ABOUT
JOURNEY
Where to start!
My parents raised me to believe that the world is my backyard and I can do anything I put my mind to. Sometimes that’s exciting and sometimes it’s overwhelming. Sometimes too many options or choices makes me feel paralyzed. As grateful as I am for my life and experiences, I’ve also dealt with the other side of things. I’ve faced all sorts of not-so-positive thoughts over the years and especially some hard times in high school. I easily feel myself battle between negative and positive thoughts and I know people all over the world deal with similar doubts about themselves and about life. It’s easy to feel happy when things are good, but it’s those times when life throws us curve balls that we need to use the tools we’ve learned to get through those tough times. I want to help people fill up their toolkits and be armed and ready for those curve balls life throws us. It isn’t easy but building leadership skills and self confidence makes life easier and more fun. I also believe happiness is like a muscle, and we need to know how to strengthen in and prep it so we can use it more often. Like training before a marathon. There’s not too much more gratifying for me than to know that I’m making a positive difference in people’s lives.
I’ve grown up in the area of personal growth my entire life.
This program is something I’ve been thinking about developing for about 9 years. But it started before that. When I was 12 I started giving workshops with my mom on communication skills for parents and kids. By age 15 we decided to write a book. When I was 16 it was published by Putnam and by 17 we were featured on Oprah and doing media tours around the world – all geared towards helping families communicate better.
About 8-9 years ago I was asked to facilitate a kids program at a retreat. The retreat was for women and this was the first summer the moms were encouraged to bring their daughters. It was the most influential 4 days. I discovered there that I have a passion for helping young preteen and teen girls. To help them find their voice, feel the depths of their beauty, and really to realize that they’re not alone in what they’re going through. That retreat was for 11-15 year olds, so that age group stuck in my mind. But I never pursued anything with it because I was under the impression I had to create roots and relationships in my local area to grow slowly.
Now with all the tools online – like zoom – I realize I can finally make this happen from anywhere in the world. And since I’m constantly on the move, that’s essential for me.
The reason why I started Confidently You is because of the parents and daughters I’ve met. I’m friends with a lot of parents and a large part of why I started this was for them and their daughters. They wanted their daughters to find a positive mentor in their lives-- to spend time with them, to learn from them, someone who gets them and who was willing to listen to and connect with them. After hearing some of the struggles the girls have been facing, I brought up the idea of creating a program and one conversation after another the parents said yes with such eagerness in their voice that I knew I had to go for it.
This is a story of one of the girls that inspired me to go on this journey.
Jessica was younger than the other girls, and my inspiration for launching this program. Based on certain patterns with her peers, I had a feeling she would benefit from this the most. With an outgoing, beautiful personality and lots of energy to share with the world, she didn’t always feel like she fit in at school and her closest friend often turned her back on her. It was heartbreaking.
Her parents poured so much love into her and they hated seeing her struggle. They wanted her to believe in herself, to love herself, and to know she is accepted -- even if she didn’t always feel that way at school. After completing the Confidently You program,
Jessica’s mom said it was the first time she heard her daughter express herself as well as she did. Jessica had developed a new sense of confidence and was proudly applying the skills she learned from the course immediately into her life.
For Jessica, and other girls like her, I hope to ignite self-confidence, self-love and leadership through a community of empowered girls.