We Did It!!
It all began on the evening of Tuesday, October 10th at the Mighty Writers South Philly location. The Diamond Daughter Corporation hosted the 1st week of the 6-week professional prep curriculum, with a group of young women from the Mighty Writers. There were nine young women in attendance, ranging from 7th grade to 10th grade. Founder Angela Deery, along with three DDC board members: Audrey Dellagranda, Tina Olive, and Darcel Laurie were also in attendance. Before the young women arrived, Angela and the board members set up the room by moving the chairs into a circle formation. She stated, “We want to concentrate on setting an environment of trust, openness and sisterhood. Allowing the young ladies to share their thoughts and dreams”. When the young women came in, they found a seat in the circle and we all began introducing ourselves.
We then moved onto an ice-breaker activity where we went around the circle again, shared our personal role models and why. Names like: Oprah, Maya Angelou, Ellen DeGeneres, My Aunt, Rosa Parks, Emma Watson, Simone Manuel, Janelle Monae, and more were shared within the group. This ice-breaker activity gave us an opportunity to get to know the girls and it gave the girls the opportunity to get to know each other. Most of the girls were very excited, almost passionate when they were talking about their role models. And in fact, when we talked about characteristics of their role models, being passionate was something they listed. It was interesting to see the similarity between the young women and their role models.
Each girl was provided with a Diamond Daughter Professional Prep Curriculum workbook. The workbook contained questions, journal prompts and creative spaces for the girls to use throughout the 6-weeks and keep with them beyond the timeline of the program. We were able to sit down and work on the workbook alongside the girls. The prompts for this week had the young women talking more about their personal role models. Questions such as: why are they your role model, what are characteristics of your role model, etc. Additional prompts in the workbook for the night, were about where each girl saw themselves in one year, five years, ten years and then twenty years. It was exciting for the girls to visualize themselves in five years as an 18-year-old, graduating high school and moving onto college. Or in twenty years, being done with college, possibly married and with children, running their own business, and/or working in a field they are passionate about. The young women were able to share what they had written down, with each other as well as with the DDC board. We ended the night with some happy faces as they heard more about the Diamond Daughter Professional Prep program and what they had to look forward to in the weeks to come.
The Diamond Daughter Corporation is motivated, excited and honored to be working with this group of young women. We look forward to learning more about them and sharing more with them. If you have a group of girls that you know and are interested in hearing more about the Diamond Daughter Corporation, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you and sharing our information.
Always remember you are a lady of Poise, Prestige, & Power. You are a Diamond Daughter!
The Diamond Daughter Team
