This letter is published as part of a Girls Out Loud campaign to raise awareness of the need to empower and inspire the nation’s teenage girls.
Girls Out Loud is a social enterprise on a mission to provide young women with professional, female role models from their local area who can help them navigate the tricky teenage years.
This year, the organisation is hosting its first ever Shining Stars Ball to raise money for its vital work. To find out more about Girls Out Loud, please visit girlsoutloud.org.uk.
Jane Kenyon is the founder and CEO of social enterprise Girls Out Loud, an organisation which works with teenage girls to inspire them to succeed. She is also an author, a coach and mentor for women and a sought-after keynote speaker on a wide range of topics linked to female empowerment. This year, she has been shortlisted for a National Diversity Award in recognition of her work with women and girls.
Dear Jane,
I know you feel alone and a little lost and unsure of yourself and most days bring more questions and less clarity. You do not fit in and it is confusing.
But know for sure you are a leader, a game changer and an empowerment entrepreneur, respected and admired for your vision, your confidence and your resilience.
I know you are riddled with angst over your appearance, your thighs are too big, you have spots, your hair is not long, glossy and blonde like the popular girls and you are not allowed to wear make-up.
But know for sure you are an attractive woman, sassy and courageous with tonnes of admirers and a presence that is more than simply physical.
I know you work hard to get reasonable grades whilst others seem to sail on through without a care for the end game.
But know for sure you are talented with a string of qualifications, an MBA and a love of learning that keeps you curious and fulfilled.
I know you are frustrated at having no clear career path, no vocation and no aspiration and this makes you feel like a failure and a disappointment to your father.
But know for sure you continue to carve your own magnificent and colourful path from big city career woman to serial entrepreneur and are now recognised as a top female role model changing lives and shining wherever you go.
Being the posh girl at a tough school is no picnic, it continues to single you out when all you want to do is blend in.
But know for sure blending in is not the way things turn out. You step up and shine in all your glory, embrace your uniqueness and refuse to follow the crowd and this is who you are.
At 16 you are alone, broke and scared after a fight with your parents leaves you homeless.
But know for sure this is the critical moment where your story begins. This event feeds your aspiration, motivates your thirst for knowledge ad gives you the gift of resilience.
You feel let down as you are no longer Daddy’s princess and the fall from grace is painful and unfair. All you wanted to do was be heard and to know that you matter.
Know for sure your voice is powerful and heard far and wide. You are married to an amazing man who adores you and repairs your broken heart by loving you unconditionally for everything you are and everything you have yet to become.
BE BOLD, BE BRAVE, BE BEAUTIFUL BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY BE YOU. BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY ENOUGH AND ABSOLUTLEY PERFECT JUST THE WAY YOU ARE.
Love,
Me.
