Jackson Woman Wants 500 People To Dress Up As Butterflies To Set A World Record

Growing up, M. Teresa Lawrence had a plan to write children’s books. 

But like so many children growing up, it didn’t take long for her to realize that this kind of artistic pursuit wasn’t her parents’ idea of a good game plan for life. 

Writing children’s books is hard, after all, when it comes to making enough money from it to pay the bills. Top publishers say they receive thousands of manuscript submissions a year, something they call a “slush” pile, which they’ll also tell you has very few pearls worth a deep dive.

So Lawrence went with a different life plan, one her parents felt good about. She went into the legal profession and became an attorney.

There, she couldn’t help but notice that a good story makes the most powerful arguments in a courtroom. 

“Whoever tells the best story wins,” she said. “Whoever can get that jury to believe their story is going to win the trial.”

If there was one thing Lawrence was good at, it was crafting a good story.

As the years went by, Lawrence had a great career, and a family who loved and was proud of her. That’s the American dream, right?

Then the COVID-19 pandemic came along and everything changed. 

“I was pretty devastated with the number of people who died in my family,” she said. “And I knew I wasn’t living my authentic life. So, I started taking leadership courses. Tons of them, like real leadership courses. The kind that break you down and then build you back up — stuff you read about the military doing.”

Her dreams would no longer be denied — she was determined. So, when she was asked what she really wanted to do with her life, three things came out. 

She wanted to write a children’s book. She wanted to start a nonprofit. And she wanted to set a Guinness World Record. 

“What kind of world record?” she was asked. 

“Since I was obsessed with butterflies, I said I would go for the largest number of people dressed as butterflies (in one place) in history,” she said. “And I imagined it as a worldwide event. People can do it virtually.

“You know how at Christmas there’s a Santa cam that follows Santa around the world? Well, I imagined that people would follow the flutter around the world.”

A World Without Borders

These three dreams have led Lawrence on some pretty interesting journeys, but it’s the butterfly one that turns the most heads, and it’s the one she relishes the most. 

She even dresses up in a butterfly costume quite often, even traveling in it. 

“It’s as if there are no borders,” she said. “There are no boundaries there.”

The freedom and the fun are worth it, but it’s also a conversation starter like no other. 

“People are like, ‘Why are you doing this?’” she said. “And I say, ‘We’re going for a world record to promote peace.”

Lawrence’s record-setting event will be June 28 at Davy Jackson Soccer Field in front of the local elementary school.

Lawrence will have 500 sets of butterfly wings on hand for guests at the event. For the record to count though, people also must come dressed in long sleeves and long pants in matching colors.

“So, I have to convince Jackson residents to show up in long underwear,” she said.

This will be Lawrence’s second attempt at setting a world record, which according to Guinness World Records, is 367 people dressed as butterflies. 

“Last year, we had 150 in Jackson,” she said. “Around the world, we had 3,000 people, which was phenomenal. But for the record, it’s the physical flutter (in Jackson) that counts.”

The event will include music and a dance floor, as well as a butterfly release by Riverbottom Butterflies. There will be light snacks and water on hand as well for the event, which begins at 10 a.m. Costumes will be handed out starting around 9:30 a.m.

More Than A Record

Lawrence’s butterfly shtick also plays directly into the transformational leadership workshops that Lawrence does in Kenya and other places. 

That started as a result of the children’s book she wrote, which she called “Gloriousness.”

“I went to Kenya to give away my children’s book,” she said. “Because after those courses I said, ‘I’m going to live my dream. I wrote a children’s book, which was about the power of story. Because I’m an immigrant. I’m a Cuban immigrant, and my family is a displaced family.”

Her parents came to America with nothing at all, but through hard work were able to transform their lives.

“I know that the power of the mind is like the most powerful thing we have,” she said. “So I went to Kenya to give away my books because I thought that was like, my mission. I wanted to give away. My books to help those displaced children.”

But after her first talk, something happened not unlike what had happened to her in the transformational workshops. Someone asked her a question.

“They asked me what needed to be taught in the schools,” Lawrence recalled. “And I said without hesitation, ‘Leadership needs to be taught in the schools because you can have all the education in the world, but if you don’t know how to harness that education and use the power of your mind to move forward, you’re never going to do anything.”

After that answer, Lawrence started getting calls to provide leadership education. 

“Next thing you know, in Kenya, we’re over 18,000 kids,” she said. “In Nepal, over 2,000 children. And we use the butterfly to talk about feelings and about expressing feelings, and we use it with adults.”

Inner Truth And A Path To Peace

The adults, in some ways, get more out of the butterfly trick than the children.  

“Sometimes, it’s a diplomatic gift, and sometimes it’s a corporate setting, and I’m not dressed as a butterfly then,” she said. “But I say, ‘I have gifts for you all,’ and then I hand out the butterfly outfits. And there’s such laughter in the room. ‘Like, what are you doing?’”

Lawrence explains it to them, and then she has them all put on the outfits. No ifs, ands, or buts. 

“Because if one person does it, it’s weird, but if everybody does it, it’s empowering and fun,” she said. “And then there’s such laughter. Just laughter as everybody is like prancing around as a butterfly.”

That transformative moment is all part of the lesson.

“What you learn in transformational leadership is that it’s a process,” she said. “You’re always evolving. You’re always becoming a better version of yourself. And the butterfly is the symbol of all of that.”

In the case of the world butterfly record Lawrence hopes to set in Jackson, she hopes people will be just as transformed by that moment. 

“They’re going to remember the moment they dressed up as butterflies with complete strangers and danced and had fun and just enjoyed being in this world,” she said. “Last year, it was the most joyous, transformational experience. Everybody was so happy.”

That, she believes, is the way to make a better world.

“If you can just connect with who you really are, you become a happier person,” she said. “And like, for me, I didn’t want to go to law school, but I didn’t have the guts to tell my dad that.”

But, when she finally admitted that to herself and connected with who she really was deep inside herself, the inner peace was just as transformational as wearing a butterfly costume feels.

“So, it’s all about living authentically, and being who you are,” she said. “When you know your inner truth, you have inner peace, and that’s how you share it with the world. It’s a long way of saying that truth is the path to peace. If we find inner truth, we will be peaceful people, and we will have peace on this planet.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.