Founder field notes
How Project EDSA became a youth-led support network
Project EDSA (Eating Disorder Support and Awareness) is a youth-led nonprofit that embeds prevention, awareness, and peer support into schools through student-run chapters and campaigns like its 988 crisis-line bookmarks. Co-founder Michelle Ye on how it started, went viral, and rebuilt to last.
- 17,500
- 988 Lifeline bookmarks distributed
- 360K
- views on the breakthrough TikTok
- 50
- student volunteers across four teams today
What they run
Three initiatives carry the mission into schools
Project EDSA (Eating Disorder Support and Awareness) is a youth-led nonprofit that equips students to build prevention, awareness, and peer support where they learn. The work runs through three programs.
Chapters
Student-led school chapters
Students launch chapters that bring eating disorder awareness, education, and peer support into their own schools and universities, running as part of ANAD's School Ambassador Program.
988 Bookmarks
Crisis resources students can carry
Chapters hand out 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline bookmarks, small enough to keep in a backpack or a book, so support is always within reach. About 17,500 have gone out so far.
Resources
Free toolkits, presentations, and workshops
A free resource library, plus school presentations and workshops, gives students and educators evidence-based materials on body image, media literacy, and prevention.
What inspired you to create Project EDSA?
“I checked my own school's mental health website, but I only found resources for anxiety and depression and nothing for eating disorders. It felt like the struggles many girls were going through were invalid and invisible.”Michelle Ye
That gap became the thing Michelle wanted to build: support for eating disorders designed by students, for their own schools. She had struggled with body image since childhood, then volunteered with a local eating disorder nonprofit, became its social media lead, and joined a student advisory board.
On that board she met Diya Mankotia, who would become her co-founder. Diya had already tested the idea through a school club that distributed about 150 mental health kits and drew real student interest.
In May 2025 the two launched Project EDSA together with a sharper mission. Over that summer Michelle posted consistently across TikTok and Instagram, one video reached about 360,000 views, and the team grew quickly before pausing to rebuild around four volunteer teams.
Turn one working club into a system other students can use
The early team did not begin with a global blueprint. It began with proof that one school community would show up. The organization then translated that proof into chapters, campaigns, resources, and clearer volunteer roles.
School pilot
Prove the idea locally
May 2025
Build a sharper mission
Summer 2025
Post with consistency
The reset
Pause before scaling again
03. A campaign students could carry
17,500 bookmarks, each one a crisis lifeline in a student's hands
Why bookmarks, of everything a chapter could hand out?
“We used bookmarks because they are small, physical, and something students can easily bring in their backpacks or books.”Michelle Ye
Each bookmark carries the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number, so a student who is struggling can reach trained help in the moment they need it, without searching for a resource or asking anyone first. It lives in a backpack or a textbook and shows up on an ordinary day, which is exactly when support is hardest to look for.
Small as it is, the object does real work. It normalizes talking about eating disorders and mental health, and it makes sure the first step toward help is already within reach. Diya piloted the distribution in Texas and Michelle later coordinated partners and funding in the Bay Area. Together with chapters, they have handed out about 17,500 of them.
One viral post created momentum and exposed every weak system
Did you go viral quickly, and how did you turn a video into actual growth?
“Views do not really define us. I just had to keep being consistent with it. Once you have traction, it grows and it gets better.”Michelle Ye
For two months, Michelle posted on TikTok and Instagram several times a day. Most posts did not explode. Then one reached about 360,000 views.
The attention brought a wave of new volunteers and chapter leads. It also created an operational problem. A small executive team could not onboard, guide, and support everyone at the pace the audience expected.
05. The reset
The most important growth decision was to stop recruiting
Michelle asked the organization to step back. For a stretch, Project EDSA accepted no new volunteers or chapter leads. She used that time to study how successful nonprofits structure their people and recurring work.
“We did not really need hundreds of volunteers. We needed a system shaped around what our nonprofit actually needed.”
The result was a four-team model with about 50 students and seasonal or quarterly intake. Fewer people, clearer roles, and regular reevaluation made it easier to keep materials accurate and organized.
How Project EDSA partnered with a major national organization
How does a student project get a national organization to take it seriously?
“You earn it before you ask for it. We had hoped to run an awareness campaign with a major eating disorder nonprofit in early 2025, and even when that did not come together, the relationships we had already built carried straight into launching Project EDSA that May.”Michelle Ye
The lesson for other student founders is that a marquee partnership does not have to be signed to be useful. Project EDSA's early credibility came from working alongside an established national nonprofit, ANAD, rather than trying to compete with one.
Both founders volunteered and served on the organization's student advisory board, so the relationship existed long before any formal ask. The way to partner with a big organization is to show up as a volunteer, do real work, and let that standing speak for you.
Diya's original school club already ran through the organization's school ambassador program. After it donated about 150 mental health kits and drew strong student interest, it became, in effect, Project EDSA's first chapter. The relationships and the proof were enough to launch.
The work in motion
Chapters adapt one mission to many communities
Images courtesy of Project EDSA.
Learn the problem deeply, prove the idea locally, then ask directly
What advice would you give yourself before starting an organization?
“Become almost an expert on the topic you want to address. Research it deeply or get hands-on experience, like I did through volunteering.”Michelle Ye
One highly specific tactic, not the usual advice?
“When you want press or a partnership, never send a generic mass email. Find the one editor who already covers your topic, name the exact article of theirs you read, and pitch that person directly. Targeted outreach beats waiting to get nominated or noticed.”Michelle Ye
08. Build your version
A practical roadmap for turning one concern into school-based action
Built from Michelle's interview advice and Project EDSA's early sequence.
Learn
Become useful before becoming visible
- Study the problem beyond surface-level facts
- Volunteer or gain hands-on experience
- Identify the exact gap at your school
Pilot
Start with one local proof point
- Ask a counselor or teacher for support
- Run one narrow activity
- Record what students actually use
Systemize
Build the foundation for a team
- Define a small number of clear roles
- Create reusable guides and materials
- Choose an intake rhythm you can support
Reach out
Ask specific people for specific help
- Contact aligned local organizations
- Pitch editors who cover your topic
- Show the work that already exists
Take the next step
Start a chapter, join a volunteer cohort, or follow the next campaign.
Project EDSA shares current opportunities through its website and Instagram.
Explore opportunities