UNSCRIPTED: Featuring Building Queens
Unscripted By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer
“At Building Queens Mentoring Group our mission is to empower, inspire, and equip young women to realize their FULL potential as leaders, innovators, and changemakers. Through mentorship, education, and community support, we aim to cultivate confidence, resillience, and purpose fostering a generation of women who will uplift one another and lead with strength, grace, and integrity. Together, we build queens who will reign in every aspect of their lives”
- Mission Statement for Building Queens of Fort Wayne, Indiana
“Making a difference in our community by empowering and touching the hearts of young women ages 12-18 with positve enriching encounters”.
Emotional support and guidance are so important to the development of of young pre-adult women in our city. Knowledgeable MENTOR’S are needed to help bridge the gap between a desire for something and the ability to achieve it. Mentors can help build self-confidence and the courage to strive for future goals by lending their “life experiences” to these young women as they navigate adolescence, and face the challenge of moving through physical, psychological, sexual, and emotional development. They guide them towards developing a HEALTHY sense of SELF built within them. With this being said, we are very fortunate to have a group of powerful women in our city that are committed to guiding and shaping young ladies, along with providing them the tools necessary to have a broad impact on their community into their adult lives.
BUILDING QUEENS is an organization that I’m proud to say is here in our city that has taken the mantle and mandate to assit young ladies from 6th-12th grade by guiding and directing them towards choices that will empower them to become the successes they are destined to become! I recently had the opportunity to meet with members of this outstanding organization (led by Ms. Kay Oliver who is the Director of Connections and Relations for Building Queens) as they each shared their roles and journey towards becoming a part of Building Queens in todays UNSCRIPTED.
UNSCRIPTED: Tell us a little bit about your organization, how you came up with the name for your group and how it came to be?
KEYONDRA OLIVER: “We came up with the name basically because we share a common name with the guy’s aspect of this group entitled Building Kings.” We share similar goals and expected outcomes for our young women’s group as well as the young men.
UNSCRIPTED: So, and what you are looking to accomplish with these young ladies?
CANIDANCE LEE: “We are working with young women from a variety of different backgrounds that may be encountering issues whether it’s at home or in their personal life we try to be a source of comfort and a safe place for them.”
UNSCRIPTED: I read in the literature that you shared that one of your main goals is to “uplift and empower young women” share what that means...
CANIDANCE LEE: “Young women are presented and portrayed on the internet in images in a particularly derogatory manner, and we feel our job is to assist them in finding their voice and developing a better appreciation of who they are as young women. They can be entrepreneurs and finish school to become whatever they’re striving to become as well.”
UNSCRIPTED: So, Ms. Tiffanee tell me what’s your involvement with Building Queens?
TIFFANEE MARTIN: “My involvement in this organization is as a mentor and someone that becomes genuinely concerned when I see a young lady that may have a poor relationship with their mom or family members in general. I try to be a source of comfort in a positive way modeling the type of behaviors that we’d like to see in young women. That’s a huge piece for me in this organization.”
UNSCRIPTED: Ms. Shonta tell me what drew you to Building Queens?
SHONTEE FREEMAN-HAYNES: “I think that it’s a positive endeavor that we are seeking to do to uplift and motivate young women in our community and I’m all for it! This was a strong factor in me becoming a part of this group of ladies pushing our youth, and I enjoy the challenges that we share in helping these young ladies become successful.”
UNSCRIPTED: Ms. Itora tell me what drew you to Building Queens?
ITORA SIMS: “I enjoy being a part in the lives of young people. I’ve been a Day Care owner for 13 years and feel like I’m a “problem solver” and love to help people find a better solution to life’s issues that they encounter. This is what’s exciting to me about Building Queens and their Mission Statement.”
UNSCRIPTED: Now, I have a lot of valuable information that you’ve shared with me in your brochure, but what are some of the things that you’ll use as “target areas” for young women’s growth?
KAY OLIVER: “Well we’d like to focus on areas like; confidence building, communication, and expressions as well as vision boards to see what these young ladies REALLY want to do with their lives and help in motivating them towards healthy choices for their growth. We’ll have organizations such as the AIDS Task Force coming in to teach them about abstinence education and try to build programs that will teach these young ladies how to “love themselves” and become goal-oriented that will allow them to become productive people in our community which is the MAIN goal of Building Queens.”