On Monday 9th March, Rocking Ur Teens – a UK-based social enterprise – will run a girl’s empowerment event to celebrate International Women’s day (IWD). In this week’s guest column, Rocking Ur Teens Co-founder Jenny Garrett, calls on today’s successful women in business and organisations to help inspire the UK’s future generation of female leaders.
I meet amazing women everyday with wonderful nuggets of wisdom to share from their experience. Sometimes they are mothers and want to share their experience with their children. But as we all know from our own teenage years, children don’t want to listen to their parents. Other times, they share their experience with friends’ children or nieces and nephews, but there is still that barrier of not wanting to overstep the line.
BENEFICIAL ADVICE
The truth is that teenage girls can really benefit from impartial advice from a friend, who does not judge them and truly wants the best for them. Here are just a few of the reasons why:
• An Ofsted survey of 150,000 children found that by the age of 10, a third of girls cited their bodies as their main source of worry.
• Around 16% of 15-17 year olds avoid going to school because they feel bad about their appearance, and 20% avoid giving an opinion in public because of it.
• Nearly a third (31%) of boys believe women politicians are not as good as men.
• Approximately 20% of girls are put off a career in science because they saw them as ‘jobs for boys’.
EMPOWERING TEENS
On Monday 9th March 2020, Rocking Ur Teens (the social enterprise that I co-founded with Sandy Parris and Geoffrey Williams), will run a girl’s empowerment event to celebrate International Women’s day, hosted by RBS. Now in its fifth year, Rocking Ur Teens equips young people with the skills that future leaders will need. Our mission is to:
• Develop entrepreneurial spirit, agility and flexibility, character, self-esteem and good mental health.
• Connect young people to industries, such as arts & media, science, technology and business.
• Equip our youth to enjoy their teenage years, leading them to future career success.
INSPIRING NOTES
For this year’s event, we really need your help. We’d like to give each 13-14 year old girl attending our event a letter of inspiration in their goody bag. However, we need 270 of them! Can you help by sending a letter to inspire a teenager? Your letter can include advice you would give to your teen self, an inspirational quote, or a message of hope based on your life now.
Please do not include your address or contact details, just sign your letter ‘from a friend’. It’s still not too late to mail your letter. Send your note to inspire a teen to: Rocking Ur Teens c/o Reflexion Associates Limited, (IWD message), Three Gables, 9 Cornerhall, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP3 9HN.
Letters must be received by Thursday 5th March 2020. Ensure that your letter is age-appropriate, and contains no profanity or inappropriate messages.
Click here to find out more about Rocking Ur Teens.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jenny Garrett, Co-founder of Rocking Ur Teens, is an award-winning career coach and leadership trainer, with over 13 years experience of running a global business. Everything she does is aimed at either advancing gender balance, creating inclusive workplaces or equipping young people with the skills that future leaders need. Apart from delivering inspiring talks, facilitating retreats and running teen events, she is best known for her book Rocking Your Role, a guide to success for female breadwinners.
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