bush on teaming up with PayPal for Giving Tuesday:
"So much of the feedback I get from people who want to get more involved in advocacy is they say, 'Well, you're an advocate and you know where to send resources, time and money, but where do the rest of us start?' That's actually what excites me about this Giving Tuesday initiative that PayPal runs: They're really making it easy for everybody to get started and to figure out what causes are important to them. So if you log in to PayPal.com/giveback, they've aggregated all these incredible charities. You can search by type — whether that's animal rescue, education or cancer research — or location if you really want to make sure you're dedicating your giving in your community or another community that you've seen that's affected that you want to support. When you log on to PayPal.com/giveback on Giving Tuesday and make a donation, they match 100 percent of donations up to half a million dollars — which means we stand to raise a million dollars in just a day. Then the day after Giving Tuesday and all the way through the end of the year, they match one percent of donations. That's how in 2017, we raised 64 million dollars for charity with this Giving Tuesday initiative."
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Sophia Bush on the California wildfires and the cause that's most important to her this Giving Tuesday:
"Education advocacy and the environment are always the two things that are of paramount importance to me — the environment in particular this year given what's happening in my home state with these horrific fires in southern and northern California. All of my advocating and all of my donating this year is revolving around the United Way of Ventura County. They're working around the state right now doing the most incredible work supporting first responders and supporting displaced communities. That just feels like the most important thing that I can do right now for my neighbors — whether they're in close proximity or halfway up the state line."
Sophia Bush on her responsibility and privilege as a celebrity to create awareness for various causes:
"I'm lucky that I grew up in a household that really supported my community service love as a child, so all throughout growing up and throughout high school, my family really encouraged the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of community service that I was doing, and I learned really early because of that support that real, meaningful giving is the most rewarding experience of my life. … My career comes with a platform. How could I have a megaphone and not be advocating with it? I wouldn't know how else to do it. I don't judge other people — to each their own. But for me, I can't imagine being a person who has the privilege of sitting on the morning news and not talking about how to make the world a better place with that privilege."
Sophia Bush on the holiday tradition she refuses to miss:
"My schedule is not my own when I'm working, so I never really know what's going to be happening. But years ago, my friends and I started a tradition called ThanksMoming. We throw a big friends and family holiday party before holiday season really gets into swing — it's like a kickoff to the end of the year. We get everybody in one room. It's fun when you reach a point in your life when your friends and your parents all become friends, so that's been very special — all my best friends' parents and my parents are all friends now. It's very, very sweet. So that's the thing that I care most about and that I refuse to miss — even if I end up missing Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever, that is the one night that I don't miss because it's really ours."
Sophia Bush on how she's spending the holidays differently this year:
"This year I will be away because I'm filming the pilot for the new show ['Surveillance'] that I've been developing this year. We're deep in preproduction and about to get started on filming. We're nose to the grindstone but in the best way possible. … It doesn't feel like work. It's truly the best job I've ever had so far. I'm very excited about it."
Sophia Bush on her new CBS show, the NSA drama "Surveillance," and what sets it apart for her:
"First and foremost, the amount of ownership and investment. I helped to redevelop this show from a pilot script, so I've been involved in every page and every word and stepping into the role as a producer for the first time. Myself and the other producers and the director have been casting this show — I've been reading with all of these actors and putting together the most phenomenal cast of characters. I go to work and I look around the room and I can't believe that this is my life. It's very, very exciting."
Sophia Bush on overcoming fear and making her first foray as a producer:
"There always is [some fear], certainly. But I don't think that you can let fear drive the car. If you think about your life like a minivan, you gotta put fear in the back. There's no way you can get rid of it. You can't leave it on the side of the road. But you can't let it control the vehicle. For me, the level of investment and curiosity fulfilment — and the script is so smart and the pacing is amazing — it just really feels special. That's all very exciting for me. So there's always a little bit of intimidation that never goes away no matter what you achieve or what you do or how much success you have. But I do think that when you feel ultimately fulfilled by something, the energy around it changes and the energy on this one is really good."
Sophia Bush on her goals for 2019:
"I don't set resolutions because they're just sort of set up for failure, but something I think is really powerful is to sit down and think about what your intentions are for the coming year: How do you want your year to feel? How do you want your friendships to feel? How much time do you want with your family? What are your goals for work? I think just spending a little time ruminating on those things can be energetically very powerful, so that's what I'm willing to do. But, no, I'm not going to make a resolution. I'll break it in a day. I'll be like, 'No more fried chicken!' and then it's the next meal that I eat. So I'm not gonna do that."
