She Who CONQUERS HERSELF!
Beauty and the BEAST
GIRL’S
Best FRIEND
October 2013
“A SMILE is the best makeup any GIRL can wear” Grow Up Girl Magazine is a magazine written for girls by girls. Our contributors are across the United States and Africa. They have a heart for Grow A Girl Network and they want to change lives with their words. These young women are excited and ready to change the world. They have a passion for writing and creativity runs through their veins. Some of our contributors are in high school and some are in college, but one thing they all have in common is greatness. Our contributors are: Destiny Riley: New Jersy Di’Monet: Atlanta Lady L: Philadelphia Xoliswa Moroka: South Africa Bri: Brooklyn, New York Tali Mattox: Philadelphia Keeshara: Hinesville, Georgia.
Our contributors are saavy young ladies that believe in education and entrepreneurship. Their goals vary, but one thing they all have in common is dreaming big and aiming high. Success is running deep in their veins and they will win. If you know a young lady that might be interested in being a guest contributor or be a perminent part of our team, please have them to email us at info@growagirlnetwork.org. If you know a young person that we might be interested in interviewing, please let us know through the above email address. We love unique young ladies that are striving to abtain greatness and if we can do ANYTHING to help them to succeed, we are here. And finally, if you are interested in placing an ad in Grow Up Girl Magazine, please let us know by contacting us at info@growagirlnetwork.org. Our ads vary in cost, but we'd lov’ to serve you.
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She Who Conquers Herself, Conquers All
searching.
Loving
yourself will happen
not
overnight.
It’s a journey. One we should all be
By Tali Mattox
willing to embark on.
As a female, there is a point in our lives where we not may always feel our best. Some days we feel too short or too tall; too thick or too thin; and the list goes on. By the end of this segment, I hope to uplift your spirits and help you to know your worth.
You have to think of yourself as unique. If you think you’re too skinny, remember, so are some of the best supermodels. If you think you’re too thick, remember that people get surgery to look the way you do. It’s about perspective and the way you think
I am now 20 years of age, but I went
about things. Use the way you look as a
through a time in my life when my
reminder that you are you and no one else is.
confidence was at its lowest. I felt fat at
You are unique and designed with purpose.
times, I felt too short, and most times, I even hated my skin complexion. People would always compliment me and I would always feel as though they really couldn’t see what I saw every day for that period of my life. But one day, I heard a girl on the radio and she was me. Not literally me, but she spoke to me as if her interview was specifically geared to me, Tali Michelle Mattox.
Knowing your worth is also about being independent. There are times in your life when you will begin to date.
This young
man will come into your life and make you feel like you are his world, but you will learn that people show their true colors as times goes on. Now, this guy may come with a various amount of characteristics:
It took time for me to get to find myself and sometimes that’s what ladies need: soul
controlling, bossy, jealous, or even violent. As a woman who knows her worth, you
must be willing to want better for yourself.
help you in the future run with everything
Never let a boy detach you from knowing
from relationships to business to religion.
your worth. Ladies, you can be anything you want to be. You are who you say you are. There is a To be happy, and I mean honestly be happy,
dream of yours lurking somewhere on this
you must find yourself, build yourself and
earth. Go get it. Don’t ever let anyone tell
be pleased with yourself before you worry
you that you can’t do anything because you
about anyone else. Knowing yourself will
can do anything!
YOU ARE QUEEN.
GIRL The phrase girl power is a term of empowerment, it expressed a cultural phenomenon if the midlate 1990s to the early 2000s, and is also linked to third-wave feminism.
Life is too short to be worrying about irrelevant things. People, I repeat, people will talk about you because they aren't happy with themselves. People say you can't do it, but I know that you can. Who are they to tell you that you can't be better or do better? Better yet, who are you to believe them?
Written By Keeshara Andrea Baker What in the world do you think wakes you up in the A.M. besides Jesus Christ? Could it be Girl Power? I see so many girls today arguing and bickering. What happened? We should be sticking together. Girls are always worried about who took who's man and who looks the best. Thousands think they're not good enough. Girl Power should be exercised by all girls, but mostly teenage girls.
Dytto isn’t your typical teenage girl.
“Being a dancer you want to be original and different”
She’s not only passionate about dancing, she also has a thing for fashion and producing music.
Originally,
Dytto
aspired
to
be
a
professional choreographer but now she wants to battle; when the time comes she will eventually become a dance teacher.
Dytto speaks on how people never really
-Dytto
know what to think of her until they meet her.
Her wild hair and swag isn’t
Currently residing in Atlanta, fifteen
something that many people aren’t used
year old Dytto lives life as a dedicated
to seeing on a “white girl.”
hip hop dancer. Dytto explains of how her mother has At the age of 10 is when Dytto first
taught her respect and how to handle
started dancing. She auditioned for a
herself. Dytto states,
competition cheer team and
dedicates her time and has guided me on
since
“She [her mom]
then, she fell in love with dancing.
the right path in life”
When asked why she loves dancing so
Being the person she was raised to be,
much she responded, “There is always
Dytto tries not to cause any problems by
room to become a better dancer and
offending people with her opinion.
I’m always eager to improve.” “I never give anyone a reason not to like Dytto was scouted for her dance freestyles and ever since then she has met a lot of other dancers just like herself.
me; I keep my opinion about others to myself.”
Even though she isn’t an outspoken person she does speak up when someone is getting bullied. “I don’t care when it gets to a certain extent,” Dytto quotes. Many 15 year olds have dreams but Dytto is currently living and working towards hers.
There have been thoughts of moving to California so she can live out her dreams fully. Her mom refuses to move her while she is still in school, fearing that it will ruin her social life.
www.iamdytto.com Hopefully in two years, Dytto will be living her dreams in California and gracing the stage with some old school popping.
“[Dancing] is another language, there is no exceeding” -Dytto
By DiMonet
WE
www.growagirlnetwork.org
How Confident are you? You know, it seems like everybody (when I say everybody, I mean, we teenagers) thinks they’re holding it down. Guys talking about the new Jordan's or Beats they’ve just got. Girls talking about what…hair, I guess? Most of all, everybody's talking about the new iPhone iOS update. Yes, I know most of you probably heard of it by now. But really, if you were stripped of the new Beats, sneakers, make up, designer clothes, etc. how confident are you really? My first response would be that I’m a pretty confident person. I inherited my silliness from my mom, and that's why I act goofy in public and do things others would be embarrassed to do. I don't have an iPhone, 60% of my clothes probably came from Wal-Mart, I don't own Beats or any makeup, and I don't have extensions in my hair. It’s not that there's anything wrong with those things; my point is that I don’t feel incomplete without them. Just the other day, my classmates were talking about whose stuff cost the most. Why? I personally don't get why people think if you spend more, it’s automatically better. Why would people want to pay more for all these name brands that sometimes don’t last as long? Many of us are influenced by rappers who rap about it all
the time. “This a thousand dollar pair shoes and you ain’t even know It.” Or, how about this one, “I’d die over these Reeboks, you ain’t even know it.” Sound familiar? Now before you get upset and stop reading this article, I’m NOT trying to tell you what music you should listen to. All I’m saying is that there’s no way, while I’m in my right mind, that I’d pay a thousand dollars for some shoes!. I own 18 pairs of sneakers, and the closest I’ll get to paying a grand for them is to combine the cost of all 18 pairs! Tell me, what’s the point in wearing shoes that you have to be afraid of someone trying to rob or shoot you over? Is it just to impress someone…so that others can envy you? At the end of the day, did those shoes make you a better person? Are you more creative, talented, or intelligent? Will that footwear help you get a higher paying job, better grades, or a scholarship? Maybe we should pay closer attention to whose words are influencing us. Peer pressure or feeling “less than” everyone because you don't have the latest things contributes to a low confidence level. Your mindset is the only thing that can change the way you view things and view yourself. Having the latest outfits or gadgets doesn't matter to me because I never set my mind to think that was important. One thing I know is all the things we think are important now won’t be as important in the near future. Now, let’s go back to the original question. How confident are you? As teenagers, we’re sometimes quick to answer. "Oh, I'm
very confident," or “I’m probably one of the best things out here." But I don't think most of us are as self-assured as we project to be. The truth is that virtually everyone is selfconscious in one area or another - including me (yeah, me). Perfect example, I don't like to talk or perform in small crowds. The bigger the crowd, the more relaxed I feel. I know it sounds backwards, but I’d honestly rather speak in front of 1000 than 10. I get tongue-tied in a small group.
We all have strengths and weaknesses. It may be easy for you to see your weaknesses, but difficult to recognize your strengths. If so, you probably suffer with low self-esteem and a poor confidence level. I’d encourage you to write down as many of your strengths as you can think of - even if it’s something small. We can be our hardest critics sometimes, so it may be good to ask someone who really knows you what they see as your strengths. You could even compare your lists. Learn to focus on what is “right” about you, rather than being down on yourself about what you think is “wrong” with you. Surround yourself with friends who bring out the best in you and appreciate you for who you are. Ditch those who you have to put up a “front” for, or that you feel you always have to try to impress. I also recommend reading books or articles on building self-esteem and confidence.
Don't waste your time on self-doubt and feeling self-conscious over things other people define as important. Learn to be confident in who you are and you'll get a lot more out of life. If God wanted you otherwise, he would have created you otherwise. -Johann von Goethe
Written By Destiny Riley
“The best and most beautiful things in the
“God would give you beauty for your ashes
world cannot be seen or even touched.
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead
They
of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning,
must be
felt with the
heart”
― Helen Keller
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
Everyone is constantly talking about how important being confident is; what they don’t understand is that it’s hard to feel beautiful when the definition of “beauty” is often misinterpreted. Beauty today means having a perfect smile, perfect body, and sex appeal; but what about those girls who don’t
God willing to give someone beauty for their ashes is the equivalent to him granting joy for mourning and praise for heaviness; that is when I realized that it doesn’t matter how attractive a person may be. Beauty isn’t based on looks.
have a perfect smile or body? What are we
Unfortunately many girls are not aware of
left to do?
what beauty is because of the misconception that is portrayed by the general public.
As a child I aspired to be one of the beautiful girls I saw in the latest music
People who are honest, compassionate,
videos. Those girls carried themselves with
selfless, aspire to help others, dream chasers,
class and looked absolutely fabulous; as I
those with morals, and last but not least, the
got older the girls in the videos started to
people who never gave up when all hope
lose more and more clothing and became the
was lost are all beautiful people.
exact opposite of classy. That is the time in which I began to question the true meaning of beauty.
You may not have a picture perfect smile or a body of a video vixen but that does not determine how beautiful you are. Beauty is all the little things that makes you, you.
For the longest time, I believed that beauty was in the eye until I was in church one Sunday and the pastor spoke on Isaiah 61:13.
Written by Di’Monet
Beauty and the Beast Our love has no true definition, nor does it make sense to the people that orbit around us. It doesn't even make sense to us, but our love is something beautiful even though he and I are the beast, the monsters that tear each other apart. In the beginning we were the picture perfect couple and our frame was never crooked and our hearts beat the same beats. We were so in love with each other that our souls connected like magnets. I couldn't escape you even in my thoughts and with you it was the same. I got butterflies every time your name drifted out from someone’s lips. I loved you and you loved me. That was pure beauty to me until we were in our midnight hour. In our darkest days, we became the beast our parents warned us about.
His true colors came out and I guess, so did mine. His colors are worse than mine. He painted this image of neglect and it hurts that he can’t see that he broke down my spirit... We are still connected, so I guess that’s what makes me stick around preparing myself for the fall, but our hearts still beat the same beat and I guess that's the beauty of it all.
Find Beauty in the Worst of Situations Because In the End, You WIN! -Cheron K. Griffin
Written By Bri
WAS WOMAN. But worse still I was/am a minority....something I did not have to deal with in Africa. Most who tried to be honest with me talked of "networking". I figured that was a great path after all with the move to globalization, networking is what it's all about. One year later is when it became clear that "networking" meant who you knew...who would pull the strings for you. So it is no different from where I come from....it's only that they use fancy words. I saw this all the more while in "corporate America". You only gave in your resume to fulfill an official purpose and cover your behind...but really what counts is who you know in the company or organization.
An African Woman Writes: Yes, I am woman!!!! Coming from the "wrong tribe" ( the Kikuyu) and being a woman worked against me in trying to get a job. Worse still, I was viewed as being too independent, too confident and intimidating, those were certainly not the sought after criteria when looking for a job. However, I did not let that dampen my ambitious self. I decided that pursuing my career academically was a right move despite what "others" said or thought. I found my way to the USA, " the land of the free?!?!? and....." Here in the land of the "free" and with all the affirmative actions, I was still subjected to the same rules and barriers I had confronted while in Nairobi, BECAUSE I
It's going to be a hard trek to get to where I want to go....there will be tears, laughter, disappointments, joys, barriers and breakthroughs. However, I cannot afford to concentrate on these barricades...my focus is on my goal...and every time I hit a snag I think of it as a challenge to be overcome. There is One who watches over me and gives me strength to overcome as I focus on my goal. I speak for African women, striving to fulfill their dreams in this gender and race discriminating world...whether it is demonstrated overtly or in a subtle way. I am and will always be WOMAN!!! Written By Noni
Join me in building the self-esteem of girls through AWE: Arts, Wellness, and Entrepreneurship _____________ Visit www.growagirlnetwork.org to GIVE towards changing lives. ______________________ Please help Grow A Girl Network to fight the ills of society that are preventing many girls from succeeding around the globe. Help us to prevent teen pregnancy; suicide, addictions, cutting, sexually transmitted diseases, human trafficking, poverty, and more. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT. -Cheron K. Griffin Founder/CEO
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