Why Michelle Obama's Girls Opportunity Alliance Is Investing in These 2 Nonprofits

Teirra Scott knows that the world doesn't make it easy to be a girl. Not just through her own experience growing up in Chicago's North Lawndale and Austin communities — but also as a Chicago Public Schools teacher for several years. As she spent more time with her fourth-graders, she realized many of them were struggling with more than just the subjects she was teaching.

"So I found my true passion — really, I wanted to help kids to become better people," she says. "And the girls that I got really connected with, they were making a lot of progress and growth in their confidence and self-development."

She didn't want her students to "lose momentum" on all of that growth over summer breaks, so she started Goddess Mentoring in 2016 as a way to empower her students year-round.

"I'm very proud of how far I've come, but I know that had I had certain support or had certain knowledge or knew how to cope with stress, knew how to take care of myself, had confidence in so many different areas, that I would have been so much further in life," Scott says. "And so I've always just tried to be who I wish I had when I was younger."

Now, Scott is able to expand Goddess Mentoring's mission — which is to empower young girls via growing their self-confidence, teaching them about wellness and financial literacy, and more — thanks to an investment from the Obama Foundation's Girls Opportunity Alliance, a network helping to strengthen the impact of grassroots organizations. On Oct. 11, International Day of the Girl, former First Lady Michelle Obama announced that the alliance will distribute more than $1 million to 11 new organizations in Chicago and 15 new international organizations, joining the 19 international and 14 Chicago-based organizations that have already received funding.

"Investing in our girls is an investment in our world," Obama says in a just-released video announcing the news. "Because we know that when they get the opportunities they deserve, we all benefit."

For Scott, becoming part of Girls Opportunity Alliance means she'll be able to increase the enrollment in Goddess from 12 to 30 girls, as well as hire more staff members. Her hope is that they'll also be able to invest in higher quality materials and resources, including expanding the experiences they're offering to the girls — getting them out of their Chicago neighborhoods and "exposing them to new opportunities."

Astha Sharma, co-founder and managing director of the Shequal Foundation, a nonprofit based in Nepal focused on ensuring equal rights for women and girls, is also celebrating an investment from Girls Opportunity Alliance.

Like Scott, Sharma was moved to action by her own experiences growing up in rural Nepal and eventually navigating the notoriously male-dominated tech industry. As she remembers, she was often "the only woman in rooms full of men, from my school days when I chose science as my subject through to my corporate career." And while she initially knew she wanted to bring more women into tech, as her work progressed, she realized that many women "faced significant barriers even before reaching that point."

One story that sticks with her was meeting a young girl in the far-western region of Nepal who was forced to practice Chhaupadi, an ancient tradition that isolates menstruating women in cowsheds or separate huts. "This girl's situation was particularly concerning as it was summer, and the shed where she was confined was frequently visited by snakes and insects," she says. "The potential danger to her health and safety was immense. We spent considerable time trying to convince the family of the impracticality and harm of this practice."

That experience also exemplified a pressing issue for girls in Nepal: the impact of menstruation on their education. According to Sharma, a recent study showed that more than 25 percent of adolescent girls in Nepal miss school during their periods, and 21 percent miss about four days every month. Learning all of this catalyzed Shequal's Aarambha project, a comprehensive training program focused on menstrual, sexual, and reproductive health, which the alliance is supporting with funding.

"Understanding these realities is crucial for developing effective support and interventions that can truly improve the lives of girls in Nepal," Sharma says.

The work that leaders like Sharma and Scott are carrying out is clearly important — but they also recognize the necessity to prioritize their own wellness and fill their own cups in order to make that work sustainable. They both admit to working more than they should at times.

For Sharma, though, the pandemic allowed her space to step back and realize that she had "been neglecting other aspects of my life." She's picked up dancing and swimming as dedicated hobbies in the past couple of years, which have become "ways of reconnecting with my inner child and finding joy in simple pleasures." As she puts it, "I still love my work deeply, but now it's complemented by a rich personal life."

Scott, for her part, is focused on "thriving" instead of just surviving. That means being "intentional with my personal life," she says. She finds a lot of inspiration from mentor figures, and actually had the opportunity to meet Obama when she was in college. "And I remember when I met her, I felt like a little girl, because I'm like, oh, I'm from Chicago. Michelle Obama is from Chicago. And so if this amazing woman from Chicago can exude all of this greatness, then I can do the same thing," she says.

It's a truly full-circle moment that her organization is now backed by Girls Opportunity Alliance, Scott says: "We're creating this cycle of change and breaking generational curses and instead providing generational hope for our girls . . . and that's what Michelle Obama has inspired in me."

Lena Felton is the senior director of features and special content at PS, where she oversees feature stories, special projects, and our identity content. Previously, she was an editor at The Washington Post, where she led a team covering issues of gender and identity.