Sydney Ealy launched a nonprofit mentoring program for at-risk, low- income girls ages 11 to 17. Workshops focus on topics such as financial literacy, career exposure, culinary skills, and networking. Adult mentors help with schoolwork, personal challenges, and shared activities. Altogether 1,500 girls, and a few moms, have participated in TWST activities, and 100 have worked one-on-one with mentors. Many TWST4Girls participants have graduated from high school and entered college with dreams of becoming paleontologists, lawyers, and veterinary technicians, among other careers. Ealy wants the girls to have it easier than she did. “Sydney’s deep empathy and understanding for the girls we serve and the challenges they face inform our focus,” says volunteer chief operating officer Annie Mbride Rose, a project adviser at ExxonMobil. “She wants the girls to be confident about who they are without letting outside influences define them.”
