Teenage girls have a lot of issues facing them today, from body image and self-esteem issues, to bullying, drugs and relationships. Over two days at Ashland Community and Technical College, about 600 local high school junior girls were able to leave those problems at the door and hear uplifting, motivation messages from five powerhouse speakers at the sixth annual Young Women Lead Conference.
Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, Inc., in partnership with ACTC, SOAR, Clark’s Pump-N-Shop and other local businesses and organizations, sponsored the conference was held at ACTC’s Technology Drive Campus on Oct. 9 and 10.
The YWL conference was born out of the See Jane Soar initiative that some businesses in central Kentucky were using to grow leadership from within their companies.
Karen Coburn, committee chair for YWL and ACTC’s Workforce Solutions director, said SOAR reached out and wanted to have an event in the eastern part of the state.
“We were approached as a college and a community,” Coburn said. “We were the first committee-based group. We formed a community group and that’s how we lined up the very first year.” Close to 500 girls attended that first year, and the event has continued to grow each year since.
Choosing the speakers for the event falls on the committee members, which include employees from ACTC, community partners and, most importantly, high school girls.
“We try to get some input from (young women) because they deal with different things today than we did,” Coburn said. “It can be a very scary place. Technology has shrunk the world but at the same time made more opportunities for them to be bullied or harassed. There is a lot out there that we just didn’t have. So it’s important for us to get their feedback as well.”
This year’s keynote speaker was Jessie Funk, executive director of Ivy Girl Academy and nationally-known motivational speaker. She spoke about the power of believing in one’s own self-worth, the importance of building confidence, having healthy relationships and setting boundaries.
“If you don’t learn to stand up for yourself and learn your self-worth, someone is going to steal your light. When you know who you are, no one can take that from you.” The message resonated with participants.
“It was amazing,” said Boyd County High School junior Brooke Davidson. “I really loved her talk about setting boundaries.”
Funk has a leadership certification from the University of Notre Dame, is a certified life-coach, has a bachelor’s degree in psychology as well as a master’s in theater with an emphasis in how to use the arts as a healing modality for teenagers.
Funk is a former leadership facilitator for Franklin Covey and has also been a professional youth speaker for 14 years, speaking at high schools and leadership conferences all over the country. She is a six-time published author, and her passion to help teens led her to start an international non-profit organization called Ivy Girl Academy, a confidence and leadership training program for teen ladies.
As a professional vocalist, she has released five solo albums, has toured 36 states with the Broadway musical “Footloose,” and has also been hired for hundreds of recording sessions as a studio vocalist, including songs heard on TV’s “America’s Got Talent,” ESPN and “The Biggest Loser.” She chooses to use her voice to lift and inspire in positive ways.
Kicking off the day was Kendra Brown, senior director for diversity, inclusion and affinity for the Washington College of Law at American University. Brown, whose presentation was titled “Life, Live and Lenses,” was a returning speaker from last year. Her conversation focused on how the lens through which one see life is based upon the culmination of one’s lived experiences and the perspective one gains over time.
Kayla Parsons, a 2005 graduate of Paul G. Blazer High School, presented a talk called “From Slave to Servant.” Parsons is the deputy chief of staff for development and projects for Addiction Recovery Care, LLC, which operates a network of 24 addiction treatment centers in Central and Eastern Kentucky. She will tell her own personal story of addiction, finding recovery and discovering her destiny.
Shannon Maynard, executive director of the Congressional Hunger Center, presented “The Transformational Power of Volunteering: How Service Can Change Your Community and You.”
Mia Brown, ACTC’s director of the AEP Kentucky Power Credit Counts grant, talked about how she transformed from a mischievous student to becoming a superstar in the STEM arena.
“The speakers were really fun,” said Sarah Hatzel, Boyd County student. “They all seemed very invested in what they were talking about.”
Coburn recalled an anonymous letter that a girl wrote to the committee during the first year of the conference as reinforcement for working hard to make sure the event is worthwhile for the participants. In the letter, she said the young girl thanked organizers for providing a day like that for her because her family and friends were telling her it was OK to use drugs and break the law and not go to school.
“Every year we do this I think about her the entire time,” Coburn said.
Young Men’s Conference
Preparations are already underway for the third annual Young Men’s Conference in March 2019 at Ashland Community and Technical College. This year’s keynote speaker will be Gerardo Mejia, internationally known musician and local pastor.
The event is geared toward sophomore high school boys in the Tri-State and features local organization and business leaders who share their advice for success and leadership.
Committee Chair Beverly Sharp said, “The schools have a tendency to limit the participation to those who are the shining stars of the school. And really, what we’d like to see is a representation of everybody from the schools. Often times, the ones that aren’t sent are the ones who need it the most.”
A previously popular session is returning again for the 2019 conference: the Crossroads group from the Federal Correctional Institute in Summit. “Overwhelmingly, they said this was the best session,” Sharp said. “Because they got to hear the actual stories of these individuals and understand that while maybe they have been told in the past, that if you get involved in drugs or this or that, this is what will happen. They got to see real life examples of that.”
Breakout sessions will include topics on volunteerism, financial tips, planning for the future, honesty and integrity, and more.
Sharp said sponsorships and volunteers are still needed. “We can always use sponsors, or simply someone can donate a door prize from their organization so they can be represented at the conference,” Sharp said. Also volunteers. We welcome community engagement so they can see what we’re doing.”
