A magical feeling was created among nearly 300 girls and chaperones from seven high-need local schools, as well as volunteers, Girls Inc. board and staff on January 25, 2020 at the new corporate headquarters of Pioneer Natural Resources. There we launched the inaugural Power 2 the Girl conference – a first of its kind, day-long conference.
The day started with a pep rally atmosphere, as the girls were transported by bus from their schools to Pioneer. DJ Poizon Ivy, the Dallas Mavericks DJ, and the first black female DJ in the NBA, got the girls dancing as they enjoyed their breakfast.
The Power Panel, moderated by Girls Inc. national board member, Regina Montoya, provided inspiration and encouragement to overcome obstacles to achieve.Panelists, Cheralyn Stevenson, Rebecca Acuna, Karla Garcia and Ivy Awino, talked about their personal challenges of being lesbian, poor, undocumented, and a teen mom, respectively. Their messages of strength, courage and hope were incredibly moving
and really resonated with the girls. To learn how the panelists overcame these challenges to being successful young women was very powerful. If you can see it, you can be it.e for girls ages 6th grade – 10th grade.
The breakout strong tract on building firepower – learning self-defense techniques and fitness strategies to build physical, mental and emotional strength facilitated by Dallas Police and Sheriff Brown was especially eye-opening, and so needed given what girls are faced with today. Coupled with the smart and bold tracts focused on STEM activities and building life skills facilitated by volunteer engineers from Jacobs, tech stars and DPR Construction employees, respectively, gave the girls real tools they can use in every-day life and understanding that STEM is part of everything.
Our keynote speaker, Cynt Marshall , CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, was a huge hit with our girls, chaperones, staff, board and stakeholders. Everyone was inspired listening to her journey of challenges and success. Her interactive speech got us all dancing, wearing tiaras, and reinforcing a sisterhood of support. Thank you to the corporate sponsors and Leaders for Girls members who attended.
We sincerely thank all our sponsors who helped make this day so meaningful for the girls!
Pioneer Natural Resources
Norton Rose Fulbright
Vizient TOYOTA
Flowserve
TXU energy
The Dallas Mavericks
Jacobs
Celanese
The Rosewood Corporation