Bianca Myrick is the founder and executive director of Pretty Purposed. Photos courtesy of Pretty Purposed.
“Strengthening partnerships is key to sustainability and community impact.”
Pretty Purposed inspires schools and communities to empower young women and girls. “We support our girls and young women through our mentoring and enrichment programs,” says Bianca Myrick, the founder and executive director of Pretty Purposed. In addition to serving the Petersburg, community, Pretty Purposed has sites throughout central Virginia—Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Sussex, Hopewell, and Colonial Heights.
Recently, Pretty Purposed collaborated with Voices for Virginia’s Children on their inaugural Advocacy Cohort initiative, where their girls learned storytelling and advocacy skills. The girls took what they learned to the General Assembly for Advocacy Day and were allowed to speak to delegates and legislators about issues that impacted the youth. “We are excited about our girls using their voice, and we want them to know their voices and ideas are valued,” Bianca says. Pretty Purposed is also developing their curriculum that centers around its values of self-esteem, community involvement, and health & wellness. For their curriculum, Bianca sought the feedback of her girls. The girls have a say in what should and shouldn’t be in the curriculum. “We are piloting the curriculum now,” Bianca says. “Once we incorporate all of the feedback, we hope to be able to scale it to communities interested in starting their own girls groups.”
Pretty Purposed programs revolve around self-esteem, community involvement, and health & wellness.
This spring, Pretty Purposed launched the You Glow Girl Network in collaboration with their strategic partners. The initiative improves the outcomes of young women and girls through a coalition of community leaders and organizations. Community leaders and organizations collaborate, share sources, obtain funding together, and mitigate the duplication of services. “Strengthening partnerships is key to sustainability and community impact,” Bianca says. “Our goal is for this to be a true collaboration, not just us leading the efforts, so we have taken time to put some thought into it.” Along with this new initiative, Pretty Purposed is launching an alumni project in the summer. The alumni initiative will support past participants seeking workforce development, preparation, and opportunities. Find out more about Pretty Purposed via the links below.
To learn more about how you can support Pretty Purposed, visit their website and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
