ATLANTA — In 2014 Ashlie James received her master's degree from Liberty University, and just two weeks later Atlanta Growing Leadership Of Women (GLOW) was born.
Eight years on and the Black-owned and Black-founded non-profit is helping empower women in Atlanta by providing mentorship.
James holds several titles as the founder: she is both president and executive director of GLOW, a project that she began to provide young girls and women with the support she wanted as a college student.
"I wish I had more of that mentorship. You know, in the earliest years to help guide me and go through that decision-making process, especially as a young woman of color and coming from a low-income background, not having access to all of the resources that I felt like I needed to succeed," said James.
Now, her non-profit is following its mission to "encourage, educate and equip young, low-income women to be thriving, self-sustaining leaders and effective agents of economic growth within their communities."
Atlanta GLOW provides young women with five programs, centered around mentorship to life skills, all created with women's empowerment in mind.
Atlanta GLOW provides:
- Mentorship Program
- Leadership Program
- Financial Literacy Program
- Life Skills Program
- Period Plus Program
James modeled her mentorship program after the support she received from her church years ago.
"It was a group of women at my church who really sort of took me on and made connections for me and encouraged me, and I was able to sort of propel into my early career and just really make some informed decisions," she said.
She wanted to give that experience to more women.
"I wanted to give that sort of experience back to young women, but I wanted to give it to them sooner," said James.
In its eight years of service, Atlanta GLOW has served almost 2,000 girls according to James. In a year they serve about 100 to 150 girls she said.
James, who is also a mother of two, considers her non-profit another child.
"I think Atlanta GLOW is like my third baby. You know, it is just such a blessing to be able to serve the community, especially through mentorship," she said.
In the future, James hopes to see Atlanta GLOW continue to scale up and offer more resources for women.
"We would love to just continue to serve and serve more young women and girls in our community," said James.
To find out more about Atlanta Glow click here.