May 23, 2023 • 26 mins
Olivia Coffey has been creating mentorship programs and pouring into the lives of children and families for over 30 years as a Professional School Counselor. A product of Prince George’s County Public Schools, she obtained a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) from Howard University and a Master’s degree in Education and Human Development (M.A. Ed & HD) from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
She started her career as an Elementary School Counselor in the District of Columbia. There she coordinated the annual Developing our Girls and Boys for Tomorrow conferences, developed peer mediation and mentorship programs, and parenting workshops, and implemented dynamic Career Day programs for her students.
She remained in DCPS for almost a decade before becoming a Professional School Counselor in Charles County Public Schools (CCPS). She has been a counselor in CCPS for 22 years. In this county, she is well known for her passion for empowering youth by implementing gender-based mentoring programs, a Boys to Men and Girl Power Club, and an awesome Career Awareness Program.
Mrs. Coffey is also the Founder of Youth EmpowerMe Foundation, Inc (501 (c) (3) and Creator of the EmpowerHer EmpowerMe Mother Daughter Summit (EHEM) which is a premier one-day conference for mothers (and mother-figures) and their daughters' ages 8 – 18. These mother-and-daughter summits were offered during Women’s History Month virtually during the pandemic and are scheduled hybrid at The Hotel at Maryland University on March 25, 2023.
She started her career as an Elementary School Counselor in the District of Columbia. There she coordinated the annual Developing our Girls and Boys for Tomorrow conferences, developed peer mediation and mentorship programs, and parenting workshops, and implemented dynamic Career Day programs for her students.
She remained in DCPS for almost a decade before becoming a Professional School Counselor in Charles County Public Schools (CCPS). She has been a counselor in CCPS for 22 years. In this county, she is well known for her passion for empowering youth by implementing gender-based mentoring programs, a Boys to Men and Girl Power Club, and an awesome Career Awareness Program.
Mrs. Coffey is also the Founder of Youth EmpowerMe Foundation, Inc (501 (c) (3) and Creator of the EmpowerHer EmpowerMe Mother Daughter Summit (EHEM) which is a premier one-day conference for mothers (and mother-figures) and their daughters' ages 8 – 18. These mother-and-daughter summits were offered during Women’s History Month virtually during the pandemic and are scheduled hybrid at The Hotel at Maryland University on March 25, 2023.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
M and T Bank Prison CEOs.You should know Eward by I Heeartadio loves
meet Olivia Coffee. She is thefounder of CEO an executive director for Youth
empower Me Foundation. Before we talkedmore about Olivia's nonprofit and what they do,
I first asked her to talk alittle bit about herself, where she's
from and her origin story. Igrew up in Prince George's County, Maryland,
(00:23):
went to a high school in Largo. High School was Largo High School,
but I stayed here when I wenton to college. I graduated from
Howard University. I got a bachelor'sin Business administration there and then I went
on to George Washington University. Istayed local and I have a master's in
Education and Human Development. So Iam We talked. Sorry, we talked
(00:48):
to so many lifers that have stayedin the community, and you went to
two really cool schools. I mean, Howard is the best, and in
my industry, I met a lotof kids that I got into broadcasting from
Howard and g W is wonderful too. So you've been an educator for over
thirty years, and you know,putting three decades is remarkable especially all that
(01:11):
education has been through in the lastthree decades. And I'm sure you and
I could spend hours talking about thegood, the bad, and the ugly
of it. But with all thatsaid, let us know about your interested
in getting into education any specifically you'vebeen a school counselor, but tell us
about that interest in getting into thatline of work. Well, as I
said, I graduated with a businessadministration degree, and I didn't feel fulfilled.
(01:36):
I worked actually for private industry,and I didn't feel fulfilled as far
as being able to really help andserve because I've always wanted to really serve
and help others, just feel inspiredinspiring others. So I decided to go
back to school. And I've alwaysbeen really good at I guess working with
(01:59):
children must and I like eight yearsapart, and then I was always in
my neighborhood. I was like togo to for babysitting. I had my
little babysitting business. So I've alwaysloved children, so I focused on,
you know, how can I helpchildren. I knew I didn't really I
didn't think I had what it tookto really be a teacher. But I
(02:22):
always had a heart for kids andI wanted to help them do their best
and be their best. So Idecided to go into the counseling field,
and since I love working with children, I decided to I wanted to work
with elementary school age children. SoI've always been an elementary school counselor professional
counselor, and I love it.I don't want to ever go to any
(02:45):
other level like high school or middleschool, but I do want to just
I think children, you know,are eager to learn as well as eager
to listen, and you could reallyreally help them, just mold them into
that little being that will become aproductive citizen. You know. It's just
(03:08):
easier to do that when they're younger. So that's why I continue to stay
in that career, my career ofbeing a elementary school counselor. You know,
Olivia, I almost chuckled when yousaid that I don't want to go
anywhere because you and I have collegekids, and we both know that in
middle school and high school it getsrough on parents and educators when they get
(03:31):
a little bit older. So Idon't think any of our parents, including
myself listening right now to our chat, disagree with wanting to stay with the
young people. All right, Sowe're here to talk about Youth and empower
Me Foundation, and this is reallycool that you've done this. And what
I also find extraordinary is after threedecades of being an educator and a counselor,
(03:52):
that you want to start something differentand do something for yourself but also
for parents and kids out there andkind of take it to the next level.
So what I'd like to before wehear a mission statement and before we
get into capabilities about Youth Empowerment Foundation, I'd love to hear the origin idea
about why you started this and kindof educate myself and our listeners about three
(04:15):
decades in the industry of being aneducator. Now you're starting this, tell
us why, well, I believethat parents really need help. As a
school counselor, I have been pouringmy time and soul and helping children,
help them be good decision makers,given them the tools of being effective communicators,
(04:36):
and just trying to help parents conveysome of the same lessons that I've
given the students that I've worked withfor so many years. When I first
became a counselor, I could Ireally had the time to really do parenting
workshops in that sort. I usedto work for DC public schools, so
(04:58):
I could have like a morning parentworkshop or evening parent workshop. And now
as a counselor, the role hasreally changed. We've focused on test taking
skills, helping children relieve stress andbe better test takers. We focused on,
you know, academically, just beinga supporter for the teachers. But
(05:19):
now we really really as school counselors, especially with elementary school kids, we
really have to help them with socialskills more so than anything else because of
the pandemic. Now you have childrenthat really need to have gained those problems
solving skills and to be able toeffectively interact with others, those life skills
(05:46):
and social skills that you need tobe successful, and they don't have that.
Unfortunately, families aren't as as Iguess, your traditional family anymore.
You have a lot of unique families. You have families that maybe the child
has a stepparent or a single mom, maybe they're living with relatives, maybe
(06:15):
they've experienced trauma. So parents reallyneed their help to kind of fulfill those
needs, those social emotional needs fortheir children. And that's one of the
reasons why I started this foundation justbefore the pandemic. Parents were at their
wits end trying to help their kidsvirtually learn and also to provide that stimulus
(06:40):
for them socially because now we're shutdown, we can't interact, we can't
have those play dates. So alot of children, unfortunately, especially in
my population, you know, socialmedia has been a challenge. Children are
exposed to things that normally they aren't, you exposed to at the age that
(07:01):
there's that now that they have allthis information that you know, they're not
really equipped to be able to process. So we need to help parents learn
how to develop those skills and thosetools to kind of help them um train
up their children as as as youknow the Bible says, but we want
(07:26):
to make sure that that they canreally help their children. But also parents
need to be able to help themselvestoo, because they're going through some of
the same things socially and emotionally.Yeah, I agree with that, and
you know as well as I do. Being parents, there's no handbook that's
going to help you. You're flyingby the seat of your parts, and
then you start to throw on socialmedia and what school can be like in
(07:48):
life in general. For a youngperson. There's a lot of difficult waters
to navigate that are just very intense. So I didn't want to ask you
this. Let's do a thirty thousandfoot view. When it comes to Youth
Empower Me Foundation, what is yourmission statement? So our mission is to
help give parents the tools to raiseproductive citizens. And how we do that.
(08:09):
We provide family activities, We providementorship, not only mentorship for the
children, but mentorship for the parents. We provide resources and events that focus
on social and life skills. Ithink that's really well said. And we're
going to get into capabilities and youtouched on this stuff few of them right
(08:31):
now, but you're in southern Maryland. How wide of a net you cast
about who can work with you whenit comes to families. We're focusing now
on the DMV the events, oursignature event, Empower Her Empower Me.
Ideally, I would like to makesure that we can take that event in
other states in the United States,because even though if you live in Michigan
(08:56):
or if you live in Maryland,it's some of the same challenges that parents
face. One of the things thatour signature event provides is a village for
moms pretty much and the moms aregiven resources and they're meeting other business owners
that could help them help their childrenwith success. And so that's our mission
(09:26):
is to be a village because weknow moms especially. We focus on moms
in our signature event because moms reallyneed help. They're at their wits end.
And dads are important, but wewant to make sure that the family
is able to get the tools thatthey need, and the moms are the
foundation of the family, and sowe kind of focus on kind of helping
(09:50):
those that mother be able to helpher family grow. Well. That makes
a lot of sense here, moreor less an allied to them and to
try and help them along with thesecrazy waters that we talk about navigating.
So with all that said, Iimagine that a common theme that you're hearing
from parents, especially with today's youngpeople out there, especially when they get
(10:11):
a phone in their hands and thenthey're on social media, and some parents
aren't capable of really understanding the depthof social media or aren't on it all
the time and understand how intense itcan be, not only for kids in
general, but especially for young women. I have a daughter who's twenty and
I watched some pretty rough things onsocial media over the last ten years.
With all that said, I imaginethe words mental health come up a lot
(10:35):
when you talk to parents. Maybeyou could address that a little bit.
Because you've been an educator for threedecades, I'm sure you thought and seeing
mental health issues way before we startedtalking about it. And now the kind
of quality that young people have today, it's intense out there, as you
mentioned, So maybe talk a littlebit about that. You're right, because
then, Nail, since children arebeing exposed to things that typically children aren't
(10:58):
usually exposed through social media. Socialmedia is just like it's just like the
jungle for kids, and a lotof times even I'm a mom, I'm
a boy mom, and my husbandand I both tried desperately to kind of
refrain from giving out children phones becausewe didn't want them to have that access.
But what my young adults tell menow is that they even though they
(11:22):
didn't have access to a phone andto the social media, that peers did,
so they were able to still seethose images and hear about those behaviors
through their peers, and then theywere able to get access through their peers.
I mean, my son's told mehow they would borrow a friend's phone
(11:43):
and hook it up to our WiFiwithout us knowing it. So a lot
of times as parents, you feelthat you're sheltering your kids. You're making
sure they don't have access. Butunfortunately, now we're living in a day
where children have access because their friendsdo, and so now they are aware
of certain negative behaviors and they're exhibitingthese behaviors in the classroom and parents are
(12:11):
not being heard as loud as theycould be because now they're competing with those
images and those behaviors that children areseeing when they're not with their parents.
So that's a big challenge. Soit really when a child is exposed to
things that they really should not beexposed to, that causes certain behaviors.
(12:35):
And also with the video gaming andthings like that, with boys, you
know that that causes them to haveSometimes they're very impulsive because they're used to
that stimulus. You know that they'renot used to really focus in and paying
attention because they are used to thataccess to the video world. So it's
(12:58):
a little different when they come intothe last wrong and then they're so to
stifle with the social skills because nowyou're you're pretty much your communication is in
the technical world, and you're notface to face and you're not learning how
to communicate, to listen and tofollow instructions because your free time is spent
(13:20):
on, you know, dealing withthe media, social media and video gaming
and things like that. So nowyou have children that you have to kind
of help them with that face toface to be able to socially interact and
to take turns talking and to beable to be good listers, but also
(13:41):
to be able to focus. Andthat's that's what the I believe the technology
and the gaming and the social media, it's really hard for children to focus
when they have that that challenge orthat competition with you know, the media
and technolology. I think it's wellsaid the boy. We could talk about
(14:01):
this for hours, especially being parents, both you and I and all the
different peaks and valleys when it comesto social media and interaction and social skills
and education. You did mention yourtemple event that you just had. I
was curious, how when, whatyou learn from it, and what do
you have plan next? Empower her, empower me. That's a passion that
(14:22):
I have. It's it's a dayfor moms and daughters together to learn to
get the tools that they need tobe restored, to restore their relationship,
to renew their relationship, and toeducate them on the things that they need
socially and emotionally in order to besuccessful, not only together as a team,
(14:43):
but also individually. So empower heris, from a mom's perspective,
a part of the name of theevent, empower me. It's for the
mom to be able to be empoweredas well empowering her daughter empower me as
well, because those two are awonderful, strong bond that we need to
(15:05):
make sure that we nurture because todayin this world that we live in.
And I know, I've been aschool mom for thirty years, really,
and I know many of my femalestudents sometimes don't have that bond or they
don't feel comfortable with really being transparentas they are with me. And I
(15:28):
know firsthand my mom and I hada really good relationship. I'm actually a
product of domestic abuse, so mymom and I were really close. And
my mom had a village that consistedof grandparents, aunts, and uncles,
close family friends that you would callrelatives, but they really weren't. And
(15:50):
between all of these families and women. They help my mom and I really
get through through that really challenging timewhen I was growing up. And so
the foundation is really focused on thatformal way of providing a village for families.
(16:11):
We want to get back to thebasics with our families and children.
We had for instance, over thepandemic and even in this empower or empower
Me summit, we had a Mommyand Me yoga session where now moms can
together with their daughter be able tolearn how to distress together. We had
(16:32):
a we had the events, thesessions focusing on confidence. Mom Fidence is
what we name one of the sessions, and it's moms need to understand that
their self esteem has a lot todo with parenting how they parent their daughter,
because that's where daughters get their selfesteem from is from the mom the
confidence. We also focused on financialliteracy many times as women were very visual
(16:59):
and want to make sure that we'renot just spending. There's a term retail
therapy. You know a lot oftimes when you're feeling down, you might
want to go shopping, and youreally need to start focusing on investing in
savings. So we want to teachchildren now beyond you know, the debit
card, because we're living in theworld where kids are like myself, you
(17:22):
know, there's a debit card.You don't even see the transaction with money
and counting and banking and things likethat. So we had a financial literacy
session and we had a cooking demonstrationbecause now we're living in the world where
children and families are doing a lotof fast food, a lot of eating
out. They're no more you know, kitchen activities where mom is teaching daughter
(17:45):
how to bake a cake. Sowe wanted to make sure and that's a
very powerful activity together for moms anddaughters and sons too, to be able
to cook together, and also tofocus on health and nutrition, not only
what are you cooking. You knowthat's lots of things helps your skin,
lots of things help help you yourenergy. So we kind of wanted to
(18:08):
give them that information as well.So we did that in March. It
was March to twenty fifth. Itwas a amazing event. We had a
fashion show for moms and daughters becausewe want to make sure that women and
girls know that your image means alot. We focus on pretty now in
the media, you know what ispretty. You know, people are getting
(18:32):
you know, all kinds of Iguess, changing their faces and bodies and
things like that. But we wantthe girls to know you have to focus
on pretty starts from within. Prettywith the purpose. What is your purpose?
What are your gifts and talents?So that was the main reason why
I created this event, is tofocus on helping the moms and the daughters
(18:56):
realize that there's certain things to considerwhen you're developing and when you're growing together.
Your relationship should be a relationship whereyou really are helping one another.
Empower her, empower me. Youhave to think about yourself individually. You
(19:17):
know what kind of image that you'reprojecting. We focused on you know what
to wear and our fashion show,Mommy and Me Fashion show that what you're
wearing, that first impression means alot. So all of those things and
conversations I think when I was growingup that I got from my grandmother and
(19:37):
from my older relatives that really impartedwisdom as I was growing up. Many
of these families, these children arenot getting that for whatever reason. So
our signature event empower her, EmpowerMe. Next year it will be empower
him, Empower Me. Because We'regoing to focus on helping the moms the
(20:00):
sons because moms, boy, moms, and I want myself, we need
a lot of help to even though, like I said, I always say
no, no disrespect to the men, but moms are the foundation. And
you know that that boy and thatmom have a special bond, just like
the dads and the daughters have aspecial bond, and we need to get
(20:23):
empower to kind of help our sons. Some moms don't have a father figure
around to really help, and somedads really don't know how to help that
mom and daughter, mom and sonas well as mom and daughter relationship because
it's different. So we want tofocus on helping the moms get the tools
(20:49):
that they need to help their youngleaders, because especially with the males,
we have to train them up.We can't just love on them because I
know I'm a mom that love mysons, but I need to also focus
on I am supposed to be traininghim up to be somebody else's husband or
(21:11):
somebody else's dad and so forth.So I believe moms need that kind of
help as well. Well. Thankyou for sharing all that. We only
have about a minute left, soi'd like you to do this before we
give a website and how to donate, volunteer be a part of Youth empower
Me Foundation. What one takeaway,Olivia, would you like our listener to
(21:32):
go away with when it comes towhat you're doing right now? Well,
I just believe that we're all onthis earth to serve others. And I
think if you're fortunate enough to begiven the skills and the tools to help
you be successful, that we shouldreach out and help others. And I
(21:57):
believe families are so important because theymake up our communities. So one of
the things that I think would beso helpful is that is that we all
work together to help each other,but also help our families and our communities
because that's where the break is.That's where the children really have these needs
(22:22):
that aren't fulfilled if the families aren'tstrong enough. So my takeaway is,
let's all work together, whatever tools, whatever talents, whatever gifts, if
you're financially secure, let's all behands on, hands in because our families
(22:45):
are hurting, you know, they'rebroken. They they really need support.
And instead of shaking your head andsaying looking at our youth and saying,
you know, poor you know,I don't know why they're acting like that.
I don't know why they're dressed likethat. I don't know why they're
misbehaving. Instead of shaking your headand looking down on them, let's help
(23:10):
raise them up. Let's do whatwe can to support them. And it
starts with the family. It reallystarts with the family. That's really well
said. If anybody wants to partnerup with you, donate, volunteer,
or just find out more about Youthempower Me Foundation. What's the website for
them? Youth empower Me dot orgis is our website and there you can
(23:33):
donate. We're having a fundraiser comingup at Top Golf at the National Harbor
and we need funding to help uscreate and have an amazing event for the
mothers and sons next March twenty twentyfour at the Hotel at the University of
Maryland, So please visit our website. We're on social media, We're on
(23:56):
Facebook and Instagram, but please considerto donate because we had a fabulous event
and very uplifting, very powerful eventfor the moms and daughters and we want
to do the same for the momsand sons. So if you could participate
in our fundraiser. It's gonna beon June fifteenth. It's called Kicking It
(24:18):
with Dad at the National Harbor andit'll be three hours of fun and we
will have raffles and food is included, so it'll be a fun day with
dad's It's that week of Father's Daybecause I wanted to make sure that dads
have something to look forward to onFather's Day because, as usually what my
(24:40):
husband complains about it, the momsget all the all of the attention on
Mother's Day and our Father's Day.But please visit our website youth empower me
dot org. You'll see some ofthe things that we've done in the past.
We were on YouTube. We havevideos of the sessions that we did
virtually for two years twenty twenty andtwenty twenty one, we did virtual summits
(25:03):
where we have breakout sessions virtually,so you can actually see those on our
website and there's a donate button.Again. I can't express how important it
is to support the foundation because wewant to change lives, We want to
uplift our youth, and we wantto strengthen our families. One our communities
will be strengthened one family at atime. Agreed, Olivia. I can't
(25:27):
tell you how much I appreciate yourtime. Congratulations on three decades of being
in education doing all the wonderful workwith young children and also starting this foundation.
And thank you so much for joiningus on CEOs. You should know
we really appreciate it. Thank you, thanks for the opportunity. Our community
partner, M ANDT Bank supports CEOs, you should know, as part of
their ongoing commitment to building strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses
(25:51):
within them. As a Bank forcommunities, M and T believes in dedicating
time, talent and resources to helplocal businesses through right because when businesses succeed,
our communities succeed.
M and T Bank Prison CEOs.You should know Eward by I Heeartadio loves
meet Olivia Coffee. She is thefounder of CEO an executive director for Youth
empower Me Foundation. Before we talkedmore about Olivia's nonprofit and what they do,
I first asked her to talk alittle bit about herself, where she's
from and her origin story. Igrew up in Prince George's County, Maryland,
(00:23):
went to a high school in Largo. High School was Largo High School,
but I stayed here when I wenton to college. I graduated from
Howard University. I got a bachelor'sin Business administration there and then I went
on to George Washington University. Istayed local and I have a master's in
Education and Human Development. So Iam We talked. Sorry, we talked
(00:48):
to so many lifers that have stayedin the community, and you went to
two really cool schools. I mean, Howard is the best, and in
my industry, I met a lotof kids that I got into broadcasting from
Howard and g W is wonderful too. So you've been an educator for over
thirty years, and you know,putting three decades is remarkable especially all that
(01:11):
education has been through in the lastthree decades. And I'm sure you and
I could spend hours talking about thegood, the bad, and the ugly
of it. But with all thatsaid, let us know about your interested
in getting into education any specifically you'vebeen a school counselor, but tell us
about that interest in getting into thatline of work. Well, as I
said, I graduated with a businessadministration degree, and I didn't feel fulfilled.
(01:36):
I worked actually for private industry,and I didn't feel fulfilled as far
as being able to really help andserve because I've always wanted to really serve
and help others, just feel inspiredinspiring others. So I decided to go
back to school. And I've alwaysbeen really good at I guess working with
(01:59):
children must and I like eight yearsapart, and then I was always in
my neighborhood. I was like togo to for babysitting. I had my
little babysitting business. So I've alwaysloved children, so I focused on,
you know, how can I helpchildren. I knew I didn't really I
didn't think I had what it tookto really be a teacher. But I
(02:22):
always had a heart for kids andI wanted to help them do their best
and be their best. So Idecided to go into the counseling field,
and since I love working with children, I decided to I wanted to work
with elementary school age children. SoI've always been an elementary school counselor professional
counselor, and I love it.I don't want to ever go to any
(02:45):
other level like high school or middleschool, but I do want to just
I think children, you know,are eager to learn as well as eager
to listen, and you could reallyreally help them, just mold them into
that little being that will become aproductive citizen. You know. It's just
(03:08):
easier to do that when they're younger. So that's why I continue to stay
in that career, my career ofbeing a elementary school counselor. You know,
Olivia, I almost chuckled when yousaid that I don't want to go
anywhere because you and I have collegekids, and we both know that in
middle school and high school it getsrough on parents and educators when they get
(03:31):
a little bit older. So Idon't think any of our parents, including
myself listening right now to our chat, disagree with wanting to stay with the
young people. All right, Sowe're here to talk about Youth and empower
Me Foundation, and this is reallycool that you've done this. And what
I also find extraordinary is after threedecades of being an educator and a counselor,
(03:52):
that you want to start something differentand do something for yourself but also
for parents and kids out there andkind of take it to the next level.
So what I'd like to before wehear a mission statement and before we
get into capabilities about Youth Empowerment Foundation, I'd love to hear the origin idea
about why you started this and kindof educate myself and our listeners about three
(04:15):
decades in the industry of being aneducator. Now you're starting this, tell
us why, well, I believethat parents really need help. As a
school counselor, I have been pouringmy time and soul and helping children,
help them be good decision makers,given them the tools of being effective communicators,
(04:36):
and just trying to help parents conveysome of the same lessons that I've
given the students that I've worked withfor so many years. When I first
became a counselor, I could Ireally had the time to really do parenting
workshops in that sort. I usedto work for DC public schools, so
(04:58):
I could have like a morning parentworkshop or evening parent workshop. And now
as a counselor, the role hasreally changed. We've focused on test taking
skills, helping children relieve stress andbe better test takers. We focused on,
you know, academically, just beinga supporter for the teachers. But
(05:19):
now we really really as school counselors, especially with elementary school kids, we
really have to help them with socialskills more so than anything else because of
the pandemic. Now you have childrenthat really need to have gained those problems
solving skills and to be able toeffectively interact with others, those life skills
(05:46):
and social skills that you need tobe successful, and they don't have that.
Unfortunately, families aren't as as Iguess, your traditional family anymore.
You have a lot of unique families. You have families that maybe the child
has a stepparent or a single mom, maybe they're living with relatives, maybe
(06:15):
they've experienced trauma. So parents reallyneed their help to kind of fulfill those
needs, those social emotional needs fortheir children. And that's one of the
reasons why I started this foundation justbefore the pandemic. Parents were at their
wits end trying to help their kidsvirtually learn and also to provide that stimulus
(06:40):
for them socially because now we're shutdown, we can't interact, we can't
have those play dates. So alot of children, unfortunately, especially in
my population, you know, socialmedia has been a challenge. Children are
exposed to things that normally they aren't, you exposed to at the age that
(07:01):
there's that now that they have allthis information that you know, they're not
really equipped to be able to process. So we need to help parents learn
how to develop those skills and thosetools to kind of help them um train
up their children as as as youknow the Bible says, but we want
(07:26):
to make sure that that they canreally help their children. But also parents
need to be able to help themselvestoo, because they're going through some of
the same things socially and emotionally.Yeah, I agree with that, and
you know as well as I do. Being parents, there's no handbook that's
going to help you. You're flyingby the seat of your parts, and
then you start to throw on socialmedia and what school can be like in
(07:48):
life in general. For a youngperson. There's a lot of difficult waters
to navigate that are just very intense. So I didn't want to ask you
this. Let's do a thirty thousandfoot view. When it comes to Youth
Empower Me Foundation, what is yourmission statement? So our mission is to
help give parents the tools to raiseproductive citizens. And how we do that.
(08:09):
We provide family activities, We providementorship, not only mentorship for the
children, but mentorship for the parents. We provide resources and events that focus
on social and life skills. Ithink that's really well said. And we're
going to get into capabilities and youtouched on this stuff few of them right
(08:31):
now, but you're in southern Maryland. How wide of a net you cast
about who can work with you whenit comes to families. We're focusing now
on the DMV the events, oursignature event, Empower Her Empower Me.
Ideally, I would like to makesure that we can take that event in
other states in the United States,because even though if you live in Michigan
(08:56):
or if you live in Maryland,it's some of the same challenges that parents
face. One of the things thatour signature event provides is a village for
moms pretty much and the moms aregiven resources and they're meeting other business owners
that could help them help their childrenwith success. And so that's our mission
(09:26):
is to be a village because weknow moms especially. We focus on moms
in our signature event because moms reallyneed help. They're at their wits end.
And dads are important, but wewant to make sure that the family
is able to get the tools thatthey need, and the moms are the
foundation of the family, and sowe kind of focus on kind of helping
(09:50):
those that mother be able to helpher family grow. Well. That makes
a lot of sense here, moreor less an allied to them and to
try and help them along with thesecrazy waters that we talk about navigating.
So with all that said, Iimagine that a common theme that you're hearing
from parents, especially with today's youngpeople out there, especially when they get
(10:11):
a phone in their hands and thenthey're on social media, and some parents
aren't capable of really understanding the depthof social media or aren't on it all
the time and understand how intense itcan be, not only for kids in
general, but especially for young women. I have a daughter who's twenty and
I watched some pretty rough things onsocial media over the last ten years.
With all that said, I imaginethe words mental health come up a lot
(10:35):
when you talk to parents. Maybeyou could address that a little bit.
Because you've been an educator for threedecades, I'm sure you thought and seeing
mental health issues way before we startedtalking about it. And now the kind
of quality that young people have today, it's intense out there, as you
mentioned, So maybe talk a littlebit about that. You're right, because
then, Nail, since children arebeing exposed to things that typically children aren't
(10:58):
usually exposed through social media. Socialmedia is just like it's just like the
jungle for kids, and a lotof times even I'm a mom, I'm
a boy mom, and my husbandand I both tried desperately to kind of
refrain from giving out children phones becausewe didn't want them to have that access.
But what my young adults tell menow is that they even though they
(11:22):
didn't have access to a phone andto the social media, that peers did,
so they were able to still seethose images and hear about those behaviors
through their peers, and then theywere able to get access through their peers.
I mean, my son's told mehow they would borrow a friend's phone
(11:43):
and hook it up to our WiFiwithout us knowing it. So a lot
of times as parents, you feelthat you're sheltering your kids. You're making
sure they don't have access. Butunfortunately, now we're living in a day
where children have access because their friendsdo, and so now they are aware
of certain negative behaviors and they're exhibitingthese behaviors in the classroom and parents are
(12:11):
not being heard as loud as theycould be because now they're competing with those
images and those behaviors that children areseeing when they're not with their parents.
So that's a big challenge. Soit really when a child is exposed to
things that they really should not beexposed to, that causes certain behaviors.
(12:35):
And also with the video gaming andthings like that, with boys, you
know that that causes them to haveSometimes they're very impulsive because they're used to
that stimulus. You know that they'renot used to really focus in and paying
attention because they are used to thataccess to the video world. So it's
(12:58):
a little different when they come intothe last wrong and then they're so to
stifle with the social skills because nowyou're you're pretty much your communication is in
the technical world, and you're notface to face and you're not learning how
to communicate, to listen and tofollow instructions because your free time is spent
(13:20):
on, you know, dealing withthe media, social media and video gaming
and things like that. So nowyou have children that you have to kind
of help them with that face toface to be able to socially interact and
to take turns talking and to beable to be good listers, but also
(13:41):
to be able to focus. Andthat's that's what the I believe the technology
and the gaming and the social media, it's really hard for children to focus
when they have that that challenge orthat competition with you know, the media
and technolology. I think it's wellsaid the boy. We could talk about
(14:01):
this for hours, especially being parents, both you and I and all the
different peaks and valleys when it comesto social media and interaction and social skills
and education. You did mention yourtemple event that you just had. I
was curious, how when, whatyou learn from it, and what do
you have plan next? Empower her, empower me. That's a passion that
(14:22):
I have. It's it's a dayfor moms and daughters together to learn to
get the tools that they need tobe restored, to restore their relationship,
to renew their relationship, and toeducate them on the things that they need
socially and emotionally in order to besuccessful, not only together as a team,
(14:43):
but also individually. So empower heris, from a mom's perspective,
a part of the name of theevent, empower me. It's for the
mom to be able to be empoweredas well empowering her daughter empower me as
well, because those two are awonderful, strong bond that we need to
(15:05):
make sure that we nurture because todayin this world that we live in.
And I know, I've been aschool mom for thirty years, really,
and I know many of my femalestudents sometimes don't have that bond or they
don't feel comfortable with really being transparentas they are with me. And I
(15:28):
know firsthand my mom and I hada really good relationship. I'm actually a
product of domestic abuse, so mymom and I were really close. And
my mom had a village that consistedof grandparents, aunts, and uncles,
close family friends that you would callrelatives, but they really weren't. And
(15:50):
between all of these families and women. They help my mom and I really
get through through that really challenging timewhen I was growing up. And so
the foundation is really focused on thatformal way of providing a village for families.
(16:11):
We want to get back to thebasics with our families and children.
We had for instance, over thepandemic and even in this empower or empower
Me summit, we had a Mommyand Me yoga session where now moms can
together with their daughter be able tolearn how to distress together. We had
(16:32):
a we had the events, thesessions focusing on confidence. Mom Fidence is
what we name one of the sessions, and it's moms need to understand that
their self esteem has a lot todo with parenting how they parent their daughter,
because that's where daughters get their selfesteem from is from the mom the
confidence. We also focused on financialliteracy many times as women were very visual
(16:59):
and want to make sure that we'renot just spending. There's a term retail
therapy. You know a lot oftimes when you're feeling down, you might
want to go shopping, and youreally need to start focusing on investing in
savings. So we want to teachchildren now beyond you know, the debit
card, because we're living in theworld where kids are like myself, you
(17:22):
know, there's a debit card.You don't even see the transaction with money
and counting and banking and things likethat. So we had a financial literacy
session and we had a cooking demonstrationbecause now we're living in the world where
children and families are doing a lotof fast food, a lot of eating
out. They're no more you know, kitchen activities where mom is teaching daughter
(17:45):
how to bake a cake. Sowe wanted to make sure and that's a
very powerful activity together for moms anddaughters and sons too, to be able
to cook together, and also tofocus on health and nutrition, not only
what are you cooking. You knowthat's lots of things helps your skin,
lots of things help help you yourenergy. So we kind of wanted to
(18:08):
give them that information as well.So we did that in March. It
was March to twenty fifth. Itwas a amazing event. We had a
fashion show for moms and daughters becausewe want to make sure that women and
girls know that your image means alot. We focus on pretty now in
the media, you know what ispretty. You know, people are getting
(18:32):
you know, all kinds of Iguess, changing their faces and bodies and
things like that. But we wantthe girls to know you have to focus
on pretty starts from within. Prettywith the purpose. What is your purpose?
What are your gifts and talents?So that was the main reason why
I created this event, is tofocus on helping the moms and the daughters
(18:56):
realize that there's certain things to considerwhen you're developing and when you're growing together.
Your relationship should be a relationship whereyou really are helping one another.
Empower her, empower me. Youhave to think about yourself individually. You
(19:17):
know what kind of image that you'reprojecting. We focused on you know what
to wear and our fashion show,Mommy and Me Fashion show that what you're
wearing, that first impression means alot. So all of those things and
conversations I think when I was growingup that I got from my grandmother and
(19:37):
from my older relatives that really impartedwisdom as I was growing up. Many
of these families, these children arenot getting that for whatever reason. So
our signature event empower her, EmpowerMe. Next year it will be empower
him, Empower Me. Because We'regoing to focus on helping the moms the
(20:00):
sons because moms, boy, moms, and I want myself, we need
a lot of help to even though, like I said, I always say
no, no disrespect to the men, but moms are the foundation. And
you know that that boy and thatmom have a special bond, just like
the dads and the daughters have aspecial bond, and we need to get
(20:23):
empower to kind of help our sons. Some moms don't have a father figure
around to really help, and somedads really don't know how to help that
mom and daughter, mom and sonas well as mom and daughter relationship because
it's different. So we want tofocus on helping the moms get the tools
(20:49):
that they need to help their youngleaders, because especially with the males,
we have to train them up.We can't just love on them because I
know I'm a mom that love mysons, but I need to also focus
on I am supposed to be traininghim up to be somebody else's husband or
(21:11):
somebody else's dad and so forth.So I believe moms need that kind of
help as well. Well. Thankyou for sharing all that. We only
have about a minute left, soi'd like you to do this before we
give a website and how to donate, volunteer be a part of Youth empower
Me Foundation. What one takeaway,Olivia, would you like our listener to
(21:32):
go away with when it comes towhat you're doing right now? Well,
I just believe that we're all onthis earth to serve others. And I
think if you're fortunate enough to begiven the skills and the tools to help
you be successful, that we shouldreach out and help others. And I
(21:57):
believe families are so important because theymake up our communities. So one of
the things that I think would beso helpful is that is that we all
work together to help each other,but also help our families and our communities
because that's where the break is.That's where the children really have these needs
(22:22):
that aren't fulfilled if the families aren'tstrong enough. So my takeaway is,
let's all work together, whatever tools, whatever talents, whatever gifts, if
you're financially secure, let's all behands on, hands in because our families
(22:45):
are hurting, you know, they'rebroken. They they really need support.
And instead of shaking your head andsaying looking at our youth and saying,
you know, poor you know,I don't know why they're acting like that.
I don't know why they're dressed likethat. I don't know why they're
misbehaving. Instead of shaking your headand looking down on them, let's help
(23:10):
raise them up. Let's do whatwe can to support them. And it
starts with the family. It reallystarts with the family. That's really well
said. If anybody wants to partnerup with you, donate, volunteer,
or just find out more about Youthempower Me Foundation. What's the website for
them? Youth empower Me dot orgis is our website and there you can
(23:33):
donate. We're having a fundraiser comingup at Top Golf at the National Harbor
and we need funding to help uscreate and have an amazing event for the
mothers and sons next March twenty twentyfour at the Hotel at the University of
Maryland, So please visit our website. We're on social media, We're on
(23:56):
Facebook and Instagram, but please considerto donate because we had a fabulous event
and very uplifting, very powerful eventfor the moms and daughters and we want
to do the same for the momsand sons. So if you could participate
in our fundraiser. It's gonna beon June fifteenth. It's called Kicking It
(24:18):
with Dad at the National Harbor andit'll be three hours of fun and we
will have raffles and food is included, so it'll be a fun day with
dad's It's that week of Father's Daybecause I wanted to make sure that dads
have something to look forward to onFather's Day because, as usually what my
(24:40):
husband complains about it, the momsget all the all of the attention on
Mother's Day and our Father's Day.But please visit our website youth empower me
dot org. You'll see some ofthe things that we've done in the past.
We were on YouTube. We havevideos of the sessions that we did
virtually for two years twenty twenty andtwenty twenty one, we did virtual summits
(25:03):
where we have breakout sessions virtually,so you can actually see those on our
website and there's a donate button.Again. I can't express how important it
is to support the foundation because wewant to change lives, We want to
uplift our youth, and we wantto strengthen our families. One our communities
will be strengthened one family at atime. Agreed, Olivia. I can't
(25:27):
tell you how much I appreciate yourtime. Congratulations on three decades of being
in education doing all the wonderful workwith young children and also starting this foundation.
And thank you so much for joiningus on CEOs. You should know
we really appreciate it. Thank you, thanks for the opportunity. Our community
partner, M ANDT Bank supports CEOs, you should know, as part of
their ongoing commitment to building strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses
(25:51):
within them. As a Bank forcommunities, M and T believes in dedicating
time, talent and resources to helplocal businesses through right because when businesses succeed,
our communities succeed.
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