Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobbi Brown.
Bobbi, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I hosted a meeting January 16, 2019, at a local cafe in Bridgeport, Connecticut for women drawn to gather 100 girls ages 9-18 for a special one-day event to provide connections to foster female empowerment, mentorship, along with health and fun while introducing girls to women successfully working in non-traditional careers. I thought early June would be the best time. To my surprise, over 100 women volunteers joined me to help support and expand my vision. Amazingly, it didn’t stop there!
My team and I continued to meet regularly to prepare for #100GirlsLeading’s first Summit. In order for us to gain great attendance, we realized that we would have to meet the girls where they are – at school. We created The Girls Tour, where we connected with three dozen schools in Southern Connecticut and travelled to all the schools for four months straight. There, we not only spread the word about the #100GirlsLeading Summit but what that event means to those taking part and how to make the most out of the day’s connections. We introduce a fresh way of mentoring – “interactive mentoring.” At our Summit, we allow the girls to meet local mentoring programs and women leaders in a college fair-ish setting. The girls have on-sight, interactive outdoor workshops with the women they meet at our tables while learning fresh career paths, finding new social groups, and engaging in hands-on activities with new game-changers in their communities.
From our hard work, we registered 800 elementary, middle, and high school girls. We connected 500 girls with 16 programs and over 100 women in power at our launch. On that day, every girl walked away with the opportunity to seek a mentor and membership to a local network dedicated to the practice of mentoring, academic and economic empowerment.
Our adolescent and teen girls need women who they can reach out to on a personal level. It’s one thing to have a vague belief in your dreams. It’s something different when you can contact your mentor and say, “I have a question about my course of action. Is this right because I’m not sure?” You should not look far for someone to help you enhance your life. The women and networks we work with at #100GirlsLeading, Inc. are exactly the mentors you have been searching for who are right within your reach. There’s a wonderful saying, “if you build it, they will come,” and that’s what we’ve done.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
#100GirlsLeading has recently experienced some obstacles like any other organization. With that said, our biggest challenge is transitioning in COVID-19’s time. As I shared, The Girls Tour is a huge gateway for us, and now put on hold since schools closed. We are making dynamic decisions on how we will operate and our expectations for the upcoming year.
Please tell us about #100GirlsLeading.
#100GirlsLeading, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Bridgeport, Connecticut that provides access to mentoring programs for under-served girls, ages 9-18, to empower them to lead locally and globally. We develop events and workshops designed for the girls in our community to not only introduce them to a new sisterhood but mentors that approach business and community advocacy differently than the norm. Whether it’s a fully established organization that we partner with on a project or single individuals willing to donate their time to the girls of the Tri-state region of Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, it is how we create the bridge to facilitate mentor-mentee relationships.
Our community knows us for developing the concept, “interactive mentoring,” which is a practice where we showcase multiple types of mentoring in one setting. We mostly do this at the Summit, our annual grand event, to bring individual mentors and mentoring programs from all across the nation. The girls can meet and share with the girls their skills and the stories behind their choices of pathways in their professionalism.
The other way we strengthen the girls we interact within their skills and talents is by giving them volunteering opportunities in their areas of residence. We truly want the girls that become a part of our movement to not only grow into great career-based women but givers and advocates in their communities. So whatever cause the girls in our network have passions for, such as poverty alleviation or social services, they are free to engage in those fields through us. We believe all the girls we teach must learn how to pay it forward – the root of mentoring.
In our first few months of launching, we decreased the rates of teen pregnancy, dropouts, peer victimization, and bullying by 29 percent. We have given them a sense of security despite their environment. We set ourselves apart by not having traditional programs under our nonprofit compared to other girl-focused organizations. We allow the girls to come and experience us, then choose whom they would wish to mentor them. We show the young ladies connected to us that mentoring is not a forced bond. With us, the ball is in their court. By instilling that trust and independence in them, the girls grow more at a faster rate. We create our systems based on the belief in equality in opportunity, no matter your background.
I’m excited to announce that #100GirlsLeading will launch an Ambassadors program for high school girls in the years ahead. This program will be interactive with our board of directors, staff, and volunteers to visit on-site field trips to our supporting companies and organizations. We are creating a ‘Girls’ Network’ for girls to immerse in volunteering, internships, and further career-related opportunities.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I would say neither. We, here at #100GirlsLeading, see this as a tremendous blessing to steer the next generation of leaders and trailblazers to excel through mentorship. As with anything in life, there are challenges and obstacles. We used those situations as an opportunity to grow, develop, and learn. So, we do not see this as good luck or poor luck.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.100girlsleadinginc.org
- Email: 100girlsleading@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/100girlsleading
- Facebook: facebook.com/100girlsleading
- Twitter: twitter.com/100girlsleading
Image Credit:
Bobbi Brown, Kristen Holland, Shyanne Valentine
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