When I look at the representation on we have thrown at us in the media, I feel today’s young women are not truly represented.
I cringe every time the ladies of Basketball Wives and Bad Girls Club throw the word b–ch around like free candy. There are so few positive images of women on TV period and Reality Television does as horrible job of portraying women as well rounded individuals.
Instead, much of reality television portrays women in a negative light. Most of them women come off as catty, petty, superficial and vindictive.
We live in a capitalist society and television producers are in business to make money. We have to ask ourselves why these women have any obligation to portray women (and black women in particular) in a positive light.
Simply put, they don’t. BUT since they do have such a fantastic, influential, platform why not try to do something positive.
So who can young women and girls alike look up to? Who among women speak boldly yet always are ladies?
I find at a closer look — that we have nothing to worry about I would like you to meet such women that are doing just that as they continuing to step forward to lead causes, businesses, and community initiatives.
These women might not have reality shows or their pictures and names on every News Paper Head line everywhere. YET!
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Tamika D. Mallory
Ms. Mallory is National Executive Director of the National Action Network (NAN), one of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations founded by Reverend Al Sharpton.
NAN was founded in the spirit and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote a modern civil rights agenda that includes: the fight for social justice and one standard of decency for all people regardless of race, religion, gender or class.
Ms. Mallory has become a nationally recognized progressive leader and a fierce advocate for social justice and civil rights, and has been publicly applauded as “a leader of tomorrow” by Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie B. Jarrett. After her husband died she knew she must work to end violence.
She does so much for our country. She works closely with progressive youth groups to mentor them to take the baton of justice. One of her quotes “How people treat you is their Karma…. how you react is yours”!
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DALLAS JESSUP
Ms. Jessup was a 13-year-old Portland, OR high school freshman in 2004 when she first saw the surveillance video on the news of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia being abducted from a Florida car wash.
As subsequent reports of the girl’s rape and murder rolled in, Jessup, though still a kid herself, was inspired to act.
A black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a student of Filipino street fighting, she realized she possessed a certain set of skills that could protect other young girls from the same fate.
So she created Just Yell Fire, a free 45-minute video, downloadable through her website, that teaches young women ages 11 through 19 a set of easily learned martial arts skills that can be used to escape sexual assault and other forms of attack.
Now 19 and attending Vanderbilt University, Jessup has testified before Congress to promote self-defense education and is working on a new film for college-age women, training a team of Just Yell Fire educators, and teaching self-defense in India where the risk of abduction for sex trafficking is especially high.
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Jordan Howard
At the age of 15, Jordan Howard was a skeptic of the environmental movement even as a freshman at the Environmental Charter High School in Los Angeles, California.
While taking a Green Ambassadors class, Jordan learned that she was only resistant to the green movement because she was uneducated on the components of climate change and most importantly, the solutions.
She was inspired by solutions! Learning about the economic benefits, environmental justice and the relations to marginalized communities, empowered Jordan to educate people of all ages on the importance and positive effects of living sustainably.
Jordan was blessed to be a student at a green charter school during its greening. She has directed award winning student-powered films with the Green Ambassadors Productions and President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative.
Jordan led and organized Rise above Plastics “Student Speaker Series” through the Surfrider Foundation where she trained high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors to give a presentation on the harms and solutions of disposable plastics on the environment and human body.
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Hydeia Broadbent
At birth, Hydeia Broadbent was abandoned at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas where Patricia and Loren Broadbent adopted her as an infant.
Although her HIV condition was congenital, she was not diagnosed as HIV-positive with advancement to AIDS until age three. The prognosis was that she would not live past the age of five.
Now at the age of 27, Hydeia spends her time spreading the message of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, by: promoting abstinence, safe-sex practices (for people who choose to have sex), and the initiative “Knowing Your HIV/AIDS Status.”
Hydeia has been a featured speaker for the International AIDS.
And so many others today, Hydeia are a distinguished international, motivational speaker and HIV/AIDS activist with a mission to educate people of all ages.
She has an innate ability to bond with any audience. When addressing the public about the issues of HIV/AIDS, her primary goal is to provide a clear understanding of how to avoid at-risk behaviors through self-examination and informed decision-making.
She succinctly stated “…with all that we know about the virus, it is clear to me that contracting HIV/AIDS today is a choice and we can’t allow anyone the power to make that choice for us!”
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Dominque Sharpton
Ms. Sharpton has been an influential force in the National Action Network since she formally joined in 2008. Since 2008, as the membership director, Dominique has led the increase in NAN members from 1,700 to 6,000.
She has not only led the organization in terms of expansion, but she has staunchly promoted activism with the rising youth, motivating real action.
She has worked hard to encourage, empower, and educate the youth for the continuation of civil rights activism and to bridge the gap between the new and the old, to ensure action in the generations to come.
She devotes a lot of time mentoring young people around the city, having recently co-founded a youth based organization with her sister Ashley called “Harlem INC” which has transformed into an entertainment Company called “Sharpton entertainment LLC”.
They work to provide positive outlets for youth and showcase their many talents, as well as raising issues and hardships that young adults are facing and dealing with today.
These are just a few of the women I have seen working for a better tomorrow. Girl Power on the Rise!
