A PowHERful Visit: Female Leadership Development
Do you remember your middle school self? The uncertainty and doubt about who you were? The anxiety stemming from trying to fit in? One organization anchored by two celebrities is making sure middle school girls feel confident and ensuring they believe in themselves. The powHER project spearheaded by Maria Taylor, in partnership with Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation and Morgan Stanley, is creating confident young ladies through financial literacy, enriching experiences and by exposing them to female leaders in their own communities. And earlier this month, we got to be a part of this! Jackson Spalding was thrilled to host the eighth graders from Genesis Innovation Academy in East Atlanta.
Empowering Female Leadership
The students met some of JS’ incredible female leaders. The day started with a career panel hosted by Taylor with Trudy Kremer, Monica Corbett and Katherine Zenus. Then the 31 eighth graders toured our Atlanta office and spent time learning from Jessie Starke about graphic design, Aerolyn Shaw about social media and Amber Brown, from JS’ Human Resources team, shared tips on interviewing for their future jobs. Finally, the girls channeled their best Maria Taylor and spent time in our studio on camera reading their purpose statements – what we called their powHER statements. Alicia Harwell and I worked with Taylor to coach the girls on their delivery, including helping them find their “powHER stance.” We heard from a young lady who wants to help the homeless, one who wants to be an OB/GYN and another who would like to become a veterinarian.
The Importance of Female Leadership
Our goal was to show them some of the possibilities for female leadership and careers in the marketing communications world and I think we did. One girl surprisingly remarked, “social media can be a job?” But the JSers who took part learned something too. We were reminded how hard that time of life can be for a middle school girl, but we were also inspired by these 31 fresh-faced future leaders. They were eager and curious and the present. Some were ready to take on the world, others were a little more reserved, but all of them were aware that they have a unique power and place and are growing more confident by the day thanks to this program.
The young ladies have already visited Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Georgia Tech Athletic Department. We are thrilled that JS was one of the stops on their “tour” of Atlanta and on their journey to embrace their powHER.
Female Leadership Development at Jackson Spalding
JS has a wealth of female leadership, from our four female owners to the women who run disciplines and practices at our agency and we are committed to continuing to develop the next generation of female leaders at JS.
For more information on hosting a career development program at Jackson Spalding, please contact us.
If you are interested in hosting powHER at your company or organization, please contact Jason Grahame, from the Teammates for Kids Foundation.