At 25 years old, Jennifer Lawrence may be an Oscar-winning actress, billion-dollar franchise front woman, and reigning American sweetheart. But for several North Oldham Middle and High School students living in Lawrence’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, the Hunger Games star is so much more. She’s a relatable career inspiration, a delightful ambassador for the city, and an example of a Louisville girl who was able to achieve all of her wildest dreams before the age of 30.
So when Zoe Kuhn realized that her town had failed to officially celebrate its most famous native—as she lights up movie screens around the globe and uses her perch as the highest-paid actress in the world to do good for the less fortunate—the then pre-teen decided to do something about it.
With a group of friends, Kuhn formed “Lawrence’s Ladies” and went about raising the $10,000 necessary to install a 30′ by 40′ banner of Lawrence on the city’s Kentucky Center on Saturday, along with Louisville’s other hometown heroes like Muhammad Ali, Diane Sawyer, and Colonel Sanders—an endeavor that took over a year and culminated with the banner’s unveiling this past weekend. In celebration of the feat, we reached out to Kuhn via e-mail to find out about the world’s biggest J.Law fans, inquire about joining the “Lawrence’s Ladies” gang ourselves, and see if they’ve personally heard from Lawrence.
Vanity Fair: When did you first learn of Lawrence’s acting work?
Zoe Kuhn: I first learned about her acting after I read The Hunger Games in 4th and 5th grade and I went to her family’s camp (Camp Hi-Ho) when I was about 10 years old and All of the animals in their puppy barn are named after characters from the Hunger Games. When my parents decided that I was old enough to watch The Hunger Games, I saw it on a family vacation in Rosemary Beach, Florida, when I was 11 years old and was completely in awe of her acting skills.
How did you rally your friends to join the cause?
After getting ideas from Mike Sheehy and my dad, Scott Kuhn, on how to proceed with the fundraiser, I group texted and e-mailed my friends, explaining what I wanted to do and why. After weeks of planning around everyone’s busy schedules, we finally had a meeting at my house to decide on a name, plan social media, decide on some fundraising activities and find out what we use to track our money (GoFundMe) .
Who came up with the name Lawrence’s Ladies? (What a great name!) Did you consider any other names? How many people are in Lawrence’s Ladies?
During that first meeting, we spent about an hour coming up with the perfect name. We do not want to use the name “J.Law” because it has been used by many media. We wanted something that sounded interesting so we could do things with it. We started thinking along the lines of “Jennifer’s Louisville” or “Lawrence’s Louisville” and I came up with the name “Lawrence’s Ladies.” We decided on it because we liked the alliteration and how it related to Jennifer’s name on the poster which was Louisville. There were seven of us in total.
What does being Lady of Lawrence entail? Do you guys do anything else besides setting up a GoFundMe page for the banner? (For example, watch her movies together, make some t-shirts for the club, etc.?)
We meet at my house about once a month to bake for bake sales and work on our social media accounts. We also watched Catching Fire together and all had Catching Fire t-shirts.
How much money did you end up raising in total? Do you raise money any other way besides the GoFundMe page?
I think it was shared in the media that the cost of producing and installing the banner was about $10,000. Once the effort begins, donations will go to the GoFundMe account we have set up or directly to the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation. We promised from the beginning that any excess funds would be donated to Jennifer’s charity. To date, we have been able to donate nearly $900 to the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation.
How can people around the world join Lawrence’s Ladies?
We initially formed the team for the sole purpose of installing this banner so there were no fees or long-term agendas because we had already achieved our goal. If people want, they can join us by following us on Twitter (@LawrencesLadies) and Instagram (@LawrencesLadies) and continue to support Jennifer.
Have you heard directly from Jennifer Lawrence? If not, can you explain what you hope she thinks of your efforts?
We received a quote from Jennifer about how excited she was to be among the other famous posters. We hope [she] will see how much effort and dedication we put into this project to make it a reality and feel that her hometown is that much more loved. We haven’t had any direct contact with her yet but we look forward to the opportunity to meet her someday so we can get to know her and tell her in person What a role model he is for us and others in our community. generation.
What is it about Jennifer or her performance that speaks to you? Do you want to become an actress?
I really want to become an actress. I have loved acting since I was six. People always suggest me because I’ve always been extremely dramatic and love to be the center of attention. Acting seems to be the best way to express all these interests. I think it would be incredible if one day I could be half as successful in acting as Jennifer Lawrence but otherwise I hope to become a writer and editor. I love Jennifer’s acting because she can be funny in real life and then play a serious role in the movie. She is one of the best actresses because she really gets into her character and makes you believe that she truly has the most sought after acting skills of an actress. or actors can get.
How old are you now? Did your parents or any adults help you in this endeavor?
I’m 13 years old now. My dad and Mike Sheehy, the head of the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation (aka the guys who made it happen) were my main help. My mom and grandparents were there along the way to help the fundraisers and keep me motivated when it felt like an impossible task. We also received support from the families of all the Ladies of Lawrence because they were (a) willing to let the girls come and put in the time and effort for this and (b) share the sites surrounding society and spread news about it by word of mouth.
Were you there this weekend when the banner went up? How did you celebrate?
I actually had field hockey practice in the morning. Then I went to breakfast with one of my Ladies to celebrate our success (and National Pancake Day). My family also went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant (California Pizza Kitchen) to celebrate on Sunday night! But I saw it and I can’t believe I can say I had a role in making it happen.
