

Today we’d like to introduce you to Akilah Blount.
Akilah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey in social entrepreneurship began when I was a high school senior, who after not being accepted into a girls’ organization at Westlake High School in Atlanta, decided to create a safe space for girls from all backgrounds and experiences to advocate for themselves without fear of shame or judgment. In 2013, I led the BEE Club’s first meeting, welcoming 100 girls to a world of possibilities in which sisterhood, community, inclusivity, and collective leadership took precedence. Over the past 8 years, BEE Club Inc. has flourished into a Black girl-founded and primarily-led nonprofit, in which over 300 girls have voiced their experiences, advocated for communal causes and organized for transformative change in their schools and communities.
Following the BEE Club’s founding in 2013, I went on to attend the University of Georgia. Initially, I thought the younger girls who joined the BEE Club the previous year would keep the organization running, but eventually, I realized that there were systems and structures that needed to be in place in order for girls to truly activate their leadership capacities and occupy organizational leadership positions that required them to lead girls’ programs for common and relevant causes. Due to the club’s lack of activity during my first year of college, I decided to spend much of my sophomore year developing leadership training programs for girls who previously participated in the BEE Club program to gain the skills needed to plan and facilitate girls’ empowerment activities at their school. That year, my sisters helped me commute from Athens to Atlanta every other week to work with the younger girls until the end of the school year. In the summer of 2016, I launched and hosted the BEE Club’s first summer leadership camp, in which rising leaders of the club participated in team bonding, strategic planning, and professional development activities to strengthen their skills as community organizers, mentors, and leaders. In the following school year, the new BEE Club leaders recruited over 100 girls to participate in the club throughout the year, proving once again, the need for a space where girls can come together to be leaders and change-makers.
It wasn’t long before I realized that the BEE Club was a necessity for so many girls who looked like me and came from similar backgrounds and communities as me. I knew that the BEE Club would be a special place for girls across Atlanta, the State of Georgia, the U.S., and someday, the world. With that in mind, I decided to reach out to a local attorney named Karen Hines, who helped me begin the process of filing for the BEE Club’s tax-exempt status with the IRS. In September of 2017, the BEE Club became a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
In addition to my work with establishing the BEE Club as a business entity that year, I was also in my last year of college and began my first professional internship as a Public Relations Intern at the Athens-Clarke County Library. It was the first time that I experienced the Athens community outside of UGA, and I was amazed at how close-knit their nonprofit community was. While there were many youth development organizations and services that came in and out of the library, I didn’t see enough organizations or services that centered on the experiences of teen girls and empowering them to become leaders. This reminded me of when I first started the BEE Club and how there wasn’t that kind of space for girls at my high school. By this time, I had been at UGA for almost four years, and during my college experience, the Athens community had given me so much as a student at the university, so naturally, I felt the need to give something back. As I result, I shared the BEE Club’s story and all that teen girls from my community had done to advocate for causes that mattered to us with Valerie Bell, the Executive Director of the Athens Regional Library System, who was also a Black woman in leadership. I came to find out that Valerie was also passionate about bringing more leadership opportunities to girls in Athens.
In 2018, I graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and Women’s Studies. Shortly after my college graduation, we expanded the BEE Club program to Athens, Georgia, partnering with the Athens-Clarke County Library to bridge the gap between teen girls and existing opportunities for girls’ leadership development in one of the most economically disadvantaged counties in our state. Shortly after the partnership was formed, we collaborated with school counselors, school social workers, and teen girls in the Clarke County School District to establish BEE Club Inc. programs at Cedar Shoals High School on the Eastside of Athens. What began as one girl’s story has become a movement to ensure that teen girls in communities across Georgia have the tools and resources to exercise their personal power and realize their true leadership potential.
As a young leader in a nonprofit, I’ve dreamed of becoming a change maker for girls in Georgia, the U.S., and across the world. After dedicating my undergraduate and graduate education (2,336 hrs), along with research and fieldwork (16,640 hrs), to girls’ leadership development, I’ve witnessed the impact my work has had in helping teen girls overcome race, gender, and class barriers to leadership. 69 peer-led meetings, 70 community workshops, 23 events, and 22 service projects (for the advancement of women and girls) later, I can say that BEE Club empowers teen girls to lead from wherever they are.
In addition to my role as CEO and Executive Program Coordinator for BEE Club Inc. I have also occupied organizational leadership positions within government and other nonprofit entities. Following the two-year partnership with the Athens-Clarke County Library, I was contracted as a Program Coordinator with the Athens-Clarke County Government to develop a workforce development program called Athens Community Corps. In this position, I leveraged community resources to increase residents’ exposure to lucrative careers, skillsets in specialized industries, access to resources for life planning and holistic support, and connections with mentors and other working professionals in the area.
Today, I am currently serving as the Program Director for the Women’s Business Center, a program of Greater Wealth Works (a nonprofit organization in Kennesaw, Georgia) that serves as a premier source for information and resources, offering in-depth business coaching, entrepreneurial training, small business development, and networking opportunities to help women start, expand and successfully manage their businesses. I chose to serve in this position because I’ve been able to bring my dream to life. As a CEO and an entrepreneur, who began at such a young age, I’ve had to build an unconventional route for myself to get an education, build a multi-faceted career, provide for myself, and build and sustain a business all at the same time. It would mean the world to me to help give the knowledge, skills, and resources that I’ve gained along the way to other women aspiring to build unique entrepreneurial paths for themselves.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As a young Black woman from a working-class family, the challenge of social entrepreneurship has largely been not having access—access to higher education, sustainable living and working conditions, the right network, resources, and money. When I first started the BEE Club, I saw other nonprofit organizations like HOSA (Health Care Occupational Students of America) and FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) that had thousands of students participating in schools across America. I knew that if those organizations could be launched, scaled, and sustained for so many years, the BEE Club could too. I had no idea at the time how colonized the nonprofit industry is, and how we exist at the center of generational wealth and white supremacy in this country. You would think that because nonprofits provide essential services to people in communities across our nation, they would be fully funded and provided for by local, state, and federal government, but unfortunately, that’s not our reality.
The concept of philanthropy in America has roots dating all the way back to colonial days. Puritan groups and other ethnic and religious groups began to encourage the thought of “doing good” as a form of atonement for their sins. To do good, European colonizers mobilized, founding schools, libraries, hospitals, and even publications to help improve people’s overall quality of life—volunteer work that would, for these communities, create a wealth of resources that communities of color and Black communities were denied access to for centuries. Today, we see the roots of white supremacy, racism, sexism, and classism still shaping much of the nonprofit industry and the ways in which communities access essential social services for the advancement of people throughout our nation and world.
Most nonprofits are primarily funded through individual donations, but small Black-led nonprofits and grassroots organizations like BEE Club often exist in communities where the value of giving to community nonprofits is either not a custom or completely understood and supported but still unattainable for residents. Simply put, when Black-led nonprofits exist in communities in which people have been denied the tools and resources to become socially mobile, it automatically puts us at an economic, and therefore programmatic, disadvantage. More often than not larger national organizations that were founded by the wealthy, white, and privileged during the 19th and 20th centuries come into our communities to do “good” work by defining our problems and providing us with solutions; however, the true empowerment of Black communities and communities of color lies in our ability to do this work for ourselves, defining what we need, where we are strong, and how to build a path toward collective progress that is completely and uniquely our own. Due to a lack of reparations in our country that require action in funding resident-led charity and community organizing efforts within historically oppressed communities, Black-led nonprofits, and grassroots initiatives are always stretched impossibly thin in time, money, and resources. Consequently, it can be very difficult to do this work and provide the services needed in our communities while also providing a sustainable life for ourselves. In my case, it is even more difficult because our nonprofit is primarily Black woman-led, and as Black women, we are always seen as strong and capable before we are seen as being in need of support.
The systemic issues that BEE Club Inc. faces as a Black woman-founded and primarily-led organization directly correlate to the systemic issues that myself and the Black women, who have rallied and supported this organization, experience in our day-to-day lives. Inequity has been one of the largest hindrances for me as an entrepreneur and as a person aiming to acquire good things in my life, but in all honesty, this is the fight that’s worth fighting.
While there are many girls’ leadership development organizations in our city, state, and nation, BEE Club Inc. is unique in our implementation of evidence-based programs that center Black girls’ experiences in the modeling of leadership programs for teen girls in schools. For BEE Club, this approach has required us to re-envision our school systems and the roles that School Counselors and School Social Workers take on in leadership development for teen girls. As an organization, we ourselves are also stretched in regard to people power, funding, and resources to grow and expand our programs and serve more girls. Every year since 2016, we have had at least 100 girls sign up for the BEE Club program, but our revenue has not surpassed $10,000 in one fiscal year since our founding in 2013. As the number of girls the BEE Club serves grows, we continuously find ourselves at maximum capacity even as we seek to welcome the growing needs of our girls and our communities. Annually, girls of color in the United States receive donations of less than $6 – and only $2.36 in the South – per girl (Ms. Foundation 2020). This statistic reflects our reality in the BEE Club, as we are a 100% volunteer organization, and many of us in leadership roles are working full-time positions in other organizations while also balancing full-time or part-time volunteer roles within the BEE Club. This year, we are on a mission to change that, and receive enough funding to hire full-time paid staff.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
BEE Club Inc. Becoming Empowered through Education is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based out of Atlanta, GA that serves as a peer leadership group for teen girls. The organization was founded in 2013 with 100 girls at Westlake High School in Fulton County. Today, the organization has welcomed over 300 girls in Atlanta and has now expanded its program to Athens-Clarke County.
In 2018, BEE Club Inc. partnered with the Athens-Clarke County Library to implement a Special Initiative Leadership Grant awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Through the grant, we were able to expand the BEE Club to also serve girls at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, GA.
The Athens-Clarke County Library was awarded a Community Catalyst grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2018 to create a partnership with the University of Georgia School of Social Work with the goal of becoming a trauma-informed library. The two-year initiative includes social work internships at the library, trauma-informed training for all staff, and the establishment of the BEE Club.
Mission
BEE Club Inc. provides teen girls with the tools and resources to become organizational leaders in their schools and communities through the HIVE School Leadership Model. The HIVE School Leadership Model creates a safe space for teen girls to collaborate with school social workers and counselors to connect with community resources for personal and professional advancement.
Vision
BEE Club works to empower teen girls to become self-defined individuals, able to successfully navigate life both inside and outside of the classroom, through peer leadership, mentoring, life skills learning, youth advocacy, and community collaboration.
Programs
BEE Club Inc. implements the HIVE School Leadership Model by creating a safe space for teen girls to work collaboratively with school and community partners to leverage resources and gain increased access to leadership and mentoring opportunities. Within the HIVE School Leadership Model, teen girls work alongside school counselors and school social workers, serving as peer leaders, who organize and engage in meaningful, self-directed activities to further develop their skills as leaders in their schools and communities. The model offers three school programs throughout the year that bridge gaps between girls, communities, and existing educational opportunities.
Core Values
Empowerment
Servant Leadership
Sisterhood
Community
Voice and Choice
Equity and Inclusivity
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
During the COVID-19 crisis, I was contracted full-time with the Athens-Clarke County Library to establish and implement BEE Club Inc. programs in the Clarke County School District. We were in the third semester of programming at Cedar Shoals High School while also hosting programs at Westlake High School when the Pandemic began. In addition to working with leadership teams at two schools in two different communities, I was in the third semester of my graduate nonprofit management and leadership program at UGA. I remember during the time, how I honestly could not believe what was happening in the world, but I had to block it out to keep going. I was still expected to finish my classes that semester. I was still expected to work and implement programs for both schools, while also planning our summer camp on a completely new, virtual platform, that semester. No matter how bad the COVID-19 crisis got after March of 2020, I was still expected to show up. I worked. BEE Club Inc. went from being 100% in-person to being entirely virtual. My classes went virtual, and I was present. I did what I needed to do, and tried to focus less on how I felt.
Toward the summer, public protests against police brutality, widespread racism, and violence against Black Americans swept the nation. I protested and advocated for change and a better quality of life for my people in our country, even when at times, I was in fear for my own life and the lives of the ones I loved. I still worked, recruited girls to participate in BEE Leader Camp at our schools in Athens and Atlanta, implemented BEE Leader Camp for rising peer leaders virtually, and prepared for my final semester of Graduate School, but in July of 2020, the unimaginable happened. Right toward the end of BEE Leader Camp in Athens, I got the call that my father was headed to the hospital after several attempts at resuscitation. My family said he still wasn’t breathing when he left. I drove from Athens to Atlanta in tears that night, trying to get there—be there. Once I got to the hospital, I walked in to see the doctor talking to my mom. She looked at me and started crying saying they said he wasn’t going to make it, and it was nothing more that they could do. I hurried over and hugged her gently but tight. I just kept telling her that it was ok. After about an hour of my dad’s siblings, cousins, and close family viewing and touching his body, crying, and sharing memories, I finally got to see him. I kissed him. Still, no tears were shed. My Dad was sick for a long time, but since the pandemic started, I could gradually see it getting worse than it’s ever been; he always made it, so I didn’t question it. But this time was different. It was really the end. I walked toward the hospital exit just knowing I was alright, but when I walked out of those hospital doors without him for the first time in over 12 years, I couldn’t help but scream as loud as I’ve ever screamed. There were no words just cries. My world was crushed, and a part of me wished that God would just take me with him.
My Dad inspired so much of my life and what I chose to do with it. He taught me so much and instilled so many beautiful things in me. I never dreamed that it would end so soon and so painfully. I couldn’t imagine the thought of doing BEE Club anymore. I just didn’t want to do it without his presence to lean on for inspiration and support. It was like my whole reason had just gotten sucked out of the world. Still, a week after burying my father, I went and hosted BEE Leader Camp for our girls in Atlanta. I completed the BEE Club’s first official fundraiser, raising $2,400 in a matter of days. I worked. I graduated with my Master’s in December of that year. I got hired in my first government position, implementing a workforce development program for residents in Athens. I moved into my first apartment living on my own.
In January of 2021, I began a new phase of the BEE Club, focusing more on board, brand, and fund development than on programs. I had a huge shift in mindset, knowing that through all of my grieving, I could not and would continue to carry the organization on my own. To have women from my community and other communities in Georgia step up to the plate and commit to standing beside me in this work was so new for BEE Club. In all these years, we had never had a full, active board. The COVID-19 crisis taught me how much I needed people, and how I could no longer take organizing people to create more for granted. It taught me that I needed help. It taught me that work is great, but love is what truly sustains all. It taught me that I can do anything with the power of prayer and God. It taught me that I had to keep living for myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebeeclubforgirls.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/me.akilahbaby/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/akilahblount
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/thebeeclubforgirls/
Image Credits:
@Rainasfuneral