Daily Archives: March 31, 2021

The rebrand was driven by two factors: changing nature of vulnerability, with more people needing support more often on account of the effects of climate change and other natural and social issues; and a generational shift in the nature of giving, which impacting the organisation with young people more motivated to contribute.

The stripped back, modern and minimal design system and guidelines, including a suite of strong, distinctive brand assets, support the central brand positioning, We are what we do. While worthy, Red Cross global tagline, The power of humanity could be overwhelming for supporters. Principals in-house brand voice agency XXVI evolved the tagline to, Act for humanity, which gives people a sense of personal empowerment. This led to the development of a brand voice and narrative to complement the new strategy, identity and tagline.

The refreshed brand builds on and makes sense of Red Cross fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. It transforms these principles into practice and rallies people to act for humanity, says strategy director at Principals, Moensie Rossier.

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Australian Red Cross reveals refreshed brand positioning - 2021 - Articles - Transform magazine

Photo: In the Indian state of Karnataka, the social enterprise Project Defy work to create nooks, i.e. learning environments where learners can learn new skills and design their own education programs.

In its 72 years of independence, India has shown its unprecedented prowess in building a modern, democratic nation. It has lifted millions out of poverty, is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and has increased its global influence by becoming a member of the G20 and the BRICS. More recently, it has played a central role in providing the world with COVID-19 vaccines as it has one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing capacities in the world.

However, whats so unfortunate and saddening for a country making such strides on a global scale is that its gender gap is big, and it continues to grow wider.

The 2020 Global Gender Gap report says that India is the only country in the world where the economic gender gap is larger than the political gender gap. Only 25 percent of women participate in the labor market, one of the lowest participation rates across the globe. And, female estimated earned income is a meager one-fifth of male income, which also contributes to them among the lowest wage earners in the world.

Social change in womens status is crucial for India to continue its progress; empowering them economically can play a significant role in realizing womens rights and narrowing the gender gap. An example of an ecosystem that is playing an increasingly important role in economically empowering women is the social enterprise space.

Social enterprise is a really powerful force for womens empowerment and its still under-utilized, says Mark Richardson of Social Impact Consulting, who led the research of a British Council report on the role of social enterprise in supporting womens empowerment in India.

The report found that social enterprise is playing a growing role in womens empowerment by developing womens skills, providing employment and giving women a voice in their community. According to the report, of women who started a social enterprise 80 percent felt an increased sense of worth, 82 percent reported increased confidence and 49 percent said it made them feel they could make their own choices.

According to Amani Institute India, nearly 25 percent of all social enterprises in India are led by women, compared to less than 10 percent of commercial small and medium enterprises that have a woman at the helm. Women in India are often subject to discrimination from their families, communities, and investors when compared to their male peers. This issue is even more severe for women social entrepreneurs because social entrepreneurship can be stigmatized as being unprofitable, said Shehzia Lilani, the Country Director of Amani Institute India.

Assessing the needs of Indian women social entrepreneurs, the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai helped to launch the Womens Global Development Prosperity initiative (WGDP). The program establishes a platform that can give women social entrepreneurs access to information, capital, mentorship and other such opportunities they lack in social and commercial enterprises.

And so was born the Women in Indian Social Entrepreneurship Network (WISEN), a platform to support female social entrepreneurs from all over India. Designed and facilitated by Amani Institute India, in collaboration with ANDE India (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs), and with funding support from the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai, WISEN is the first of its kind formal network.

I am a first-generation graduate from a marginalized community. I had very few opportunities for my personal and professional development. I joined this national level network to explore my potential and learn from a team of women who crossed several milestones in their life. From Amanis capacity building sessions, I realized the importance of my wellbeing, and the energy I had, said M. Padmavathi, a managing trustee of the nonprofit COROAT and member of WISEN.

As the primary capacity building partner for WISEN, we designed a 6-month, online program that offered 40 women entrepreneurs a platform to access trainings, mentoring and coaching sessions, collaborative projects and community building initiatives, said Lilani.

ANDE brought in subject matter experts who delivered masterclasses for the women entrepreneurs. Formal peer support groups have been known to be great pillars of support in an entrepreneurs journey, and research showed us that women entrepreneurs did not enjoy access to the same kinds of networks as their male counterparts. This made the creation of WISEN a necessary step to strengthen the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs, elaborated Sucharita Kamath, India Chapter Manager at ANDE.

Furthermore, the pandemic added another threat to the survival of social enterprises, increasing the necessity of support networks to overcome challenges.

With the disruptions caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the business and organizational realities of all 40 women entrepreneurs changed. Keeping this in mind, we redesigned the WISEN program with the objective of making it relevant and immediately applicable for the selected women entrepreneurs. We wanted to create a self-sustaining network for women entrepreneurs who were leading their organizations through a pandemic, Lilani added.

Megha Bhagat, a co-founder of the social enterprise Project Defy and another member of WISEN, said, Networking with a purpose in an ecosystem built for men is far less cumbersome with women networking platforms like WISEN. Entrepreneurship has a gendered experience and finding groups that have women entrepreneurs holding each other up is quite a task. WISEN is an attempt to change that, to allow the gendered experience to find a brilliant circle of trailblazers,

We received over 215 applications from which we selected 40 entrepreneurs for the program that represented diversity in region, sector, organizational maturity and experience within the cohort. 41 percent of the entrepreneurs ran non-profit organizations, 51 percent ran for-profit organizations and the remaining had hybrid business models. Some organizations were as young as two years and some had over 10 years of existence. This led to fantastic opportunities for cross-pollination and experience sharing within the cohort. We will continue to actively recruit new members on a quarterly basis, concludes Lilani.

WISEN is currently looking for new partners to help carry the network forward and provide additional resources to its members.

Image credit: Project Defy

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Empowering Women and Social Enterprise in India so Both Can Thrive During the Pandemic - Triple Pundit

As fashion trends go, the move of activewear from gyms and fitness studios into mainstream society has been impossible to ignore. Like it or not, we live in a lycra world.

Tight-fitting leggings, yoga pants, sports bras and crop tops are everywhere from the catwalk to cafes. COVID-19 accelerated the trend, with working from home driving a recent surge in sales.

But the activewear industry has been growing exponentially for the past ten years. While the clothing is made for men and women, it is the womens market that has driven this phenomenal growth.

The trend has been widely celebrated, criticised, parodied and sometimes dismissed as simply the latest fashion trend in a society obsessed with conspicuous consumption.

On closer examination, however, activewear plays a fascinating role in 21st-century gender definitions, reinforcing and resisting popular ideas about femininity.

Walk through any activewear store and you will be bombarded with empowerment and self-help rhetoric emphasising the importance of achieving a fit, healthy lifestyle with the right outfit and a positive attitude.

Various scholars have shown how large activewear companies use this type of language get moving and this is not your practice life to reinforce the notion of womens responsibility for their own body maintenance, regardless of any social or personal barriers.

Others have shown how activewear companies marketing approaches encourage women to use physical activity as a means of self-transformation and a pathway towards a more fulfilled life.

Read more: Antibacterial activewear? The claim is just as absurd as it sounds

Its a version of femininity based on a womans consumption and the ability to maintain her own health and appearance. As feminist sport scholars have shown, society celebrates women who are in control of their bodies and active in their pursuit of femininity and health.

In our own research, we argue that wearing activewear in public is a way of saying I am in charge of my health and conforming to socially acceptable understandings of femininity.

In this sense, activewear (not to be confused with its less sporty athleisure offshoot) has become the uniform of what we might term the socially responsible 21st-century woman.

Part of the appeal of activewear is that it is comfortable and functional. But it has also been designed to physically shape the body into a socially desirable hourglass female form.

High-waisted leggings that sit just above the navel are marketed as having a slimming effect. They are also often promoted as butt sculpting, creating the desirable booty that has become valued (somewhat problematically) in mainstream culture.

Read more: Dressed for success as workers return to the office, men might finally shed their suits and ties

As some have argued, this is yet another example of the appropriation of Black and Hispanic cultures for corporate profit.

With new materials designed to accentuate (not just support) particular aspects of womens bodies, activewear helps promote the idealised female form as being curvy but fat-free.

And while this idealised form has changed over recent decades from thin, to thin and toned, to the toned hourglass the current ideal remains largely unobtainable for most women.

But there is another side to this phenomenon. We wanted to explore womens own experiences of wearing activewear. Interviewees of different ages, body types, ethnicities and cultures spoke about activewear as being not only comfortable and functional, but also liberating.

From corsets and long dresses in the Victorian era to the high heels of the 1950s housewife, the latest beauty and clothing trends have often constrained womens bodies and movements.

But the women in our research group talked about the freedom they experienced in being able to move comfortably through the day, from work to school pick-up, from the gym to the cafe.

Even so, not all activewear-clad bodies are considered acceptable. Some, particularly larger bodies, are stigmatised and criticised when they dont meet the feminine ideal.

Read more: Your 'ideal' body, and why you want it

Some even experience physical abuse or verbal harassment for wearing the wrong clothing in public. Its all part of a long history of social attempts to regulate womens bodies.

Until recently, activewear marketing was primarily targeted at young, thin, wealthy white women. In 2013, lululemon founder Chip Wilson openly stated his brands leggings dont work for larger body types.

In response to these limited definitions perpetuated by the activewear industry, some women have established their own labels. In Aotearoa New Zealand these include the increasingly popular Hine Collection.

Founded by a Mori woman frustrated by the limited sizing of activewear, the brand features larger-sized models and caters to women of diverse body shapes and cultures.

Activewear has even been worn in protest against the policing of womens bodies in public places such as schools, churches and shops where the wearing of leggings has been deemed not respectable and too distracting for men.

In 2018, there was outrage when young track athletes in New Jersey were told they couldnt train outside in their sports bras when the male football team was practising.

Other protests and writings have made leggings and sports bras symbols of pride and a challenge to those who seek to dictate womens bodily choices.

Most women, however, choose activewear simply because it gives them the ability to move with purpose and comfort throughout their day. While this might not be an overtly political act, it is nonetheless a subtle statement that women are not going to be controlled or objectified. They have pride in their moving bodies.

Activewear is far from a mundane clothing choice. Rather, it contributes to our definition and understanding of femininity and gender in the 21st century.

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Sure theyre comfortable, but those leggings and sports bras are also redefining modern femininity - The Conversation AU

Stephanie Patzer freely admits, what she does isnt for everyone.

Patzer is a life coach. A personal trainer for your heart, mind and soul, says her Capture Kismet website, adding her businesses goal is empowering women in motion.

I know it seems hokey to some people, Patzer said of her work. And Im okay with that. If youre not comfortable or engaged in it, youre probably not my client anyway.

Like many during the pandemic, Patzer found herself quarantined and closed off. The mother of two who has worked in sales, been a teacher and owned her own boutique business, looked inward and found an outward purpose: what if she could turn the growth she experienced having a life coach into a business doing the same for others?

Patzer would use her quarantine to earn her life coach masters certification from the Transformation Academy, a Florida-based online company and leader in purpose-driven entrepreneurship. A business coach helped move Patzers fledgling business forward with marketing and determining what her business goals were and who she wanted her clients to be.

She helped me figure out what kind of clients I want, Patzer said. Do I want clients that kind of align with the way that I think or do I want any clients?

Patzer launched Capture Kismet last summer as the only Mills County area business providing womens empowerment coaching. Her clients would be any woman she felt like she connected with and was comfortable with her particular brand of intention and authenticity.

I always want people to know that conversations are just conversations, she said. Theres never any pressure from me. I would rather let people know this is out there because if Im not their coach maybe somebody else will be. I feel its an important part to have an accountability partner if you have some intentional work youre wanting to do.

Six years ago, Patzer had never even heard the term life coach.

It was only after attending a yoga retreat where many of the attendees, most hailing from the East or West coasts, made reference to their many life coaches did she educate herself.

Them having a life coach was the same as you and I drinking water, Patzer said. It was part of their daily routine. I was curious so I sat down and talked about it.

Shes had her own life coach ever since.

In the world we live in, five years later, people are probably familiar with the idea but sometimes when I say what Im doing and what my business is I get, What is that?

What THAT is can vary by client and, certainly, by life coach. Patzer sees life coaches and therapists under the same umbrella.

A therapist may look back more on what trauma youve encountered or what happened in your past in order to move forward, she said. A coach, my job, what I do with my clients is I look at what goals do they want to reach and what is in front of them they are interested in and we create the baby steps to get to that goal.

She took on her first client last August and has had a steady base in a variety of programs since. Her Course to Courage program, with a curriculum designed by Patzer, runs eight weeks. Her Womens Circles, which centers on themes important to women for 90 minutes each week, has been meeting via Zoom during the COVID pandemic.

The intentional work of the group can often be heavy and enlightening.

They dig into heavy topics like anti-racism, Patzer said. Were going to talk abut toxic masculinity and using our voice in a world that wants us to be quieted. Theres been some intense topics and its been fabulous.

The Glenwood Area Chamber of Commerce recently contracted with Patzer to run a nine-month leadership coaching program. She and six other women meet monthly to discuss how to improve communication, creativity and motivation in business and employees. Its part guidance, part school and part support group.

The theme is leadership, she said. Its mindful leadership, its thoughtful leadership and its compassionate leadership. We are in times where there is a lot of black and white thinking. This is a way to maneuver through that talking about intent versus impact and to study intentions within your own world that can cross over into the world at large.

The goals of each client whether in groups, the leadership program or the individual that seek Patzer differ but all focus on recognizing and overcoming roadblocks to self-improvement.

Some of my clients want to have better relationships with their children, for some of them its been more career goals, some have been wanting to start a business, she said. My job is to deal more with whats holding you back.

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Capture Kismet - The Opinion Tribune

SYDNEY, Australia, March 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We would like to thank the team atAuthority Sharksfor their research and findings in formulating this article.

Here areThe 10 Best Health & Wellness Coaches to Follow in Australia.

Ria Mestiza (@CoachRiaMestiza)Our first selection, Ria Mestiza, is the coach to ambitious high achievers ready to take control of their health who are seeking to achieve their best body and lifestyle for optimization and longevity. She is the Founder of Fitsique Wellness & Performance and the host of "Summon Your Superhuman" Podcast.

Ria teaches people how to own their mind and body and maximize on untapped inner strength and potential. Passionate about knowledge with an unparalleled commitment to growth both in her professional and personal endeavours. A decade of working with and learning from the "best of the best" her ever-evolving standards are World-Class.

She is truly an all-in-one health practitioner specializing in Remedial Therapy, Kinesiology and Energy-Based modalities. With over 20 years' experience in training & nutrition as a competitive athlete. Transforming clients and speaking to audiences all over the world she is dedicated to impact & inspiring a lifestyle beyond expectations.

Dr Zara Celik (@DrZaraCelik)Our second selection, Dr Zara Celik - an integrative health & nutrition practitioner, wellness expert, high performance coach, and Founder of Multi-Award Winning Amara Wellness Centre - dedicates her life to empowering & educating women to embrace their individualities and thrive in all aspects of life.

She helps top CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, celebrities and elite athletes around the globe to have equanimity, homeostasis and internal equilibrium, which is the foundation to peak performance. Dr Zara offers customised wellness programs specifically designed for every single client to meet their individual needs, ensuring that all her clients are educated, supported, guided and empowered every step of the way throughout their journeys. Her clients have full access directly to her anytime during and after the program.

Dr Zara supports people to become the best version of themselves so they can thrive and live a meaningful life. Find out more and contact Dr Zara Here

Samantha Doyle (@SamanthaDoyle)Our third selection, Mother of four, yoga therapist, and Ayurvedic wellness coach, Samantha Doyle is known for her gentle, simple, and effective approach to behaviour change. Samantha is the founder of Live to Serve Academy, a health and wellness platform which aims to educate and inspire people to live a vibrant, meaningful life.

Having worked with thousands of women, across 10 different countries over the past decade, her offerings aim to serve the whole person - helping people find life and purpose beyond their health challenges. Her unique method has shown notable success with healing emotional eating and other complex patterns of behaviour. Samantha has shared the stage with influential industry leaders such as Dr. Robert Svoboda, Amadea Morningstar, Dr Vignesh Devraj, and MC Yogi.

Download your free Ayurvedic Wellness Guides here and start your holistic health journey today.

Cherry Farrow (@CherryFarrow)Our fourth selection, Cherry Farrow - Motivational Speaker, International bestselling author, NLP Master Trainer, Stage Hypnotist, Master Coach, and CEO of Successful Minds Institute - works with individuals,organizations and education institutions to strengthen and elevate their communication, connection and confidence to new heights, so they can positively impact the world.

Cherry's down-to-earth humour makes her a highly sought after "edutainer". She engages groups from the moment she steps in and leaves them with empowering tools and mindsets that they can use to coach themselves to their desired successes. Cherry is passionate about awakening people to their limiting beliefs that keep them mediocre and helping them take their careers, business, and themselves personally & professionally to unprecedented levels.

Cherry's mission is to have at least one family member in every home certified at the NLP Master Practitioner level. To find out more about Cherry & book a Master Your Mindset Action Plan session, visit Here

Tara Doherty (@TaraDoherty)

Our fifth selection, Tara Doherty, is an integrative health professional and founder of the health and wellness practice, Endless Vitality. Her signature Men's Cleanse program gives men the personalised support they need to overcome many of their most compelling and uncomfortable health complaints.

Men who are overweight, overwhelmed and under-performing, are extremely responsive to Tara's science-based system that gets them lean, laser-focused and feeling happier. A customised nutrition and exercise plan works to heal the microbiome, improve mental focus, sleep quality, virility and weight loss, without feeling hungry or deprived.

Tara wants you to live life well and find your endless vitality by focussing on five interlocking principles:Rewiring the brain for success; Removing unwanted weight; Rebalancing hormones; Resetting circadian rhythms and Recalibrating deep connection.

Click here to connect with Tara and join a supportive community on a mission to reclaim their health and vitality.

Jess Jasch (@JessJasch)Our sixth selection, Jess Jasch, is podcast host of Get Jasched and founder of J-Leigh, a Success Coaching service that dives deep into high-level empowerment work to impact positive change in health and wellbeing. Through epigenetic biology, mindset, and embodiment tools, Jess helps leaders from all over the world gain a deeper understanding of their needs on a biological and soul level, so they can tap into their unique version of success and realise more of it. Since she comes from a tertiary-qualified corporate communication and public relations background, through to trauma-informed yoga teaching, including her Masters of Life Coaching and NLP, Jess has spent the past 5 years helping clients building all important communication skills, and cultivating emotional intelligence that garners confidence to live a fully expressed, empowered life.If you're a leader and looking for a life-empowering coaching program for your success, contact Jess via the J-Leigh website.

Suzanne Ingleton (@YourInnerCalmCoach)

Our seventh selection, Suzanne Ingleton, is the creator of the famous 5in4 Weight Loss Program. Suzanne specialises in helping women who have tried everything to lose weight and finally get the results they want.

The program works because it transforms the way women eat, think and live using Hypnosis, Time-Line Therapy and Mind Body Eating Psychology.

5in4 has helped hundreds of women change their relationship with food and let go of negative emotions which have "literally been weighing them down".

Suzanne's background as a Personal Trainer combined with her Coaching and Master NLP skills create a powerful program that ensures women lose weight easily and keep it off for good.

If you're a woman who wants to lose weight book a FREE 30min Consultation NOW.

Emma Blake (@EmmaBlake)

Our eight selection, Emma, is the founder of Mind Body Soul Wellness. Her mission is to facilitate a safe space for her clients' healing journeys. Emma empowers her clients to reconnect with their heart & soul, raise their awareness & energetic vibrations. She also facilitates a number of modalities & processes allowing clients to heal Mindy, Body and Soul. Emma offers a range of reiki energy healing sessions, 1:1 Coaching Programs and Online Group Programs.

Emma works with women to take them from a place of lacking self love and worth, having a scarcity mindset around relationships, to a place of loving & rediscovering their self worth to create empowering relationships.

In 2020 Emma was nominated for a number of community awards and was runner-up in the 2020 Ausmumpreneur People's Choice Award for Making a Difference in Health & Wellness.

Emma's newest online group program, Evol-ve, is a journey to creating the ultimate relationship with self.

Claire Davis (@ClaireDavis)

Our ninth selection, Claire, is a personal mindset coach and trainer at Claire Davis Coaching, a mother of 3, and is passionate about helping other Mums find themselves again by assisting them to release negative emotions from the past, remove limiting decision that are holding them back and create new strategies that work towards leading them in to a compelling future of abundance.

Claire's qualifications include Master NLP Coach as well as Master in Time Line Therapy, Neuro Linguistic Programming and Hypnosis. Claire is a recognized NLP Coach and Trainer by the American Board of Hypnotherapy and NLP. Claire believes that the best and fastest way to help more people is by training others to go on and do the same through her 4 in 1 NLP Practitioner and Modern Hypnosis training.

Claire's motto is To be the Change'. Go to Coach 4 Mums to check out her reviews.

Toni Dingle (@ToniDingle)

Our tenth selection, Toni Dingle, is the founder of That Gut Feeling, an online coaching service that helps women give their children the best start in life, both physically and mentally, by taking a holistic approach to gut health.

"Each new generation is faced with more and more health concerns. Be it chronic illness, developmental delays, behavioural problems, or skin conditions," Toni says, "I have seen firsthand the power that improving gut health can have. Not only for children, but for mothers too."

Toni offers a three-tier program that transforms the way women view health, and supports lifestyle changes that lead to a healthier gut and happier home. The program provides education, support and accountability so that women are able to THRIVE in life, health and motherhood, rather than simply survive it.

Toni's mission is to build a community of like-minded women to help change the trajectory of health for future generations.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b3837eed-09de-4184-aabb-1d4176c7d639

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The 10 Greatest Health & Wellness Coaches in Australia - Benzinga

Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression. (Margaret Sanger)

Most of us grew up in a world we have basic civil rights and amazingly, we still live in a world where some women dont have them. Women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world. The numbers tell the story quite clearly, 190 heads of the state 9 are women. Of all the people in the parliament in the world, 13 percent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top-level jobs, board seats, tops out at 15 to 16 percent. The numbers have actually not moved since 2002 and are going in the wrong direction.

Even in the non- profit world, a world we sometimes think of as being led by more women, women at the top, are just 20 percent. We also have another problem, which is that women face harder choices between profession success and personal fulfillment. So, the question is, how are we going to fix this? How do we change these numbers at the top? How do we make this different? The answer to this is, keeping women in the workforce. The problem is that women are dropping out.If women do want to stay in the work force, there are three important messages: 1.Sit at the table 2.Make your partner a real partner 3.Dont leave before you leaveWomen systematically underestimate their own abilities, if you test men and women and ask them questions on totally objective criteria like GPAs, men get it wrong slightly high, and women get it wrong slightly low. Women do not negotiate for themselves in the workforce. A study shows that 57 percent of men entering the workforce negotiate for their salaries while only 7 percent women negotiate for their salaries. And most importantly men attribute their success to themselves while women attribute it to the external factors. Because no one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side, and not at the table, and no one gets the promotion if they dont think that they deserve their success, or they dont even understand their own success. Womens empowerment can be defined to promoting womens sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others. Many organizations across the country are working towards this goal of empowering women and making them self-reliant. But its not that simple, because what the data shows, above all else, is one thing, which is that success and likeability are positively corelated for men and negatively corelated for women. We need to believe in ourselves, to reach for the promotion, to sit at the table, and we have to do it in a world, where for them there are sacrifices, they will make for that. We have got to get women to sit at the table.Women have made more progress being in the workforce than they have beingat home. The data shows this very clearly, if a woman and a man work full-time, and have a child, the woman does twice the amount of housework the man does, and the woman does three times the amount of childcare the man does. For people of both genders, if we are going to even things out and let women stay in the workforce, this has to change. Studies show that household with equal earnings and equal responsibility also have half the divorce rate. And if that wasnt good enough motivation for everyone out there, they also have more, they know each other more in the biblical sense as well. There is a really deep irony, to the fact that actions women are taking, with the objective of staying in the workforce actually lead to their eventually leaving. But the point is that what happens once you start kind of quietly leaning back? Every woman has been through this, once she givesbirth to her child, her job has to be really an inspiring one to make her go back to work. Because its hard to leave a child at home. Your job needs to be challenging, it needs to be rewarding, you need to feel like you are making a difference. And if you didnt take that promotion and some guy next to you did, if you stopped looking for new opportunities, if you are going to be bored, because you should have kept your foot on the gas pedal, the ambition has to drive the women. They need to stay in there and stop leaving before time.Women need to keep their foot on the gas pedal until the very day they need to leave to take a break for a child and then make the decision. Decisions should not be made too far in advance, particularly the ones women are not even conscious that they are making. My generation, really, sadly, is not going to change the numbers at the top. They are just not moving, we are not going to get to where 50 percent of the population in my generation, there will not be 50 percent of women at the top of any industry. But Im hopeful that future generations can. I think of a world that was run where half of the countries and our companies were run by women, would be a better world. I think it would be a better world. Once the glass ceiling has been broken, it can never be put back together, however, one would try to do that. The primary victims of all civil wars, are women and children. All these men and women should be free to decide, whether they do or do not want to conceive a child and they should be able to use one of the birth control methods to act on their decision. Over one billion people use birth control without any hesitation at all. Some people worry that the real goal of family planning is to control populations, but these are all side issues that have attached themselves to this core idea that men and women should be able to decide when they want to have a child. And as a result, birth control has almost completely and totally disappeared from the global health agenda. In Uttar Pradesh the largest state of India, their contraception rate is 29%, so what we have created as a world has become a life and death crisis. There are 100,000 women who say they dont want to be pregnant and they die in child birth.India is amongst the nations where women are still not safe, it is necessary to bring the woman empowerment more than ever. The micro-level studies that were commissioned by the Department of Women & Child Development, has made it evident that there is a need for re-framing policies for access to the quality of employment. Strategies will be designed to enhance the capacity of women and empower them to meet the negative social and economic impacts, which may flow from the globalization process. Globalization has presented new challenges for the realization of the goal of womens equality, the gender impact of which has not been systematically evaluated.

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Empowering Women is The Only Choice - Brighter Kashmir

A new partnershipbetween the Saudi ACWA Power Group, the commune of Ghassate, andTIBU Maroc has been laucnhed, with the support of the Ministry of National Education, Professional Training, Higher Education, and Scientific Research.

As the leading organization working for the education and integration of youth through sport in Morocco, with broad national coverage through a presence in more than 17 cities and 11 regions of the kingdom, and in line with its ambition to become the locomotive of sport for development in Africa by 2030,TIBU Maroc is involved in contributing to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which represent real opportunity to position sport as a tool to design innovative solutions to the complexity of the challenges of the 21st century.

On 24March 2021, TIBU Maroc and ACWA Power Maroc started theTIBU Ghassate Center for education through sport, which focuses on regular practice of sport, foreign languages learning, and initiation to STEM and leadership, confirmingtheir support for the most vulnerable populations through the development and implementation of sports initiatives for a lasting impact.

"The partnership between TIBU Maroc and ACWA Power in Morocco today confirms ACWA Power's strategy and willingness to make a lasting contribution to the development of youth in Ghassate region. TIBU Ghassate Center by ACWA Power will allow this population to flourish socially through sportand, with basketball being an organized and well-structured sport, these young people will have the opportunity to live positive experiences that only sport and an active lifestyle can bring. Also, this new sporting dynamic and events the new education through sport center will provide is going to help create additional revenues for the commune of Ghassate," saidBadis Derradji, Vice-President - Porfolio Management - Africa.

"In these times of crisis, education, emancipation and empowerment of vulnerable populations are becoming urgent and valuable issues. With the opening of this new center, we will be able to enroll more than 240 youths thanks to the strength of sport, the path of empowerment and educational success. The values we seek to pass on to children during our sports sessions and activities are essential to their futural professional integration," said Mohamed Amine Zariat, Ashoka Fellow and Founding President ofTIBU Maroc.

In terms of development and social action, ACWA Power Ouarzazate (APO) and TIBU Maroc have signed a partnership to develop an education through sportprogram at the Ghassate communal schoolfor 240 children.

Following an initial selection, 240 girls and boys between the age of 6 and 12 were enrolled, for free, to participate in a regular program three times a week. These young people will be supervised by three experienced officials of sports for social change, trained and recruited by TIBU Maroc, thanks to the financial support of ACWA Power Maroc.

This project, which will be funded by ACWA Power Ouarzazate, will contribute to the promotion of children's personal development through sport, specifically basketball,a sport recognized for developing team spirit and collaboration between players.

It should also be noted that this partnership will create full-time jobs for people of Ghassate.

"TIBU Ghassate Center by ACWA Power will allow young people in nearby villages to discover a new sport and new passions. This medium- to long-term partnership will also be a vehicle for the evolution of these young people by offering them openings to the external world. This project will also create short-, medium-, and long-term jobs for executives and trainers in the region," said Mr. Abdellatif Cheikh, Chairman of the Board of ACWA Power Ouarzazate I S.A.

"Social engagement is one of the main vocations of our group. The solidarity sports dimension is a fundamental pillar on which our territorial development strategy is based. This long-term partnership, which led to the creation of TIBU Ghassate Center by ACWA Power, is a part of a strong and comprehensive CSR program, encompassing a multitude of fruitful actions, and aims at responding sustainably and effectively to needs expressed locally," saidInane Bouachik, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at ACWA Power Maroc.

Families of the beneficiaries are also affected by this program through positive educational workshops.

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Education through sport in the heart of Ghassate - sportanddev.org

CD Projekt RED says it is working hard to combat crunch in its workplace, but also announced it will start developing two major AAA games at the same time starting in 2022.

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Following reports of overwork during Cyberpunk 2077's development, crunch has been a sensitive topic for CD Projekt RED. The developer has become known for its high pedigree of games at the cost of its employees.

Now CD Projekt President Adam Kicinski promises to reverse this trend. The company says it is working hard to create a caring, sustainable workplace where its employees can thrive. The plan includes multiple parts like mental health workshops and support, and even a new developer-appointed representatives that will act as middle-men to help the dev teams communicate directly with the decision-makers on CD Projekt's board of directors.

"We are putting greater focus on team wellbeing at CD Projekt. You cannot be an agile developer without a sustainable and caring work environment. We are working hard to minimize stress, prevent burnout, and give our employees everything all they need to focus on the work with a fully positive mindset," Kicinski said.

At the same time it made these affirmations, CD Projekt also confirmed it will start working on two major AAA games at the same time. By 2022, the company plans to have two teams working on projects in parallel with one another using its new RED 2.0 games development environment, which includes the huge advancements in engine and motion capture tech used in Cyberpunk 2077.

Below are the three main tenants of this plan, along with quotes from Kicinski:

"We want to make sure every employee feels comfortable. That includes a strong team spirit at the studio and introducing more initiatives to provide support for matters such as mental health.

"Personal well-being is key. We have already put in place a series of workshops dedicated to educating, supporting, and advising employees about mental health and personal care. We have always encouraged an open workplace and value a barrier-free atmosphere. We have open-door policies were team members can talk frankly with board members, directors, or leads. But there is more we can do."

"We are strengthening bilateral communication at every level.

"We are creating a team of representatives elected by the whole studio. This team is chosen from across many disciplines within the company to share new ideas, feedback, and topics of discussion with the board. They will gather information directly from the team and then work directly with the board to ensure all voices are heard and improvements can be made wherever necessary."

"Lastly, our workplace should always be a place of empowerment. The project is ambitious. We work on huge innovative projects and that gives a lot of space for professional development, but we also encourage personal development through regular workshops and training to help team members to find and grow their own strengths.

"Nurturing the team is hugely important for us."

CD Projekt developers are currently working on a myriad of projects, including:

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CD Projekt RED on crunch: 'We're working hard to minimize stress' - TweakTown

March Mindfulness is a Mashable series that explores the intersection of meditation practice and technology. Because even in the time of coronavirus, March doesn't have to be madness.

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Get yourself into a comfortable position. Bring your attention to your breath.

Whose voice did you hear these words in? If you use meditation apps on the regular, youve got a particular person in your mind right now.

Whether your chosen app is helmed by one signature voice or offers up to 10,000, voice is an important element of a meditation app. The voice becomes your link to developing mindfulness, your intimate guide to building tactical tools to help you navigate life's ups and downs, and the key to you actually returning the next day for another session. They start your morning, bring you clarity in your most vulnerable moments, and even lull you to sleep , with the dulcet tones of Harry Styles willing you to the land of nod... wait, Harry Styles? How did he get in here?

There's significant power and strategy behind the voice within your meditation app, as major players in the mindfulness space find their own voices in an industry that relies on having a distinct one.

Undeniably, one of the most recognisable voices in the mindfulness industry today belongs to Headspace's Andy Puddicombe.

A meditation and mindfulness expert, Tibetan Buddhist monk, trained circus performer, and co-founder of Headspace, Puddicombe has recorded the majority of guided sessions for the popular app. Rival app Calm has a similar signature voice in its head of mindfulness, Tamara Levitt.

Puddicombe's voice is so familiar to users that when people meet him IRL it always goes the same way. People assume he knows them, and that they know him, because he's in their ears giving instructions to take a deep breath and enjoy the feeling of having nothing to do for 10 to 20 minutes a day.

"I think Andy's voice was a sort of underrated asset for the brand from the beginning," says Headspace's head of content, William Fowler. "Andy's from Bristol but he has a kind of accentless sort of quality to his voice. In America, a lot of people think he's Australian...they can't really place him. So, he has an oddly neutral voice but still he manages to express a kindness and approachability. That is key for the relationship people develop with him as a teacher."

You can see Puddicombe at work in this guided meditation with The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, in which he shifts from casual chat to a two-minute guided meditation with the audience:

In 2019, following requests from users for a female voice, Headspace made the move to broaden the app's vocal pool to include that of Eve Lewis Prieto, the company's director of meditation. "A lot of people prefer Eve now," says Fowler. "We're starting to see more equitable balance in terms of usage. Because Andy's the founder, more of the content exists in his voice. Eve is catching up with him, and in terms of her popularity when users choose a voice, she's hot on his heels."

Over the years, some of you have asked for our content in a female voice. Try as I might, I just can't pull it off. Thankfully, we had the perfect woman close at hand to re-record @Headspace exercises available in-app, with more to come so you now have the choice pic.twitter.com/YvihrzoQtp

Andy Puddicombe (@andypuddicombe) July 31, 2019

Prieto had worked with Headspace since 2013, having joined the company with an interest in meditation as a tool for managing anxiety. After a rigorous recruitment process, Fowler says Prieto tested better than other candidates they'd reached out to, as she understood Headspace's approach to meditation.

A mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) teacher in training, Prieto says that Headspace's meditations try to create conditions as if the host was in the same room as you, as "your trusted friend and guide." She trained as a Headspace guide under Puddicombe and senior dharma teacher David Nichtern, and has spent time practicing at Scotland's Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery.

"My training is based heavily on my practice, without direct experience of what I am teaching it becomes harder for them to feel authentic," she says. "When I am delivering meditations or teaching a class I am very much doing the practice with them. Of course there is a lot of studying involved but without the practice then it is not an experiential experience and that is so important when teaching meditation."

Even in an audio medium, diversity matters for Headspace users. "We had feedback from our members that they didn't feel our representation was what they expected," Fowler says, adding that the company started recruiting people of colour as guided meditation teachers in 2020 (both Puddicombe and Prieto are white).

"We are trying to create a range of representation within the product so people can feel themselves reflected in the voices that they hear," says Fowler.

Headspace reached out to a range of meditation guides, focusing on tone, teaching approach, and authenticity. Headspace wasn't looking for someone robotic, who sounded like they were reading a script. Instead, it wanted someone to bring their own practice and energy to the company. Registered psychiatric nurse Dora Kamau tested extremely well, and was hired as a full-time mindfulness meditation teacher in November 2020. "Her desire to teach meditation stemmed from the lack of diversity in the mindfulness community, and a yearning for more wellness spaces with Black representation," says Prieto.

Also hired was acupuncturist and outpatient psychotherapist Kessonga Giscombe, who is trained in MBSR. However, browsing through Headspace's classes, Puddicombe and Prieto still pop up most often as teachers you can choose from.

Leading the charge for representation in meditation apps is Shine, created by Marah Lidey and Naomi Hirabayashi, a Black woman and a half-Japanese woman, who wanted to centre the mental health of marginalised groups they felt were "otherized" in mainstream wellness. The pair met as coworkers a decade ago, and crafted Shine's brand "voice" through their experience of helping each other cope through stress.

Representation is reflected in both Shine's guides and the packaging of its classes. The app prominently features a "Black mental health" playlist, for example. And most of Shine's audio content is created by Black women or women from marginalised communities.

"We are for everyone and also recognise that by elevating representative and diverse voices that are reflective of the world and our audience, that's how we elevate all of us," says Hirabayashi. "We're reflecting a variety of different experiences, because the intersection of our own experiences with mental health is how we experience different elements of struggle or confidence or trauma."

Beyond representation, Lidey and Hirabayashi also look for experience, how well the guide meshes with Shine's mission, and warmth. Hosts need to be certified, either as a therapist, career coach, or wellness teacher. Listening to them also needs to feel like "spending time with a close friend that makes you feel safe, trusted, and loved versus just a generic voice."

"When we thought about the voice we wanted to create with Shine, it was really about like, your friend with a psych degree," says Lidey. "Somebody who is aspirational, has the background in science and research, but isn't necessarily leading with that in a top-down way, instead is making it accessible, giving you language, and helping you to find an entry point."

Shine started as a self-care app that sent you motivational texts, but after testing delivery with digital assistants Alexa and Google Home, Shine evolved into a more expansive meditation app.

Regular voices include those of poet, author, and creator Mel Chant, self empowerment coach Jamila Reddy, creator and yoga teacher Elisha Mudly, and writer and creator Aisha Beau, among others. And while Shine has a whole team of hosts and writers on board, director of content Haley Goldberg created a community-driven model for the content themes. Every user review and customer service ticket goes directly into Slack where all team members can see it. "There's a lot of transparency on what our users are feeling both about the product but just about their lives," says Lidey, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fight for racial justice, the U.S. election, and political uprisings across the world as major touchpoints for Shine users.

While some might be happily welcomed into mindfulness by this friend with a psych degree, others might be more tempted by a famous voice. Within the last decade, as the mindfulness industry has boomed, meditation apps have attracted the attention of celebrities, notably actors, whose vocal training and roles as professional storytellers make their voice attractive to listeners and provides a marketing hook for the apps themselves.

Only some celebrities are presenting guided meditation programs a celebrity himself, meditation expert Deepak Chopra's collaboration with the instantly recognisable (and forever soothing) voice of Oprah Winfrey for free meditations on his own mindfulness app, Chopra, was released in November 2020. This is serious mindfulness star power right here:

Kevin Hart is one of Headspace's most significant star partnerships. His content series includes an advice segment, "Energy Shots with Kevin," and the genuinely funny "Mindful Runs," motivating users to run mindfully.

"We saw this opportunity to appeal to people that maybe wouldn't consider mindfulness otherwise," says Headspace's Fowler. "It also speaks to the original goal of Headspace at the very beginning: to demystify meditation." Making mindfulness fun and approachable is the key to Hart's content for the platform, deploying comedy through the different elements of meditation.

"One would be a compassionate approach to doing your practice imperfectly," Fowler explains. "As you fail, you forgive yourself and keep going...So, we give that idea to Kevin, he puts his unique spin on it, and it becomes a really funny monologue about failure."

Hart writes and delivers this content himself, but he isn't running guided meditation sessions (those are still run by Puddicombe, Prieto, and Headspace's new instructors Kamau and Giscombe).

While Hart is carving out a motivational space within the meditation as a lifestyle sector, sleep is where most of the stars are. Calm launched Sleep Stories in 2016, and since then has seen LeBron James, Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba, Lucy Liu, Nick Offerman, and most recently, Harry Styles (who notably invested in Calm in 2018) reading boring soothing bedtime tales in a low, slow tone for you to drift off to. Calm co-founder and co-CEO Michael Acton Smith said in a press statement that the singer's "mellifluous voice is the perfect tonic to calm a racing mind." And look, he's not wrong:

Sleep stories are less of a risk for a celebrity than a full-on meditation session. While a celeb may get dinged for teaching a listener how to develop mindfulness tools when they aren't an expert in that field, delivering a long-winded tale may be right up their alley. Unsurprisingly, the stories are immensely popular. McConaugheys "Wonder," a 30-minute story about nostalgia, written by Calm editor and writer Chris Advansun, has been listened to "more than 11 million times" since its 2018 release. McConaughey, with his signature, soothing Texan drawl, was simply made for this.

McConaughey is familiar to many, so his bedtime story is worth checking out as a fun thing to do, even if you're not into mindfulness. You might be nervous about trying a meditation app, but seeing a celebrity you like in the lineup might make things less intimidating. There's also an element of pure novelty in hearing that skilled actor or singer attempt a style of performance you're not used to seeing them in. And then there's the allure of connecting with a celebrity on a deeply personal level in a meditation app. You get to share a vulnerable moment with a person you feel like you already know without actually meeting them. Meeting them would ruin it! Celebrity podcasts sit in this same realm; you can have a casual, comfortably one-sided conversation with Laverne Cox, RuPaul, Anna Faris, or Dax Shepard. We're able to feel closer to these celebrities without putting awkward social pressure on either side.

This celebrity push went even further with Calm's TV foray, its 10-episode HBO Max series A World of Calm narrated by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Kate Winslet, Mahershala Ali, Oscar Isaac, Nicole Kidman and more. Famous voices are something so far not employed in Headspace's own venture into streaming, Netflix's Headspace Guide to Meditation, which saw the first of three planned series narrated by its own celeb, Puddicombe.

Though less invested in using superstar voices outside of the Kevin Hartnership, Headspace's hugely popular sleepcasts (again, slowly told stories told with Abe Simpson-level detail designed to get you to nap) have gained somewhat of a cult following I, for one, am a major fan of them, especially the story "Cat Marina."

Fowler and his team have significant listener data to help them analyse which sleepcasts are going well. Popular subject matter (the internet loves cats) and voice plays a major part in planning future episodes.

"If we see there seems to be heat there, we'll double down on that VO artist," he says, noting the sleepcasts have even developed their own fandoms. "If you look at our Facebook groups, you see that it's hotly debated, people tend to go for one and then they'll come back to that voice and maybe that suite of sleepcasts over and over again." Fandoms over sleep story voices on a meditation app is as niche as it gets.

However, some celebrities are following in Chopra's footsteps and reaching beyond sleep stories and pep talks. Insight Timer launched a series of free guided meditations with practitioner, author, and model Gisele Bndchen, who reached out to the app she'd personally used for years. On this platform, however, she's just one teacher among 10,000.

Star cameos aside, Headspace and Shine stick to a small group of staff voices on the app, whereas competitors like Insight Timer operate with a different model: Thousands of independent teachers upload their own content to the freemium app.

"We thought OK, let's do something in the meditation space as a marketplace not like Calm or Headspace with one or two teachers, let's actually create a marketplace for meditation teachers to go out and find new audiences," says Insight Timer CEO Christopher Plowman, who bought the self-guided meditation timer app in 2014 with his brother, Nicho Plowman, a meditation teacher wanting to find and develop students.

"Diversity of choice in meditation practice, it turns out is really important. People get bored, surprise, surprise."

Insight Timer is a massive free library of guided meditations without ads (a paid subscription gets you unique content). Do people tend to stick with one teacher among thousands? "What we find is they start to meander," Plowman says. "The average number of teachers that someone follows on our app is 11 to 12 teachers...Diversity of choice in meditation practice, it turns out is really important. People get bored, surprise, surprise."

Meditation teachers regularly upload content in 44 languages and across 45 religions including Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. "We decided very early on that we weren't going to strip out spirituality and religion, because people are inherently spiritual or religious," says Plowman. "Recently, a lot of apps like Calm and Headspace have stripped all that out because they want to get into corporations and schools, and there's a big separation of church and state."

With 10,000 teachers uploading content, quality control is a challenge and the only thing Insight Timer really sends back is recordings of poor audio quality. There's no brand training for teachers, but there are practical resources. "Obviously we don't provide curriculum training about what's the right meditation or what's the right religious system," says Plowman. "We definitely provide training and guidance on best practices and recording audio tips." Insight Timer's large user community remains the primary monitoring tool, as the app filters content according to ratings and "features" tracks rated 4.6 and above.

With this setup, some meditation sessions on Insight Timer are better than others so it may take a while to find a voice you like. And though the content may vary in quality, the company doesn't often ditch content. "We very very very rarely remove anything from our platform," says Plowman. "I think we've removed three teachers out of 10,000 in seven years because the decisions they made in their personal lives, it was not appropriate that they were on our platform. But we don't like to censor, we don't like to determine what you should listen to."

With so many meditation apps available, there's a lot of voice choice these days. It's important to try a few teachers before you settle on one, as everyone responds to meditation guides differently.

The choices made by the companies putting voices into your mindful ears matter, as they can welcome you into the practice (or discourage you), help you stay focused, and enable you to develop tactical mindfulness tools to navigate turbulent and calm times alike. There's power and responsibility in a few simple words spoken into a microphone, aimed directly at your brain.

You won't hear them the same again.

Read the original here:

Who gets to be the voice inside your meditation app? - Mashable SE Asia

In 2021, there is still no justice for Breonna Taylor. We are fighting just to get people to call a man who targeted Asian spas in the killing of Asian women a racist and a sexist who committed a hate crime. And its women of color, who are represented more than others in frontline jobs, who have been economically struck the hardest by coronavirus.

Racism is a public health crisis, from inequities in access to healthcare to medical bias to disparities of every kind. The psychological effects of living with racism hurt our physical, spiritual, and mental health. Its a domino effect of destruction.

Where there is racism, there is sexism, xenophobia, and all manner of marginalization. COVID-19 simply put our problems in bold, capital letters.

And our children have witnessed it all. Our girls and they who are at the intersection of many of these communities and whose challenges often go overlooked need our protection, support, and love.

Not even Meghan Markle in her royalty could be shielded from the toxic effects of racism. The monarchy, like the world, wasnt designed for it. Well before COVID-19, she was isolated and confused on how to forge forward. She was suicidal.

Over the last year, our kids have also been pulled from their social circles, forced to live remotely, fighting more stress than ever before. Markle, even with riches our children dont have, did not want to live anymore. Its Womens History Month, but what are we doing to ensure our girls, women, and they of color have a future?

In Massachusetts, three mentorship organizations are focusing more on the care and spiritual feeding of girls and them to build a healthy mindset and cultivate self-care practices.

Over the last year, Chica Project, a Massachusetts nonprofit dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for Latinas and women of color, has prioritized mental health.

Since the pandemic began, leadership surveyed their students nearly 43 percent reported a decline in mental health. About half of them are experiencing food instability and have at least one parent out of work due to coronavirus. Many share a room and work jobs to help at home. Some have a hard time accessing WiFi to get what they need.

A lot of our youth feel isolated even more, said Erika Rodriguez, Chica Project executive director. They are talking about wanting to reach out for help, wanting to lead those conversations at home and be ambassadors for mental health, for identity, for vaccines, for access to information at home. Its so important to hone in on mental health and train them on how to have these conversations.

Through mentorship, networking, and skills training, Chica Project has served over 3,000 youth over the last decade. This past year, they have gone remote and expanded beyond Massachusetts, mentoring 300 girls and them, ages 12 to 18, here, as well as in New York, Texas, and the Dominican Republic.

But despite their hardships, the mentees have also shown resilience and a passion for change.

The new generation is so unapologetic and ready to talk about their experience, to resist, said Lina Caon, associate director. They will tell you their pronouns and where they are at. They are talking about their mental health and embracing their culture. They are fearless and speaking their truth. They have become the teachers, too. The mentors are intergenerational.

ASPIRE (Asian Sisters Participating In Reaching Excellence), another Boston-based nonprofit, empowers Asian American girls and women. They, too, have emphasized the importance of mental health. Since the pandemic began, theyve worked with about 26 girls, ages 14 to 17. They recently honored the lives of the women killed in Atlanta.

We are putting together personal wellness plans, said ASPIRE youth program co-director Jewel Pereyra. The news is a trigger. They are worried about elders being targeted. We had a session on mental health and we are talking about how to manage stress by seeking therapy, checking in with your friends, and checking in with yourself.

After the killing of George Floyd, Pereyra said there was a big shift in talking more openly and placing priority on self-care in the context of social justice.

We talk about what solidarity looks like, anti-Blackness in our communities, and we talk about anti-Asian violence. I see a stronger voice in the girls, she said.

In Asian American communities, the family is the unit. You are selfless and indebted to the family. Oftentimes young women manage the family and dont have time to think about our own mental health. I think we neglect ourselves, and we cant afford to do that anymore with the growing rates of suicide and self-harm, Pereyra added.

Centering wellness is essential to building up our youth, said Ivanna Solano, co-founder of Love Your Magic, an organization dedicated to uplifting Black and brown girls and them.

Since the virus shut down our country, the Boston-based grassroots organization has served over 200 students, as young as seven up to 17, across 10 states.

Founded by educators of color, the goal was always to fight the school-to-prison pipeline through advocacy and empowerment. What has shifted due to COVID-19 is a deeper dedication to joy.

We have to make sure we are well mentally, physically, and emotionally, Solano said. Young people, specifically Black and brown girls, are living through double pandemics of racism and the coronavirus. Everything is heavy. We wanted to lean into the joy, to create opportunities to bask in each others magic. We dont do that enough.

Love Your Magic creates intentional spaces of community and conversation through a book club, virtual camp, and workshops. Their Be Well initiative offers a mental health specialist stipend program, free yoga, and meditation. Theres also a focus on learning circles for educators and parents.

It takes a village, Solano said. We have to be intentional in the way we talk to Black and brown girls, the books we read them, the messages we send. When we pour into our Black and brown girls, we pour into the world, and we see it in everything we do.

In our society, girls and them are erased and devalued. And Black and brown girls bear the brunt of the pain while being expected to grow up and become the melanated backbone of our democracy.

Save our girls and we just might save ourselves.

Jene Osterheldt can be reached at jenee.osterheldt@globe.com and on Twitter @sincerelyjenee.

See original here:

Lean into the joy: COVID, racism, and how we mentor girls of color - The Boston Globe