Stand Up Girls, a local nonprofit focused on empowering young girls in the South Orange-Maplewood community, is working to help their participants build confidence and learn to advocate for themselves.
Facilitated by Columbia High School seniors, Celia Mann, Daphne Zimmerman, Violet Bennett and Finley Friedman, the program welcomed around 30 girls during their most recent session in the spring.
The organization was active for several years before COVID and has been revived by the students with the help of local parent Laina Stapleton, who said she became interested in getting involved after realizing that young girls were facing many of the same social challenges she remembered from her own childhood.
“I just thought that girls these days were nicer to each other than they were when I was growing up. I have two daughters, and I was under this impression that they weren’t dealing with that, that girls were just nicer to each other, and I was very, very wrong about that,” Stapleton said.
Back row from left: Daphne Zimmerman, Finley Friedman, Violet Bennett and Celia Mann running a session titled “The Future” with girls holding up words of empowerment and positivity. (Photo courtesy of Celia Mann)
After reading stories on local parent groups about conflicts girls were experiencing at school and with friends, Stapleton decided to take action. She connected with Danielle Mann, Celia’s mother, who started the original Stand Up Girls, and partnered with her to grow the program into an official nonprofit.
The student leaders also recognized a need for the program through their own experiences working with younger girls.
“A lot of us babysat, and we looked around and realized how many young girls were struggling with their confidence […] I felt like bringing it back would be beneficial,” said Celia, who 10 years ago was in the group as a participant.
Marie McGehee, former executive director of Estée Lauder’s Corporate Affairs and Communications, North America, speaking to the girls about the importance of communication in the workplace. (Photo courtesy of Celia Mann)
Each session features a theme and a local professional who shares her experiences, often navigating a male-dominated field. Past speakers have included a Columbia Law School professor, an Estée Lauder corporate communications director and a former local mayor.
“We also wanted to get diverse perspectives from the community for the speakers,” Daphne said.
Celia said the speakers give participants examples of women succeeding in different professional fields.
“A lot of speakers were females in male-dominated spaces. I remember one girl saying that one of the speakers was one of her new idols,” Celia said.
Along with guest speakers, the sessions incorporate art activities, group discussions and real life scenarios.
“Each session has a theme. And then after that, we do activities based on the theme, like art or talking to one another, scenarios. Very interactive, I’d say,” Violet said.
The student leaders said creating an environment where participants feel comfortable opening up to one another is another important part of the program.
“We set it up so they could tell us stuff that they might be too scared to tell a teacher or another adult figure. And we also told stories about when we were younger, so it made it more relatable for them, and it was easier to connect,” Daphne said.
She also noticed the friendships that developed throughout the program.
“I saw a lot of girls that came into the group not knowing anybody leave with good friends,” Daphne added.
Looking ahead, Stapleton plans to expand the organization’s impact by creating a parent group. The group would give parents an outlet to connect, share experiences and learn ways to support their daughters.
“We’re also adding a parent group so that parents can come together and get support through a facilitated meeting of other parents, have conversations, just really talk about the struggles and find out some ways to manage, support their daughters, and get some solutions,” Stapleton said.
While Stapleton hopes to eventually expand Stand Up Girls into other communities across New Jersey, the organization’s current focus remains on South Orange and Maplewood.
Stand Up Girls’ next session is scheduled to begin in January. Registration for girls in grades three through six is available here. Parents interested in joining the parent group can sign up here.
Jade Meier is a 12th grade student at Columbia High School and is working with the Village Green as part of a grant from the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium.
