Today we’d like to introduce you to Akilah Blount.
Hi Akilah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When people ask me what I do for a living and how I got to where I am today, the answer used to seem so complicated, with too much to explain. These days, the answer is simple. I am a woman Director and CEO, leading community initiatives to empower women and girls in the state of Georgia through entrepreneurship, leadership development, and life skills education. To get here, I was denied, rejected, and deemed inadequate by the world around me time and time again, but at the foot of every path that I’ve taken, God put the right people and places in line to open the doors that were meant for me and me only. With every denial, there was redirection, and I was called to do something greater.
My career and life’s journey have led me to unimaginable heights, and it all started ten years ago when I was a 17-year-old girl at Westlake High School. As a high school student, I was in TAG, Magnet, and all of the other academic enrichment programs my school had to offer, but toward the end of my sophomore year, I found myself going through the motions and not feeling truly whole as a person—like there was a void or something important missing. There was space for class, school work, student organizations, friends, and even a hobby or two here and there, but at the time, nothing seemed like it was enough—I didn’t feel like I was enough. Looking back, I don’t know if I had any idea of who I was, the power I held, or what I was capable of. As I sought more, I sought to do more. I thought about my interests and what could push me forward in my life. I began to envision my future and what that could look like. I thought about college, my resume, my current involvement, and what more I could do to build myself as a student and as a young woman. Eager to know myself more deeply and find what was best for me, I applied for the Women of Westlake, the prominent (and only) girls’ organization that was a part of my school’s legacy and history.
The Women of Westlake was the “Who’s Who” organization for girls at our school. They accepted girls who had the best grades, were the most involved, had the most community connections, had the best reputations, or were most liked by whoever was leading the organization. As a young girl who was looking to do and become more, I saw the Women of Westlake as a perfect opportunity to channel my talents and sharpen my professional skill sets, while also supporting a worthy and relevant cause that was close to my heart—empowering women and building a community amongst girls. The Women of Westlake steadily became a dream for me. I attended the interest meetings. I participated in the interviews. I even started to think about program ideas and how I could help build the organization up from within. I was ready to take the lead in my life and do something that was meaningful for myself and other girls in my community, but after completing the application process, I was the only girl who applied that year who did not get in. I remember feeling humiliated and ashamed—like there was something all the other girls were that I wasn’t. As a teenage girl, this was the worst feeling. I went back and forth with myself about what to do next, but no matter how much thought I put into it, I still felt like I was at an end. I went to one of my closest advisors at the school, and we had the most important conversation I’ve had in my life. I told her how unfair it felt, and she could feel my pain. She told me to start my own thing, and that’s what I did. That same year, I created an organization called The BEE Club, and it served as a place where every girl could come as she was, be accepted, and belong amongst other girls. It was a place where girls could build each other up despite how different we all were. In 2013, BEE Club opened its doors, and 100 girls joined, showing us just how much we all needed a place where we could just be ourselves and that be more than enough.
After high school, I went on to attend the University of Georgia, where I majored in Women’s Studies and Public Relations. During my time as an undergraduate student, I spent my days learning as much as I could about the conditions that women endure all around the world. In my coursework as a student in the Women’s Studies discipline, I pulled pieces of personal knowledge and statistics together to build a peer-led life skills curriculum that centered on the experiences of girlhood, prompting teen girls to learn life skills that would help them navigate life challenges and overcome systemic barriers. I studied communications, which gave me all I needed to build and brand the BEE Club as a business and a state entity. By the time I graduated from my undergraduate program in 2018, The BEE Club was a 501(c)3 nonprofit, serving at least 100 girls a year at Westlake High School. Following a student internship in Public Relations at the Athens-Clarke County Library, I partnered on a special initiative leadership grant with the Athens Regional Library System, the Insititute of Museum and Library Services, and the University of Georgia’s School of Social Work that aimed to support resident-led initiatives to empower and uplift the people. This partnership led to the establishment of The BEE Club at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens Clarke County. In 2019, I went back to school to pursue a Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management and Leadership. I graduated in the Fall of 2020, becoming the first known woman in my matriarchal lineage to obtain a Master’s Degree.
Since 2013, I’ve developed youth leadership training programs and a peer-led life skills curriculum that more than 400 girls have had access to through their involvement in the BEE Club at their schools. From rejection and denial, The BEE Club was born. Ten years later, BEE Club Inc. is a youth organization that equips teen girls with community tools and resources to activate their personal power and world impact through peer leadership, life skills education, mentoring, and youth advocacy. In addition to self-development programs for teen girls in Atlanta and Athens, I’ve had the opportunity to create workforce and career development programs for adults in Georgia through my work with the Athens-Clarke County Government and a nonprofit called Greater Wealth Works. In 2022, I was hired as the Program Director for the Greater Wealth Works Women’s Business Center, connecting women entrepreneurs in North Georgia with educational tools and development resources to successfully start, manage, and grow their businesses. Day in and day out, I work to close gender, economic, and racial disparities in entrepreneurship and our nation’s leadership at large. My story starts and ends with the BEE Club, which has been a shining light in my life, leading me toward a true purpose and a necessary cause that is bigger than me and any of us individually. The BEE Club is a living and breathing example of what can happen when others don’t see the beauty or power in you. All you have to do is see it in yourself, and once you realize the light you hold, it becomes that much easier to see and support that light in others—the light of God and God’s works in our world.
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?
The road to where I am today has been a journey full of ups and downs. All I can say is that it’s been hard to be young, black, female, and in charge. People’s preconceived notions of who I am and who I should be have always created resistance along the way. Sometimes it is them, but other times it’s me, internalizing negative images and in that, becoming a representation of things that were never true to me, my personhood, or my real experiences. There is a very real zero tolerance for Black women (and people in leadership in general) to make mistakes. I was a girl when I started my career; I grew up with the organization I founded. I’ve made so many mistakes, and I’ve had to stand front and center while making them, sometimes being loved and understood and at other times, being unforgiven and held to moments when I fell short.
When you set out to do something good, it doesn’t mean that you get a break from the world and how it is. Through my blackness, my womanness, and my youthfulness, I have been constantly reminded of why I do the work that I do. I always have to make space for myself to exist outside of societal norms and expectations or to even exist at all. It can be exhausting, but then again, I am reminded of why I do this—to build new systems, new ways of thinking, and new ways of relating amongst people. When you work in the community, with people, and in people development, you grow to realize that most of what needs to be done is shifting and expanding mindsets, especially of those who are in power and have the authority to make decisions for others. This can be the hardest work and is usually the work that takes the longest. I’ve grown an indubitable appreciation for the people who get it…people who see me, believe in me, and support the ways that I have chosen to advocate for justice and freedom in our society.
As I seek to shape the world around me, I have had to learn that only through God is the work that I do possible. I have had to learn to acknowledge that the Glory is and will always be to God, from the beginning all the way up until the end. Being called but remaining humble is one of the greatest tasks, but with maturity, it has become second nature. I had to learn not to serve people out of a place that wants to be recognized or awarded because 1) you’ll always be doing more mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically than anyone could ever know or truly understand, 2) the need or want to be honored by others will leave you feeling self-righteous and disappointed, and 3) it taints the giving spirit, taking away from your humanness and the reality of being imperfect while adding more pressure on you and your own performance. One of the biggest challenges was learning to do what I do for others with less expectations, less complaints, and more gratitude. It is easy to get discouraged when you’re fighting battles that are so much bigger than you. Staying close to God and thanking God through the good and the bad times has been both the challenge and the key to so much of my success. Building and maintaining my faith has meant everything.
As you know, we’re big fans of BEE Club Inc. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
BEE Club Inc. is a 501(c)3 youth organization that equips teen girls with community tools and resources to activate their personal power and world impact through peer leadership, life skills education, mentoring, and youth advocacy. We work to empower teen girls to become self-defined leaders who help shape the future.
The BEE club has two chapters, one at Westlake High School in Atlanta and one at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, GA. Our program is unique because it is asset-based, peer-led, and implemented within the schools of the girls we serve. We provide a framework for teen girls and school professionals to work together to connect girls at their schools with more opportunities to grow, both personally and professionally. Of 64 alumnae program leaders surveyed in 2020, 100% graduated from high school (or received the equivalent of a high school diploma). 100% were accepted into a college, university, or other institution of higher education, with $1.5 million in scholarships reported. 75% joined campus or community leadership and service organizations, while 67% of girls who joined campus or community organizations served in organizational leadership positions. These numbers go to show that BEE Club girls not only lead in their high schools and communities back home, but they go on to lead wherever they are.
This year, we are celebrating ten years of organizing peer-led activities to further empower teen girls in schools. In celebration of our 10th Anniversary, we are raising $100,000 to expand our programs and the services we offer so that more girls can access tools for leadership development in schools across the state of Georgia. Empowering teen girls in leadership will require more from our schools, our community members, and our local, state, and federal governments. You can advocate for our cause by getting involved and being a part of it. We need your support; please reach out to us, follow us on social media, share our fundraising posts, and donate what you can. We love our supporters and can’t say enough how grateful we are to be here, doing this work.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I do my devotional every morning. I have the Jesus Calling Daily Devotional. This helps me look inward and forward as I prepare for long work days. I also follow daily affirmational posts on Instagram by the Commanding Life. They help focus my mindset on thriving and pushing forward throughout the week. Right now, I am reading a book called “The Magic of Big Thinking” by David J. Schwartz. This book is helping me cultivate and practice expansive thinking habits. With bigger-than-life goals, mindset and attitude are everything.
Contact Info:
- Website: thebeeclubforgirls.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeeclubforgirls/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebeeclubforgirls
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bee-club-inc/about/
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/fJgcp7D5wks
- Other: https://beeclubinc.betterworld.org/campaigns/happy-10th-anniversary-bee-club-2
