I am very excited to have been offered the opportunity to nominate someone for the"Yahoo Women Who Shine" Award and I have selected Haley Kilpatrick, social entrepreneur, founder of the "Girl Talk" program and author of "The Drama Years" (which I highly recommend for tweens and their parents). I am very interested in implementing this program locally.
I first "found" Haley early this year in a magazine article. Because AEC works to reduce high risk behaviors, I am always on the lookout for resources and Haley's "Girl Talk" program to raise self-respect in middle school girls was inspiring and impressive. It was also amazing to learn that Haley was still in her twenties, with a national organization to her credit. I immediately contacted them and was again impressed by the organization in place to promote Haley's message of "kindness, humility and respect". This young woman had used her own agonizing social experience in middle school to develop a program for high school girls to mentor middle school girls, giving all an opportunity to build confidence, leadership, and communication skills, as well as to learn compassion. It is quite an accomplishment to have placed many of the important developmental assets into this program and, it is fun!
Haley's program really goes to the heart of the problems that our young girls are facing today, the lack of respect which is fueling the bullying epidemic that is disrupting our schools and devastating the lives of schoolgirls. "Girl Talk" now reaches 35,000 girls in the United States and in 8 other countries. Her book, "The Drama Years" is a great resource for parents of middle school girls as well as the girls themselves. It is easy to read, filled with practical advice and truly speaks to the heart of young girls. Haley's success will benefit us all. For more information, check out:

www.facebook.com/InspireGirlTalk

www.facebook.com/HaleyKilpatrickAuthor

www.twitter.com/GirlTalkInc

www.youtube.com/GirlTalkInc

DO YOU KNOW A WOMAN WHO SHINES? Nominate her at: http://bit.ly/women-who-shine

TO VOTE FOR HALEY:   http://yhoo.it/P9iNGN.

And here is the link to vote for AEC's Arline Saiki nominated as a Yahoo! Women Who Shine by wonderful mom blogger Angela Sellari of www.aboutamom.com.  http://shine.yahoo.com/photos/public-service-1344924606-slideshow/arline-saiki-photo-1348410638.html

Disclosure: I was compensated for this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. To read more posts on this topic, click here http://inspiringwomen.socialmoms.com/.