Shantel Ericsson of Bristow, Virginia, had a dream: help girls and women have more confidence and succeed in life.
So in January, she started a nonprofit education and mentoring program built on relationships that she calls ” sisterhoods.” The organization is called Sisters Without Limitations, and its mission just got a big boost.
It’s one of 15 winners of $25,000 from Pink with Purpose. The clothing brand PINK sponsors the program and awards the money to organizations that make a difference and help others.
Ericsson said the award will help tremendously, by ensuring “more girls being able to go through the program, going to be able to help us provide more resources, upgrade our curriculum.”
A quote on the Sisters Without Limitations website helps illustrate its mission: “If you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. If you teach a woman how to fish you have not only fed her for a lifetime but, you’ve taught and fed generations to come.”
Girls as young as 5 years old can take part in the program, which offers one-on-one mentoring on a variety of things, such as career planning. There are initiatives to encourage girls and women to pursue careers in health care and the STEM field.
The end goal, Ericsson said, is to help participants “be more confident in themselves and what they bring to the table, and inspire them to reach their fullest potential.”
Five hundred women and girls have already gone through the program in the past four months.
