One Girl workshop helps girls find inner beauty

Monthly workshops empower new generation of strong, confident young women

Young girls are being encouraged to become their best selves, increase their confidence and self-esteem, and are being given skills to help with difficult situations.

Recently, a One Girl workshop was held at the Best Western Glengarry in Truro. It was run primarily by Karen Dean, an entrepreneur and single mom who is passionate about inspiring and empowering women of all ages.

“For me, to be able to work with girls at such a crucial and vulnerable age, to be able to teach them leadership skills, teach them about self-compassion and inspire them to love themselves is an amazing opportunity,” Dean said.

“I wish there had been something like One Girl around when I was a young girl and struggling with my own self-image.”

One Girl is part of a bigger organization called One Woman, a global social enterprise, where any profits are reinvested in programs for women in Canada and in developing countries.

It’s an opportunity for women and girls to empower others around the world, giving them access to things such as education.

One Girl is still establishing itself in Nova Scotia, hosting a varying number of girls each month since September 2018.

There are generally two workshops, One Girl – Inspired for ages 8 to 10 and One Girl - Encouraged for ages 11 to 13.

At the monthly workshops, participants start off designing their own name tags and continue with the values of One Girl – to create a safe space for girls to engage in open dialogue and fun activities surrounding topics such as self- compassion and mindfulness.

Each month’s workshop has a different theme and builds on content from previous workshops.

Dean, the chapter leader for One Girl Nova Scotia, has been a lifelong entrepreneur who has held leadership roles in several volunteer organizations, including being one of only two women to ever be elected to the Farmers Dairy Board of Directors.

“To be a good mentor you must be able to empower the person you are mentoring,” she said, “help them figure out what they need, who they really are on the inside, help them embrace who they already are and ignite a passion within them to keep making that person better.”

A key element of One Girl is the idea that being a girl can be really challenging and young women are often full of insecurities.

“I grew up with very poor selfesteem and battled with it until recent years. That made life and relationships challenging sometimes, so the fact that I am now able to share what I have learned from my struggles and help girls overcome theirs, is incredible,” Dean said.

The next One Girl Nova Scotia event is Sunday, Jan. 20 at Cole Harbour Place, Dartmouth, N.S. Registration is now open at www.1girl.ca/novascotia.