“Transforming girls empowers them to become leaders in their families and their communities. When you empower a girl, that stays with her throughout her lifetime and she goes on to empower other girls in her life.” Simone Atungo is the director of resident engagement and community development at Toronto Community Housing, and she’s talking about the impact of
HERstory, an annual one-day conference for girls age 13-16. This year’s conference, which will be held at Alexander Stirling Public School on May 23, will host between 80 and 100 girls.
The goal of HERstory, Atungo says, “is to give young girls a wide exposure to different types of communities they might interested in.” Speakers at the event will include women from many different walks of life, and girls will have an opportunity rub shoulder with nurses, bloggers, activists, sports agents, and business owners. The day will be moderated by Paulette Senior, the CEO of the YWCA, and emceed by Nadine Liverpool, a former national team soccer player. “It’s an opportunity for young women to get to see adult women who came through similar pathways to achieve great things in their life.” HERstory participants will have a chance to talk about topics as diverse as social media and healthy relationships, and be entertained by musical acts, dance troupes, and spoken word performers.
The girls will also have an opportunity to get to know one another. “We want to leave a lot of time for the young women to network and talk to each other throughout the day. We’ll have what we call wisdom circles: discussions about what they’re learning, what they want for the future, and their path to get there,” Atungo explains. This can help reduce the impression that they’re the only people facing challenges. “Some of the impact is really creating a space for young women to connect about the things that impact their lives, and looking for common interests and experiences, so you don’t feel so isolated.”