(Atlanta, GA) -- As a young woman of color struggling to find her purpose, Atlanta resident Ashlie James says Christian female mentorship changed her life.
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In between educational pursuits, Ashlie volunteered at her church, finding a natural mentorship developing with the more senior women.
"It was just that Titus 2, older women loving on younger women, showing them the way and being a good example." Ashlie shared. "These were women who looked like me, talked like me...but they were doctors, they were lawyers, they were teachers, professors. They had stature and had worked through challenges and had gotten somewhere great in life so the opportunity to hear from them in this sort of informal, sisterhood type of way was beautiful to me. I thought 'what would happen if I could give this type of experience to young women?'"
Ashlie wanted to give back to women who were marginalized, low income or just didn't have the opportunity to be encouraged outside of the family. She formed the non-profit Atlanta GLOW (Atlanta Growing Leadership of Women) providing mentorship, leadership development, workforce readiness and life skills training opportunities to underserved women and girls, ages 14-25, to "ignite their potential to lead and thrive."
Atlanta GLOW has been in operation since 2014 and serves more than 400 young women annually.
In 2014, Atlanta Glow was just a mentoring organization. The following year, the focus shifted to include teaching leadership skills in young women and a few years later, life skills training was added. Financial literacy training followed along with workforce development and one-on-one mentoring. Ashlie and her team have also included Health and wellness.
Ashlie shared the vision: "How do I live in a way that really glorifies Him and live in a way that really gives back to others?"
The pandemic changed the way Atlanta Glow did mentorship, using zoom and other non-traditional ways. "It sort of forced us to look at how we were teaching young women. We had to put our curriculum in writing and train our mentors more thoughtfully with worksheets, discussion guides and activities." Ashlie shared.
The impact of Ashlie's obedience to God's plan for her life?
Ashlie shared, "I realize the value of having wise counsel and creating a squad that you aspire to be like. It's been reflective to be able to look upon the challenges of my life but also my wins and share those with young people. Having women around me that will point me to Him, as I am busy as a mom, a leader of an organization and a student pursuing a doctorate degree, reminds me of His word that says to not be weary in well-doing."