My deepest aspiration is to empower women and each year I try to find a new way to fulfill it. When I wrote my first book One Woman, One Hustle, I wanted to inspire young women to be writers and poets. So I wrote these poems that I thought were inspiring and put them in a pink book. When I ran away to Africa, I wanted inspire women to use their voices and not be silenced by one-dimensional, unfairly biased media outlets. And when I returned to the States I wanted to do something just as important. So, I designed the S.W.A.G.G.(Success and Wisdom Awaiting Good Girls) Academy, a multi-media project that emphasizes self-esteem and character building for young girls. The program has been a great success and it has challenged me beyond…beyond…
Children are so different now and the issues that they deal with on a daily are much greater than those that we dealt with as children. There’ s bullying, and the pressure to be lesbians, and sex, and having labels and brands of clothes, and I could go on and on… At the end of the day all these children want is love, and attention, and a laugh, and a hug, and a pack of candy, and a ride home, or text, or for you to like their facebook status. They just want to know that you care.
And because there is such a great need, we are offering a winter session of S.W.A.G.G., December 27-30 at Empowerment Temple Family Life Center, 1505 Eutaw Place. We have tons of activities planned for the girls and as usual I’m more excited than anyone else. For more information about the program, visit http://prodigyyouthservices.com or email swaggacademy@gmail.com.
1 Comment