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News and insights from a movement rethinking health together.

How Big Movements Begin

by Sherry Syence

Sherry Photo - Circle Frame.png

Every major movement — and every major brand — began as an idea.


Amazon began in a garage. Google grew out of a grad-school experiment. TED started as a small gathering of innovators. The Environmental Working Group launched with a two-person team determined to bring health and safety issues into the spotlight.

 

Each began as a seed — and grew because people believed in a vision and nurtured it into reality.

 

Rethinking Health began with a belief that we can change our nation’s health by changing the stories that shape it — stories that influence our choices, our culture and, ultimately, our outcomes.

 

Every year, corporate conglomerates spend billions shaping our beliefs about what “healthy” means — and who benefits. The result? A population drowning in marketing messages but starved for truth.

 

Research suggests that about half of all children and more than three-quarters of adults now live with at least one chronic condition. This isn’t just a lifestyle crisis — it’s a narrative crisis shaped by messaging that influences our choices long before we ever make them.

 

We’re here to change that narrative.

 

Rethinking Health is a new 501(c)(3) media-driven nonprofit using storytelling, culture-shifting campaigns, and community action to help Americans reclaim the story of health. When culture shifts, systems follow. And when systems shift, people thrive.

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Why Stories Matter More Than Data Alone

 

America doesn’t have a lack of information. We have:

  • More research than ever.

  • More experts than ever.

  • More health content than any generation before us — podcasts, videos, articles, blogs, Substacks, PSAs, ads, and more — alongside an explosion of medical advice, prescriptions, and treatment plans.

 

Yet outcomes are worsening.

 

Why? Because the stories people hear — every day, on every screen, at every turn — are shaped by industries that profit when people stay confused and tied to the products they’ve been conditioned to rely on. This is on top of information that's often conflicting and doesn't always get to the root.

 

Here’s what people are told:

  • Health comes in a pill bottle.

  • Food is entertainment, not nourishment.

  • Symptoms are something to suppress — not signals to understand

  • Fast solutions are better than slow transformation.
     

We don’t suffer from a lack of information. We suffer from a messaging system engineered to drive sales — not support health.
 

Rethinking Health is on a mission to shift that system. Not by preaching, shaming, or insisting we have “the” answer. But by introducing messages that invite curiosity and empower people to make informed choices.


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Imagine going to a ballgame or concert and seeing messages that inspire and empower people to take charge of their health — not just ads for snack food, soda, and alcohol.


Imagine national campaigns that help people see their best shot at real wellness isn’t in the prescription pills being marketed to them — but in knowledge, connection, community, and daily habits.


Imagine neighborhoods inundated with fast-food chains and ads for ultra-processed foods having access to nourishing, affordable food — and community-driven programs that make cooking and culture part of the solution to getting healthy. 


These aren’t hypotheticals — they’re part of the blueprint we're building.

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From bus shelters and billboards to print publications and social feeds, Rethinking Health will be there — sparking new conversations about what’s possible.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Why a Media-Based Nonprofit?


Most health nonprofits fund programs, research, advocacy, or direct services. All important work.


But very few exist to change the cultural stories that drive demand in the first place.


If we shift:

  • what people believe is possible

  • what they see modeled in public spaces

  • what ideas are normalized in media


Then behaviors, systems, and markets will follow.


That’s how Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Chem built influence. And it’s exactly how we’ll begin to build something different.


What We’re Building Next

We’re a small team with ambitious plans. Over the next year, we’re working to accomplish big things:

  • Launch our first national media campaigns.

  • Grow our website into a hub of practical, real-world health resources.

  • Bring community-based programs to families where they live and gather.

  • Collaborate with partners across the country who share this mission.


These first steps are laying the groundwork for a national movement that can reshape how millions think about and approach health.

 

A Movement Needs People, Not Just Ideas
 

Movements don’t grow because someone has a vision. They grow because others share it, support it, and move it forward together.
 

If our mission resonates with you, we need you to get involved:
 

  • Let others know about Rethinking Health.

  • Volunteer or collaborate on future programs. (Interested? Email info@rethinking.health.)

  • Become a Founding Funder. We’re on a mission to raise $100,000 by December 31 to launch our first national campaigns and place powerful messaging where millions can see it. To donate, visit www.Rethinking.Health/Donate.
     

Together, we can reclaim the story of health in America — one message, one story, one community at a time.

Sherry Syence is an award-winning writer, communications strategist, health activist, semi-professional baker, and mother of teenage twins. After a career spanning journalism, marketing, and advertising, she launched Rethinking Health in 2025 to challenge the narratives shaping America’s wellbeing. A DC native now living in Western North Carolina, she is passionate about advocacy work that empowers children, families, and communities.

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