Christina Stephens beamed with mama pride when her daughter, Maya, accepted an achievement award Saturday during a conference that aims to instill the importance of self-love, dignity and respect to middle-school-age black girls.
“Girls need to have their self-identity recognized at an early age because middle school can be so hard and kids can be so mean,” Stephens said at the EspeciallyMe conference.
The organization was launched in 1999, after Patricia Houston, EspeciallyMe founder and director, grew weary of black women being negatively portrayed in film and music videos, as well as the lack of programs and events designed specifically to address issues affecting young women’s self-esteem.
“We were telling our girls what not to do, don’t get pregnant, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t do drugs. What we were not doing was telling the girls what to do,” Houston said.
Since the first EspeciallyMe conference was held 11 years ago, thousands of high school girls from Cherry Creek, Aurora and Denver public schools have attended. This year marked the second time the event was held for middle school girls.
The bleachers inside the gymnasium at Prairie Middle School in Aurora rocked Saturday with an estimated 500 girls who cheered and squirmed in their seats but became respectfully quiet when the keynote speaker, Shanta Smith, a motivational speaker, actress, author, singer and entrepreneur, took to the podium.
Smith, a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, former track athlete and Olympic hopeful, is one of many noted speakers who have talked to the girls over the years. Others have include professional boxer Laila Ali and former Denver first lady Wilma Webb.
Smith told the girls about her middle school experience of looking into a mirror and not liking what she saw.
“Middle school literally changed my life. I hated my hair, I was too skinny and I was a rectangle on stilts, but I learned that your imperfections are what give you strength,” Smith said.
She also told how, while a senior in college, she got cancer in her knee, underwent four rounds of chemotherapy and had to have her knee replaced with a metal one.
“There’ll be obstacles in your life,” she said. “Do not allow them to derail you. Harness it and milk it for everything.”
The event was a first for Djanne Smith, 15, a 10th-grader at Overland High School in Aurora.
“I want to get to that point when I look into a mirror and know I’m special,” she said.
Annette Espinoza: 303-954-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com
