A foundational piece of our work at Girls Leadership is to create brave spaces – communities where all girls and gender-expansive youth feel seen, accepted, and loved by peers and adults – in person and online. Brave spaces are crucial because they allow for vulnerability, the safety to take risks, mess up, reflect, and recover, …
Based on our many years of running programs and countless conversations with girls, parents, caregivers, and educators, we know that our work is impactful. Yet we’re always so deeply moved to hear how our programs and tools help people make positive change in their lives. We recently had an opportunity to chat with Stacy Peña, …
Last year, with support from Girls Leadership’s Empower Club, youth at Latitude High School in Oakland created and modeled in a photoshoot to embody strength, vulnerability, and body confidence. They held a creative showcase of their photos and poetry called “My Beautiful Body” at the Joyce Gordon Gallery in downtown Oakland to share their work …
Workshops for 4th & 5th Graders A lot of us are burnt out on having disagreements and difficult conversations in public, at work, and in our communities. Conflict feels uncomfortable, especially if it doesn’t lead to growth and understanding. Conflict as an opportunity for change might be a radical concept for some girls, but …
Last June, as our Girl Advisory Board (GAB) was wrapping up their research project in partnership with Barbie, they realized they wanted to hear more from one group in particular: Latinx girls. As the grand finale of our 140 conversations with girls in kindergarten to 5th grade, we put together a national “Latinx Leader Power …
If I told you that on average, the lowest income Black girls have greater leadership skills and ambition compared to the highest income white girls, would you be surprised? Girls Leadership found exactly that in its Ready to Lead report on what contributes to Black and Latinx girls’ confidence and leadership aspiration. Key factors included …
Our mission is to help girls find and use their voice so there’s nothing more moving than hearing powerful, insightful words directly from our girls! During last week’s online summer camp with 4th and 5th graders, several themes emerged through their positive self-talk mantras. These mantras are ones all of us would do well with …
Think about the confidence on Simone Biles’ face every time she sticks a landing. Where does that confidence come from? That is the confidence we can only earn from our own hard fought experiences. But the community that makes building confidence possible? That environment is created by her relationships with her family, her coaches, her …
Today we’re celebrating a leader who is making others better as a result of her presence and making that impact last in her absence. Meet Ja’Nay Jenkins What is your role? And how do you currently work with girls? Superwoman. That’s it, that’s my role; well, I have five. I am the Office Manager …
“Okay, let’s talk about the ‘perfect girl’ according to media,” I said to the 10 middle-school girls in the MEDIAGIRLS class I piloted in 2014. The idea was to get girls thinking critically about messages they receive from media and how it ties to their self-worth. “How would you describe her?” Silence. I try again: …
