Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

Collective Evolution

The Double Eclipse Gateway Is On Its Way & There Is A Global Synchronized Meditation Collective Evolution This is also when Orion becomes aligned with the three pyramids of Giza, all aligning in the constellation of Leo, the sign of personal empowerment. It is said that a gateway of opportunity occurs at this time, to rebirth yourself and step into a ...

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The Double Eclipse Gateway Is On Its Way & There Is A Global Synchronized Meditation - Collective Evolution

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards called abortion non-negotiable in a series of tweets Tuesday responding to comments made by the Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that the DCCC does not have an abortion litmus test for candidates.

The CEO of the nations largest abortion provider tweeted that Womens health & rights are non-negotiable incl. access to safe, legal abortion. Well hold any politician who says otherwise accountable.

She also argued that access to safe, legal abortion is central to womens economic empowerment and bodily autonomy, and tweeted agreement with a New York Times article arguing that there is no economic equality without the ability to terminate a pregnancy.

Given Richards' position at the helm of an organization that ended the lives of 328,348 unborn babies in the past year alone, her tweets are relatively unsurprising. However, Richards said something slightly different in April when asked about DNC Chair Tom Perezs comment that all Democratic candidates need to support abortion.

Is it difficult right now to be a pro-life Democrat?" NBCs Nicole Wallace asked her at the time. "Do you guys make it difficult?

Oh, I don't think so, she replied, saying, abortion is one of these issues that it is I think shouldn't be politicized.

I think its actually a very deeply personal issue, and I respect folks having their own personal feelings about it, she continued. I think the question is, what should the government be doing about it? And so, I think theres are there are room for people to have their own personal opinions without saying, Well, Im going to make everybody else abide by my own my own views.

If abortion is non-negotiable and central to womens economic empowerment and bodily autonomy how can it also be a personal issue that shouldnt be politicized with room for peoples personal opinions?

Much of the far lefts reaction to the news that the DCCC might fund pro-life Democrats has been anger and hysteria. The question remains whether Democrats who vote based on the belief that abortion ends a human life will be tolerated in the party or if they will remain but be asked to keep their views as personal opinions and vote in line with the party on abortion.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) seemed to be open to the existence of pro-life Democrats in their comments on the controversy over Perezs comments.

This is the Democratic Party. This is not a rubber-stamp party, Pelosi told The Washington Post, adding that she grew up in a very devout Catholic family, and saying, my family, extended family are not pro-choice. You think Im kicking them out of the Democratic Party?

I am strongly pro-choice, and I will fight, Sen. Warren told The Huffington Post but added, I recognize that not all of my colleagues agree with me. Ill do everything I can to persuade them, but they are my colleagues, and thats just how it is with the Democrats.

A recent Gallup poll found that only 43 percent of Americans consider abortion to be morally acceptable. There are 21 million pro-life Democrats, or roughly a quarter of the party, some of whom feel betrayed by the partys platform on abortion.

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Cecile Richards's Confusing Stance on Pro-Life Democrats - Townhall

Embed from Getty Images We read a lot about motivating factors for entrepreneurs: having self-belief, never giving up, failing fast, continuing to look forward. And its mostly good stuff. But Ive found that sometimes there is something deeper. Something that supports these traits which is more personal and more impactful than just believing in oneself. Here are four things I have found having a meaningful bearing on our mental health, and ultimately our careers.

1. Its never about business, its all about whatever you love the most. For me, my children matter more to me than anything in business. I almost lost sight of that at one point. Not that I forgot I loved my kids, but too often I overlooked being present and showing it. Dont allow your stress and pressure get in the way of the one source of strength that will always be there for you. The ones who love you unconditionally.

2. Have a loving support network around you. Things will go wrong, go south, and be difficult to handle. Having those around you who will understand and offer compassion will give you strength to move forward. Sometimes a person just listening and telling you it will be all right is enough. The hug of a loved one, the compassion of a loving listener, the arm around your shoulder. It can have a profound impact on your decision making.

3. Be a strong co-leader of your family. Learning to lead in business means nothing if you sacrifice the opportunity to be a loving and strong co-leader for your family. You and your parental counterpart, regardless of your marital situation, are who your children look to when they experience the world. Their morals, their ethics, their care for others, their respect for others: They learn it all from you. You cannot hide from this. They are your opportunity to learn how leading impacts others. The most respected business leaders know this and treat their employees this way. They learn it in the most important place, their home.

4. Control doesnt matter. Cooperation and interdependence do. Supporting others in a way they say helps them be a better person, matters. Their love for you supporting them and vice versa, your acceptance of them as an individual with thoughts, feelings, and life goals, your humility to equality and the capable contribution of others, is what will produce trust and drive you all forward.

The feeling of success in life is unique, precious, and incredibly focusing. Nothing in business will ever fully give you this, even the feeling of accomplishment from signing a huge deal or selling your business. This only matters when you have someone to share it with. Someone you love, and someone that loves you and makes you happy. Someone who can say they are proud of you. Someone to acknowledge that your hard work has paid off. And when it doesnt, someone who can tell you will be okay will help you back on your feet.

Finding this contentment, this happiness, this love, will propel your courage, your confidence, and your self-empowerment in your career and your business. Whether its your life partner, your children, your parents, or your God. Success in our lives doesnt come from success in business or our careers, success in business comes from success in our lives. Be successful in your life. Photo credit: Getty Images

Dad of 3, Technology Executive and Advisor, budding Author. Nothing in my career matters if my family get hurt, so they come first. Always. They are my ultimate source of self-empowerment.

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Forget the Business talk: It's Always Personal - The Good Men Project (blog)

From left: Ashley Reid, founder and CEO of Wellist; Dusty Donaldson, founder of LiveLung; Chuck Gershman, co-founder, president and COO of Kuveda; and moderator Howard Krein, CMO of StartUp Health

One thing is clear: There are a plethora ofstakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem. And in trying to bring everyone together, we often neglect to tie in the most important part of the equation: the patient.

In a panel at MedCity CONVERGE, a group of panelists touched on the significance of patient engagement, particularly in oncology care. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all three panelists have personal ties to cancer. KuvedaCOO Chuck Gershmans father was diagnosed with cancer, Wellist CEO Ashley Reids mother had breast cancer and LiveLung founder Dusty Donaldson is a lung cancer survivor.

Due in part to their experiences, they each formed their own organizations.

Gershman co-founded Kuveda, a company that utilizes analytics and genomics to create cancer treatment options unique to each patient. Reid founded Wellist, which works to ensure healthcare organizations are giving patients access to their nonclinical needs. And Donaldsons LiveLung seeks to spread awareness of and support patients with lung cancer.

While the startups go about it differently, they all share the same goal: to empower the patient.

Kuveda wants to do so through personalized medicine. This year, approximately 14 million people are going to be diagnosed with cancer globally, Gershman said. But only 200,000 to 300,000 of them are going to get access to precision medicine. The company wants to bridge that gap.

Wellist looks at patient engagement a little differently. It provides its clients (such UPMC Hillman Cancer Center) with analytics solutions and the tools to connect patients with supportive communities. We exist to be a one stop shop so patients and nurses can get connected to organizations like Dustys, Reid said.

LiveLung exists to advocate for patients and to end the stigma surrounding lung cancer. By working with cancer centers and nurse navigators, its primary mission is to serve the lung cancer population.

And for each of the companies, technology is one of the keydrivers of ensuring patients are engaged with their diagnosis and treatment options.

Gershman, whose organization is in the process of building a patient portal, neatly summarized the mindset of patients today: Its no longer the doctor is God.' Instead, theyre looking online to find information.

Donaldson agreed. Patients are Googling. Caregivers are Googling, she noted. The Internet is definitely a huge player. Websites not only serve as a tool for patients to find information, but also for survivors to share their stories and connect.

Whether through tech or other means, empowerment comes down to recognizing that each individual has different needs.

Patient engagement is really getting to the heart of the patient whos going through whatever theyre going through, Donaldson concluded.

Photo: Justin Lawrence

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Want to empower patients? Look to technology - MedCity News

Summer Camp is certainly something most everyone can relate to.

Close your eyes and go back to those days when you learned to make homemade ice cream, tie rope knots, and work together as a team. The Disability Action Centers Summer Camp is not much different from camps that we remember.

We start with those sometimes awkward ice breaker games, make crafts and personal mementos, and partake in lots of eating, lots and lots of eating! DACs Camp CAN-DO, while much like camps we remember and hold dear, is also different in many ways.

The Disability Action Center Camp CAN-DO is about learning, growing, exploring and proving that our campers CAN-DO Anything. We want to challenge campers to do new things, proving both to themselves and others that they are full of way more ability than they are disability. Camp CAN-DO is not only open to individuals with special needs, but also their siblings, family members and non-disabled peers. It is truly an inclusive camp, where everyone, regardless of age or ability level, feels at home, welcomed and valued. Camp CAN-DO strives to provide an atmosphere of inclusion, personal empowerment, mentoring opportunities, creative expression, as well as provide innovative opportunities for campers and their families.

The DACs Camp CAN-DO will be held July 24-28, at the Disability Action Center and include travel to other accessible locations as part of the camp theme The DAC is Going Places. Much emphasis for this years camp will be the use of assistive technology in recreation, outdoor activity and travel. The week-long camp will focus on acclimating campers to new recreational activities and expanding their horizons through unique travel experiences, especially those experiences previously deemed as unattainable. Field trips are planned throughout Marion County to learn about our local history and points of interest, including the Marion County Historical Society, Pufferbellys Ice Cream Station, WV Folklife Center and the Homestead Farm Center. Other travel-related activities include cooking around the world, creating a personal passport, and mapping out future travel goals!

Camp CAN-DO is open to individuals age 8 and up, which is a departure from the primarily adult-driven programs that the DAC offers during the school year. The camp may be a child or familys first experience with the DAC and lays the ground work for their orientation to the DAC and the wide range of programs that are offered and will be much needed once the child is out of school.

Camp CAN-DO is held each week day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is open to individuals of all ages with physical and intellectual challenges. Siblings, family members and community supporters also play an important role in the success and integration of the camps activities. For more information about Camp CAN-DO and other DAC programs, you can visit http://www.disabilityactioncenter.com or call the center at 304-366-3213.

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DAC camp 'Can-Do' all about learning, growing, exploring - The Exponent Telegram (press release) (registration)

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MICHIGAN -- The Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health (MOASH) has been awarded a two-year grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) for their project Michigan Youth (MY) Girls Say.

This project offers holistic programming to K-12 self-identified girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to cultivate personal advocacy and resilience.

Gender based discrimination is pervasive in STEM academia and workforce. Without a foundation of personal empowerment, girls will abandon the STEM field. Taryn Gal, Managing Director at MOASH said STEM programming prepares students for success in many areas, but it does not prepare girls for a future in a field that is predominantly male. Research shows that it is not lack of interest, relevant education, or ability that accounts for a low percentage of women in STEM professions, but an adverse learning and working culture of sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination that girls are not prepared to navigate and challenge.

Participants in MY Girls Say will learn concrete skills, understand their rights, and recognize the strength in their whole selves to demand and achieve equitable treatment in a male-dominated STEM field.

Awarded early last month through the Community Action Grant from AAUW, MOASH has already begun its work connecting with committed project partners including AAUW of Michigan, Females Excelling More in Math Engineering and the Sciences (FEMMES), Phi Sigma Rho, Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, and a certified mindfulness and yoga instructor.

On July 16, MOASH coordinated its first MY Girls Say workshop about combating gender expectations and understanding TItle IX with an Ann Arbor Daisy Girl Scouts troop of girls 6-9 years old.

Throughout the next two years, MOASH will implement workshops on Title IX, spearhead self-advocacy training, and coordinate gender-embodiment yoga sessions.

Project partners will help ensure the development and widespread dispersal of effective materials to girls across Ann Arbor and other areas in Southeast Michigan. Components of MY Girls Say are youth-informed and/or youth-led.

Prior to MOASHs MY Girls Say program, there was no holistic approach to empowering girls in STEM to challenge future gender discrimination and few opportunities for girls in Michigan to receive Title IX education.

MY Girls Say has the potential to transform the way girls view their potential, their education, as well as their community. Those who wish to follow MOASHs progress on this project are directed to sign up for the MOASH e-newsletter and to like MOASHs Facebook page to stay informed.

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Grant to help support girls in STEM - UPMatters.com

When it comes to empowerment, everyone jumps straight to Dove. Few brands get remotely close to the impact that Doves "Real Beauty" campaign has had on culture, which fundamentally changed the way we view beauty and liberated women to feel comfortable in their own skin, stretch marks and all. It was such an important shift in our culture, acting as catalyst for a wave of female empowerment campaigns.

As I reflected on the well-deserved praise for the campaign, it got me wondering is liberation the same as empowerment? Is it enough to make someone "feel good" about themself if the goal is to motivate them to do something to improve their life? Or does it just make them settle? And does it make sense for all the other "female empowerment" brands to adopt the same strategy as Dove? Or are they just noise?

People often think of self-esteem and self-efficacy as the same sort of thing, but there is a big difference, particularly in terms of how empowered they leave someone feeling. Self-esteem reflects a persons subjective evaluation of their worth. Self-efficacy refers to the personal belief about ones ability to perform specific tasks or achieve specific outcomes. Put another way, self-esteem is belief about who you are, which can be somewhat fixed, whereas self-efficacy is a belief about what youre capable of.

Dove falls into the self-esteem camp, which was an extremely effective strategy, considering the beauty industrys history of tearing a womans confidence down and fueling the inner critic that lives within us. For decades, women were depicted by unrealistic images, which were devastating to the self-esteem of women everywhere. It was liberating and empowering when Dove turned this on its head and made the beauty industry the enemy. However, self-esteem is not always an effective strategy.

Carol Dweck, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, is famous for her research on mindset. Dweck showed that person-praise, such as "youre so smart, talented, gifted, brilliant, beautiful," etc., while it helps someone feel good about themselves, leads to what she coined a Fixed Mindset. Someone with a Fixed Mindset is likely to avoid challenges, give up easily, see effort as fruitless or, worse, ignore negative feedback, be threatened by the success of others and as a result fail to reach their potential. This is not empowering.

Conversely, process-praise, which emphasizes the process someone went through to achieve an outcome, cultivates a Growth Mindset and builds self-efficacy, as it enables the person to learn and replicate their behavior. Someone with a Growth Mindset embraces challenges, persists in the face of setbacks, sees effort as a path to mastery, learns from criticism, finds lessons and inspiration from the success of others and as a result can reach ever-higher levels of achievement. This is real empowerment.

Michael Jordan is probably one of the best examples of Growth Mindset individuals on earth. He was cut from his high-school basketball team and saw it as a challenge to work harder and give them no choice but to put him on the team. He was known to be the first to arrive at training and the last to leave. Over the years, Nikes Air Jordan brand has more closely reflected the Growth Mindset of its namesake.

Initially, the advertising was like that of any other superstar brand. Its actually quite entertaining to watch the old advertising reel, featuring Jordan achieving the impossible. Flying through the air like some kind of superhuman, dunking on a 20-foot-high ring. He makes it look easy. Its pure, natural talent. The advertising is praising the person, Michael Jordan. Inspiring, but not that empowering for anyone hoping to follow in his footsteps.

Contrast this a recent campaign. The monologue from Jordan sums it up. "Ive missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. 26 times Ive been trusted to take the game-winning shotand missed. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

The later campaign praised the journey that led to his success, celebrating his failures as opportunities to learn and grow. It reinforced that anything was possible through hard work, and the importance of perseverance. It left aspiring basketball players feeling ready for the challenge. The brand went from sponsoring sporting legends to creating sporting legends.

Brands have a unique ability to shape the mindsets of the people they are created for. We need to use that power to make sure were doing more than just making people feel good about themselves. Lets help them believe in themselves. This is real empowerment.

Alison Earl is the Director of Strategy for Burns Group.

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Are campaigns like 'Real Beauty' real empowerment? - Campaign US

A DABAWENYA authors for the first time a self-empowerment book.

Joan Mae Soco-Bantayan, 33, who is a nurturer at Tuburan Institute and 2003 Mutya ng Dabaw, wrote the book Remember Who You Really Are: 12 questions to help you how. The book launch was held last Friday, July 21, at the Abreeza Mall Activity Center.

I have been longing to write a book that will help empower our fellow men and finally, Ive done it, Soco-Bantayan says that even when she longed to write a book, she did not plan to do it this year.

Interestingly, Lady Bam Petilos, a TV and personality and a friend whom I met in Ike Pono seminar, came up to me last January and told me that its time for me to write a book, she says. Lady Bam also told me that the idea to write a book is divinely guided. Inwardly, I felt that too and I knew I had to honor that.

The book, according to Soco-Bantayan, is a summation of the lessons she learned from seminars like Ike Pono facilitated by Bruce Conching and Mission Courage Workshop facilitated by Alternative Nobel Prize awardee Nicanor Perlas. It also discusses the personal questions that we can use as a compass so that we are able to cope with our lives better, Soco-Bantayan adds. Because of the busy-ness that weighs in our lives, we have forgotten to look deeper into ourselves and find that deep inside lies the fulfillment.

Soco-Bantayan adds that Remember Who You Really Are not only talks about personal desires that one can achieve, I am emphasizing the sense of duty along with gratitude to in the book. This is because we have to change our inner perspective first before we can help in the world.

During the book launch, various guests were treated to angel message oracle card reading and gave angel card readings and guidance to guests for free.

This book would not have been possible without the help of the angels, she shares.

The book comes with an angel message bookmarker created by Angeologist Princess Buendia.

Feel Free to email stephaniesunstar@yahoo.com for comments and suggestions. Add or visit FB CelebdomSunstar for previous Celebdom articles.

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Dabawenya writes a self-empowerment book | SunStar - Sun.Star

Lit up faces are sneakily on display. Glowing blue, green, red, yellow, they can be seen peering out from behind gates, walls and doors, or from under roads and metal structures. They are trapped within boxes, with stories to tell passersby.

These faces represent all of us. All around the world, people face the same struggles, shoulder the same baggage and overcome the same problems. These faces are the portraits of real people that Ariela Wertheimer has preserved in her Light Boxes. Her exhibit, The Freedom to Let Go, on display at the 2017 Venice Biennale, encourages us to listen to the stories, but also to let go of the problems, break through the insecurities, and simply connect with other people.

People are people are people all over the world. They have the same problems, the same issues, and you can leave those problems here, Wertheimer said.

Wertheimers kind eyes and open smile radiate in the Alfa Romeo Exhibition Hall in Tel Aviv, where some of her Light Boxes and Rope Series paintings are hanging for the opening of a new Jeep car model. They asked her to show some of her work because its message connected with Jeeps marketing strategy: freedom, activity and letting go.

Life is not still, like we are not, she said. We are always us, but every day we are slightly different. We feel different things, we are a little different.

To show her work at the Jeep opening is a professional leap for Wertheimer, who only began displaying her work three years ago, in the Farkash Gallery in Jaffa.

She and her husband moved to Tel Aviv in 2013 after all of her five children had left home, and this motivated her to start working on her art more seriously.

Moving to Tel Aviv was a big movement in my soul, Wertheimer said, eyes sparkling. I always lived outside of cities in small places and suddenly Im in the big city and Im seeing all this street art. It was very moving. In the beginning I couldnt do anything there were so many good artists everywhere. I was quite paralyzed.

But she soon began photographing, painting and creating again, inspired by the people around her and their stories.

Im inspired from life, she said with a smile. I like to empower people, and help them if I can.

Wertheimer has a wide variety of life experiences to draw from. She is married to Eitan Wertheimer, the son of industrialist Stef Wertheimer and one of the wealthiest men in Israel.

While she always wanted to be an artist, she first studied to be an X-ray technician at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, and served in the IDF for 12 years. After her service, she began to wonder what she wanted to do with the rest of her life and came back to art. She still volunteers at Rambam Hospital in the oncology department and is dedicated to philanthropy movements for health and education. Now, she uses her art to help people.

I dont sell them very expensive, so that young people can buy them and begin collecting, she said. All of the money I receive goes to the Rambam Hospital Cancer Department.

She has a room at the Venice Biennale this year in a palazzo organized by the European Cultural Center, which provides additional exhibition venues so that more than one artist from each country can present their work. Wertheimer is excited to be in the same palazzo as Yoko Ono.

Her Light Boxes are, literally, boxes. Wertheimer prints black and white photographs on transparent plexiglass that become the front image, and paints a colorful acrylic portrait on wood for the back wall. The box is lit up with LED lighting, and with this box she tells a multilayered story of the person in the portrait.

If you come close, you can only see the front picture, she said, pointing at a green portrait of a woman peeking through from behind a photograph of the metal skeleton of a building.

But if you move far away from the picture, she said, walking away to view it from the opposite wall. You get much more depth.

This painting, on display at the Alfa Romeo Exhibition Hall, tells the story of a woman who built a shelter for women escaping domestic abuse. The building in the photograph is only a skeleton of what it will come to mean for the women it protects.

All of the stories she portrays are real; from real people, television shows or newspapers. While the boxes share these stories, they have also trapped the characters inside.

Each person and their own small or large prison, each with their own story from the past of present, Wertheimer wrote in her catalogue. Once we recognize our problem and embrace it, we will embed the railings as a basic element in our personality and come out of the experience reinforced.

There are 14 light boxes from Jaffa and 16 from Venice in her exhibit at the Biennale. The stories are truthful, uplifting, serious and beautiful. Independently, they tell personal stories, struggles and triumphs. Together they say, from Jaffa to Venice, we are the same.

These stories together form a unified world where power is measured in human frailty and strength all at the same time no matter where you are, she wrote.

While the Light Boxes may be Wertheimers main attraction, she has three other projects on display at the Biennale that connect with the theme of the Light Boxes. The Leaders is a series of three portraits painted behind photographs of palm trees. The trees represent the qualities of a leader.

Some people think they are strong. The palm tree grows everywhere; it doesnt need any special climate, and people can use everything in the tree, she said the leaves can be made into ropes, the trunk can be used for building and the fruit can be eaten or made into oil.

You take everything from [the leaders], she said.

But The Leaders also pose the idea that it can be dangerous when people are too dependent on their leaders.

There is a worm that goes into [the palm tree] and cuts the head off so there is only the trunk. Maybe it is an allegory of something that has happened in the world. Maybe some of our leaders dont have a head, she suggested with a laugh.

Wertheimer also has her own rendition of the The Last Supper; a landscape of 12 figures that tells the story of modern-day connection: the era of the cell phone. An era in which we know so much more about each other, but connect in person so little. An innovation meant for progress that has instead boxed us in.

We are trapped, depending on what we do with it, how much we use it and how much we want to be under Big Brothers eyes, she said. With the phone, with Facebook everyone knows everything about you.

The last piece in Wertheimers exhibit at the Biennale is a two-meter by two-meter chandelier, which hangs over the center of the room, titled The Institute of Marriage. It is made up of separate panels that hang from a plexiglass loop. Together the panels display the portrait of a man, but they are separated by several inches from each other.

Even in a relationship you have to give space, she said. As you walk around it you see a different part of the man. As time passes, you see more things. Over time, we discover something new in our partner.

Fragments of glass hang from the center of the chandelier, symbolizing the glass broken under the Jewish wedding canopy. The idea is that relationships are fragile but can be strong.

These four different projects all tell different stories of individuals, but they come together with a shared message: people are people are people.

While her art is making strides around the world, Wertheimer was never looking to be famous. She loves creating art and helping people. These two dreams came together in her art, and have attracted people from all over the world. In telling truthful stories, her Light Boxes, and the rest of her exhibit, do exactly what Wertheimer set out to do: empower people.

The Freedom to Let Go will be on display at the Palazzo Mora in Venice until October 31.

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Empowerment through visual metaphor - The Jerusalem Post

Lantana was just a child when she was forced to drop out of school and start working so her family could afford her brothers school fees. In the impoverished areas of northern Nigeria where she lives, most bus stops are thronged with young girls hawking peanuts or other snacks from buckets balanced carefully on their heads, and so she joined them. The girls are easy prey for the older men who prowl these chaotic market places. Lantana thought she had found a protector in a bus tout who regularly bought up her daily wares, until the night he lured her into a dark alley.

Many adolescent girls in Nigeria can relate to at least one element of Lantanas story; giving up school to work for their family, abused by a trusted figure, not knowing where to go for safety. Unlike those girls, however, Lantana isnt real. Yet thousands of young women are calling a free number to hear more about her fictional life, and talking to mentors on the other end of the line about what they would do if they were her.

Lantanas story is one of four tales of young heroines being used in a radical new program to help adolescent girls in Nigeria navigate the challenges of growing up in a country where low levels of female empowerment, education and employment have contributed to early marriage, a stagnating economy and, some would argue, a concomitant rise in Islamist insurgent groups like Boko Haram.

The program, called Girls Connect , uses compelling stories like that of Lantana to reach young women from across a broad spectrum of Nigerian society through the kind of interactive voice recognition software that a bank might otherwise use to address consumer queries. But unlike a bank hotline, which is designed to eliminate the need for costly human interaction, the point of Girls Connect is to get the callers to engage with a call center representative who can help them process the information and use it in their daily lives. Its kind of like calling a toll-free bank line to get the latest foreign exchange rates, only to be connected with an agent who gives out personalized advice on balancing the household budget.

When callers dial in, they are offered a menu of four stories, with four chapters each, to choose from. Once they listen to the 2-3 minute dialogueperformed by professional radio actorsthey are connected to specially-trained agents, which the company calls Role Models. The 13 agents all women work off a standardized script that is designed to help callers internalize the lessons that Lantana and her fellow characters learn the hard way.

By asking questions such as Is this something that someone you know has experienced before? or If you thought a girl was put in danger by someone, what advice would you give her?, the Role Models can help girls work through problems they are currently facing, or might face in the future, in subjects ranging from safety to relationships, jobs or social media.

It's really challenging being a girl in Nigeria today, says Iveren Shinshima, who works as a Role Model. We talk about how she can stay safe while making money. How she can budget. How she can avoid cyber bullying. Whether it comes to making money, using social media or your relationship with your environment, the message we are trying to instill is that you are valuable as a girl.

The buzzing call center where these phone calls come in by the hundreds each day is far removed from the bus stops where girls like Lantana are forced to work. A five-story building crammed with uniform gray cubicles and staffed by fashionable Nigerian millennials in identical headsets, the iSON BPO International Call Center of Ibadan, in southeastern Nigeria, is the cornerstone of a booming new business in back-office outsourcing run by Indian entrepreneur Ramesh Awtaney . The center manages customer care lines for several Nigerian banks and telecom companies and now adolescent girls. The idea arose from a chance meeting between Awtaney and Farah Ramzan Golant, the London-based CEO of Girl Effect , an international nonprofit organization dedicated to ending poverty through empowering young women. Nearly half of iSONs 10,000 employees in Africa are women, and Awtaney wondered if there was a way to use his call center services to benefit Africas young women.

In the customer service industry we try and resolve your problem by putting you in touch with an automated machine. If the machine cant help, you are connected to an agent, Awtaney tells TIME. So the thinking was that we could replicate this process for girls in the context of giving them information on relationships, medical problems, education, and social media, etcetera. It was an unlikely marriage between the tech and the non-profit fields, with the tantalizing prospect of wide reachthe holy grail of cost effective girl-empowerment programs. What was interesting about it was how, like an interactive customer service program, Girls Connect can be scaled up very rapidly, Golant says. If you combine this content with toll free numbers, the impact can be huge.

Natalie Au, the global gender director for Girl Effect , says that unlike radio or TV shows designed to empower young women, Girls Connect can replicate the one-on-one experience of working with trained mentors, but on the much more accessible platform of mobile phones. When you have a chance to be asked questions about, well how did that story relate to your own life? theres a chance that before it goes out the other ear, youre going to have to stop and say, actually what would I have done in Lantanas situation? So youre much more likely to retain those key messages or skills rather than them being passively consumed and then forgotten.

To the Role Models, who field on average 230 calls a day, the value is not just in the lessons they impart, but in simply being present for adolescent girls at an all-too-familiar vulnerable point in their lives. Growing up I faced a whole lot of challenges that I know these girls will be facing as well, says Maureen Ijogo Onah, another Role Model. A lot of times teenage girls just want someone to listen to them, to talk to them, just to hear them out in whatever situation they find themselves in. For Hadiza Ibrahim, being a Role Model is a refreshing change from her usual call center work. The conversations are relaxed, quite friendly. Youre talking to a girl who trusts you. Its quite different from listening to an angry customer who probably cant get his Internet on.

Although Girls Connect content is currently only available in Hausa, the language of northern Nigeria, the response has been enormous, with some 42,000 calls over the first, month-long period of testing, despite limited advertising. Girls are calling in multiple time just to listen to the stories, and requesting specific Role Models by name.

Amina, 14, has listened to each story several times, she says, adding that she feels for the first time in her life like someone understands what she is going through. A street hawker herself, Amina says that Lantanas story doesnt go far enough in the program she is only robbed, not sexually assaulted, as is the experience of many of Aminas fellow hawkers. Still, she says, the story and the Role Models have helped. There are many girls that are hawking who have listened to this program, and they come to understand that even if something like this happens to them, they can go and tell their parents, as Lantana did, so that they can take action.

Each time Amina listens to a story, she says, she comes away with a new perspective on how to deal with a problem in her lifelike the time someone started sending her lewd photos via one of Nigerias popular text messaging apps. Even when I told him to stop, it was like I was instigating him to do more. But if I told my parents, they would blame me for being on social media in the first place. And when I told my friends they said it is normal, there is nothing wrong with it. That day she chose to listen to a Girls Connect story about a girl who used social media to start a business. When Amina spoke with the agent afterward, she told her about her issues. The Role Model told Amina how to block the man from her account, and helped her develop a strategy for avoiding cyber stalkers. If a girl in need of specialized help makes contact, for instance depression, suicidal tendencies, pregnancy or abuse, they are typically referred to aid organizations in their areas that can help them directly. The Role Models also encourage the girls to reach out to their parents or to the police when necessary.

Aisha Haliru, who runs a weekly empowerment program for adolescent girls in Kano, says the impact of the telephone mentorships has been transformative. Halirus classes provide the kind of safe spaces for girls that Girls Connect seeks to replicate on the telephone, but she can only reach a few dozen girls at a time. Girls Connect has the potential to reach thousands. And the need is even greater than ever, says Haliru, citing rising incidents of rape in Kano, and even the kidnapping of young women by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Haliru now lends out mobile phones so her students can call Girls Connect on breaks between vocational training courses and lessons on personal hygiene. These days, a girl cant always confide in her mother, says Haliru, but with the Role Models, she will let it all out. She knows that the Role Model wont know her, or her sister or her mother. So when she has never been able to share with someone something that bothers her, and then suddenly she can speak freely with someone who understands what she is going through, its an amazing thing. I see the girls changing before my eyes.

ISON and Girl Effect plan to expand the Role Model trainings and content so they can launch the project nationwide, and eventually in other countries as well. The Role Models are looking forward to continuing their work mentoring a new generation of Nigerian girls, but for some their joy is tinged with a touch of regret. I truly, truly wish I had something like this while I was growing up, says Role Model Ibrahim. If I had had this kind of an opportunity to connect to a role model, I probably would have called her every day. And I probably would have made a lot less mistakes.

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Dial 1 for Empowerment: The Toll-Free Number Giving Nigeria's Girls Advice - TIME