Disney’s Selena Gomez: “Your Voice Is The Most Powerful Tool”

“A big deal in my family is that we’ve always learned about giving back. My mom always wanted me to know that even though we weren’t as fortunate as we are now that giving back was always very important. As much as you could do really meant a lot. So now that I have this platform that I’m able to have my voice be heard, I still have that same mentality, but I’m able to share that and educate my fans and encourage my fans to help as well. It’s all about the simple things. Your voice is the most powerful tool you have so being able to spread the word about organizations and wanting to get involved. It’s all about going online and trying to find places around your community, just about the lesson, I think.” — Selena Gomez tells Samaritanmag.com

Seventeen-year-old Gomez is UNICEF’s youngest ambassador and traveled in September 2009 to Ghana to see first-hand how many of the country’s children lack the necessities we all take for granted — clean water, nutritious food, education and healthcare. Best known for her role as Alex Russo on Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place, Gomez is currently promoting her debut album, Kiss & Tell. She has 3.3 million Facebook fans (second only to Lady Gaga in the top 40 pop world) and more than 1.4 million Twitter followers. That’s a lot of fans to teach about giving back.