Be who you want to be. Give back to the community. Express yourself.

These were the things I was thinking when I started Bold, an organization to empower young girls to become women. I wanted to create a place where everyone has a voice, including those who don’t want to speak up.

Bold is a sisterhood. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor or what color you are. Everyone is accepted. Every girl should feel like she has someone to talk to, even when she thinks she doesn’t. In Bold you can be who you want to be, uplift each other and show that you care.

Bold empowers girls. I created it just for girls because it feels they are often bringing each other down — whether it’s arguing on social media, fighting at school because of boys or a he-said-she-said situation. Whenever we do this to one another, it tears us all down. We’re like a torn piece of paper. Once the paper is torn into pieces, it’s hard to glue back together.

Bold gives back. It first started as a place for everyone to come together and have people to rely on. Now, Bold is a place where we give back to the community by helping others. During Homecoming, we knew there were girls who couldn’t afford to go. That’s why we gathered dresses to donate to other girls. It’s also why we had a bake sale to raise money to sponsor a girl around Christmas time. Partnering with AP Ambassadors, we held a canned food drive to feed those less fortunate. We want to encourage girls to become women who contribute to society.   

Bold has impacted my life in so many ways. I think about others, and I am thankful for those around me. I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls because everyone wants to give back to people and uplift each other no matter how life is going at the moment.

We’re like siblings. We are there for one another, and Bold has made me realize things about myself and others. You can’t always be selfish, and we all need to come together.

We all need to be bold.