Our Story

Wonderfully Made Girl is a peer mentorship program that was created to support racialized girls, identified as Black, South Asian, Asian, African, Caribbean, and Indigenous mento girls aged 8 to 13 years old. The program was designed and developed so that women of colour can grow to aspire to see images of beauty, intelligence, and talent that fit with their own identity. Low body confidence and anxieties over appearances discourage girls from being confident in themselves.

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“If we give our children sound self-love, they will be able to deal with whatever life puts before them.”

bell hooks

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Our core members wanted to shift the balance for our community. This means taking a step to create change that stirs a movement for our girls and women.

From our experience as core group members, we know that girls experience greater barriers, systemic racism, and bias within their schools, communities, and neighborhoods. We identify that multiple barriers exist and that these barriers prevent girls from achieving their goals. When girls experience systemic issues that they can not change, they begin to internalize these experiences. The girls start to believe that they are, “not worthy” and “not good enough”. Wonderfully Made Girl aims to shift the balance. All girls are worthy of love and belonging.

What are the barriers: negative feedback from others, systemic oppression, feeling disconnected from home and school communities, lack of identity support through social media have had a direct impact on their self-esteem and self-confidence in realizing these goals and dreams. 

What are the outcomes: Further, these experiences led to traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression.  Other concerns are higher rates of criminalization, low school success rates, at risk for abusive interpersonal and community violence, and higher rates of mental health concerns. 

Wonderfully Made will change: young women will have the opportunity to give back to their own community by supporting and encouraging younger girls to achieve their goals,  with their newly acquired leadership skills such as coaching, social skills, decision making, and emotional intelligence.  Through connecting them with professionals we hope to increase their employability skills, their mental health, and their overall wellbeing.

Future generations: mentees are emerging in their journeys, will have strong mentors to change the challenges and barriers that currently exist.