--- title: Melania Trump Launches 'Be Best' to Focus on Cyberbullying description: First Lady Melania Trump took a major step toward solidifying her legacy during the Trump Administration on Monday. canonical: https://time.com/5268266/be-best-first-lady-melania-trump-launches-official-white-house-project/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-07T19:44:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:12:04.430Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'Be Best': First Lady Melania Trump Launches Official White House Project og:description: She wants every child to know that it is "safe to make mistakes." og:url: https://time.com/5268266/be-best-first-lady-melania-trump-launches-official-white-house-project/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4b5dbcc5e56eec1/69892fa9fb4eac45338968bf/gettyimages-935194494.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Melania Trump Hosts Roundtable On Cyberbullying With Tech Industry Giants og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Be Best': First Lady Melania Trump Launches Official White House Project twitter:description: She wants every child to know that it is "safe to make mistakes." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4b5dbcc5e56eec1/69892fa9fb4eac45338968bf/gettyimages-935194494.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Be Best': First Lady Melania Trump Launches Official White House Project > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 7, 2018 7:44 PM UTC  Melania Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC March 20, 2018\. Melania Trump says she'll announce her initiatives as first lady on Monday. Melania Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC March 20, 2018\. Melania Trump says she'll announce her initiatives as first lady on Monday. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 7, 2018 7:44 PM UTC First Lady [Melania Trump](http://time.com/5268088/melania-trump-poll-approval-favorable/) took a major step toward solidifying her legacy during the Trump Administration on Monday. During an appearance in the Rose Garden, Trump officially launched the [multifaceted. child-focused initiative](http://time.com/5267417/melania-trump-first-lady-agenda-children/) she will champion from the White House. Her new awareness campaign, called “Be Best,” is dedicated to children’s well-being, cyberbullying and opioid abuse. According to the White House, through the initiative the First Lady will promote existing programs that are already working to “overcome the issues they face growing up.” As a mother and First Lady, Trump said she wants every child to know that it is “safe to make mistakes and there are supportive adults and friends nearby to catch them” if they fall. The initiative appears to focus primarily on helping kids build a strong foundation for the future, harnessing tools that can help them develop emotionally and socially so they can use be nice to themselves and others and make a positive use of social media. The First Lady first announced that she was interested in using her perch in the East Wing to combat cyberbullying on the campaign trail, a decision that many called hypocritical given her husband’s own social media habits and penchant for dishing out low blows. The First Lady responded to that criticism during an appearance with tech leaders in March. “I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing the topic,” [she said at the time](http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bc-us--melania-trump-20180320-story.html). “I have been criticized for my commitment to tackling this issue and I know that will continue, but it will not stop me from doing what I know is right. I am here with one goal: helping children and our next generation.” Her travels as First Lady seem to have also influenced her White House focus. Though she has been somewhat reclusive during her time at the White House, the First Lady has visited hospitals across the globe and visited with families impacted by the opioid epidemic. A through line of the announcement on Monday was Trump’s commitment to fighting opioid abuse. “I want to nurture and protect the most valuable part of our society and our future— children,” the First Lady said. “And i believe together we can make a real difference.” Trump joins her predecessors in championing specific causes while serving as First Lady, from Michelle Obama’s efforts to get kids eating healthy and staying active to Laura Bush’s focus on libraries and education launch of the National Book Festival and Nancy Reagan’s interest in fighting drug abuse. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5268266/be-best-first-lady-melania-trump-launches-official-white-house-project/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5268266/be-best-first-lady-melania-trump-launches-official-white-house-project/"},"headline":"'Be Best': First Lady Melania Trump Launches Official White House Project","datePublished":"2018-05-07T19:44:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:12:04.430Z","description":"First Lady Melania Trump took a major step toward solidifying her legacy during the Trump Administration on Monday.","url":"https://time.com/5268266/be-best-first-lady-melania-trump-launches-official-white-house-project/","keywords":["Melania Trump","White House","opioids","cyberbullying","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4b5dbcc5e56eec1/69892fa9fb4eac45338968bf/gettyimages-935194494.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4b5dbcc5e56eec1/69892fa9fb4eac45338968bf/gettyimages-935194494.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Melania Trump Hosts Roundtable On Cyberbullying With Tech Industry Giants","caption":"Melania Trump Hosts Roundtable On Cyberbullying With Tech Industry Giants","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/melania-trump/","name":"Melania Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5268266/be-best-first-lady-melania-trump-launches-official-white-house-project/","name":"'Be Best': First Lady Melania Trump Launches Official White House Project"}}]}] ```