Ugly is beautiful. That’s not just a saying — that’s a core tenet philanthropist and former broadcast journalist Angela Garcia has built her brand and charitable foundations around.
A seventh-generation Texan, UT Austin alumna, golfer, and mother of two young children, Angela is the founder of the UGLI Foundation (which stands for unique, gifted, loved, and individual). The foundation helps kids and communities stand up against bullying — which is dear to her, as she’s been a recipient of bullying.
Alongside her husband — professional golfer Sergio Garcia — she also founded The Sergio and Angela Garcia Foundation: a charity that raises funds for children’s health, wellness, and family support.
The pair is gearing up to host their third annual FORE Kids ATX fundraising event Friday Nov. 1-Saturday, Nov. 2. In the last two years, the charity event has raised more than $5 million to support local causes.
We chatted with Angela to break down why those causes are important to her, and how Austinites can get involved.
How long have you lived in Austin?
“I grew up in Marble Falls, so just outside of Austin, I graduated from our Marble Falls High School. I got a golf scholarship to play first at Texas Christian University, and then I transferred to the University of Texas. My father was an all-American quarterback at the University of Texas, so I was trying to be a little different from him and try out another school. I ended up at Texas in the end, and absolutely loved it. I got my degree in broadcast journalism there, and I was fortunate enough to work at FOX 7 when I was in college, got to be on air at FOX 7, and then had an internship at ESPN, which taught me so much.”
What does the UGLI Foundation do?
“Over 80% of kids have reported that they have been bullied online. The numbers are pretty staggering. Statistics show that when kids are bullied at school, their grades drop. They’re afraid to go to school. They’re afraid to even go to the bathroom. In The UGLI Foundation, the biggest program that we’re working on right now are our UGLI clubs. We’re in 35 schools right now, and in those 35 schools (including Austin ISD), we have the potential to reach 17,000 kids. This is our inaugural semester of that.
(With our) partnership with Lightspeed Systems, which is a wonderful company that has technology that can detect harmful words in text messages and emails, schools implement that into their system and their Wi-Fi network. Our clubs give a $2,000 grant to the school, and then we also give them the roadmap (which suggests what to) do with the club. We have social gatherings, you take our pledge to be kind, make sure you’re doing nothing but spreading kindness, be an ‘upstander’ if you see bullying, ... and help them find a trusted adult.”
What about The Sergio and Angela Garcia Foundation?
“Before we officially founded the UGLI Foundation, we founded the Sergio and Angela Garcia Foundation back in 2017. We are so proud of everything that we’ve done just in two years of our FORE Kids ATX fundraiser in Austin, thanks to all the amazing and generous people in our community. Together, we’ve raised over $5 million, which is pretty incredible in just two years.
The money that we raise actually goes to our four beneficiaries: Dell Children’s Medical, Foster Village, the youth golf programs at Lions Municipal Golf Course, ... and the UGLI Foundation. We’re extremely passionate about each one of those organizations. The reason that Sergio and I chose to support four existing organizations is we saw the good that they were doing already, and we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. In the future, we hope to be able to give money to even more wonderful nonprofits that are also doing great work.”
How have you been impacted by bullying?
“I was really blessed growing up. I was an athlete, but also was in the band and AP classes, and loved theater, and so I was just friends with everyone, people in all different groups. I didn’t really experience bullying (then), but I saw people bullied when I was younger — when I was in high school and junior high — I always tried to be that person that stood up for them.
When I became an on-air broadcaster, I really started to experience bullying, and I would especially see it on social media. I ended up meeting my amazing husband, who is a professional athlete, and I saw him experiencing the same thing. That’s when I really started thinking about what can I do to change the way that we’re treating each other. I started brainstorming and I came up with the UGLI Foundation.”
How did experiencing online bullying impact your mental state?
“I think some people don’t realize that for young people, bullying has changed so much. When I was young, if someone was going to tease me or bully me, it might happen at school or on the bus or at practice, and then I could go home and get away from it. Now kids can never get away from it. It happens at school, it happens in the bathroom, it happens on the school bus, then they go home and they’re being bullied on Instagram and Snapchat and via text message.
In my specific experience, I started to see people online just comment on my appearance all the time, saying hurtful, hateful things. I would block their accounts, and then they would just create a new one, and I knew it was the same person, because it always had something similar in their handle and just some really, frankly, vulgar things said. Thankfully, I’m a mentally strong person. ... Not everyone is built that way. ... Sometimes when hurtful and harmful things are said to people, it sticks with them forever, for a lifetime.”
How can Austinites — kids and adults alike — get involved?
“If you are a kid or a parent and you want your school to sign up for one of our clubs — which we would love, we would love for everyone who reads this to let their school and their community know about what we’re doing — and ask their principals to sign up for it. There is an application process for the grant, but we want to give these grants out. We want to be over budget on this and help as many schools as possible.
Just since the start of school, I think 76 new ambassadors signed up, which is fantastic. Those people are just representatives of our foundation. In the school, we give them UGLI Foundation swag, bracelets, hats, T-Shirts. The goal is for them to spread our mission, which is to end bullying forever, to spread kindness, and to be a person that when they see bullying occur, they will be an upstander and they will help that person find that trusted adult.”
Ready to get involved? Application materials are available in both Spanish and English. Tickets to FORE Kids ATX are available here.