My guest today is Dena Patton. Dena followed her dream to move to NYC at age 22 and built her own business at age 24 but after a minor stroke at age 27 she sold her marketing company and followed her calling to work with girls and women. She became a speaker, best selling author and coach who work with leaders and women entrepreneurs to help them build companies that make a great difference in the world. She is the creator of Greatness Leadership Academy and author of Igniting Greatness. In 2007 she cofounded the Girls Rule Foundation that offers 5 programs that help teen girls build leadership, self-confidence and bright futures. Her passion is to help women and girls know their worth, know themselves and know their valuable place in the world.
In this episode you will learn:
- Programs offered at Girls Rule Foundation
- Why leadership skills and empowerment for our teen girls is important
- How parents can teach leadership skills at home
Background of Dena
- Dena shares her personal experience of growing up and finding her power, her voice
- Started her own marketing company at age 24 with vision of “telling other people’s stories”
- Dena had stroke at age 27 and she realized she needed to improve self-care and how to manage work differently
- She began her coaching practice with women and began to explore having these skills/insights as a teen girl
- Girls Rule Foundation began with her and three other women with a vision to teach leadership skills to teen girls
What is Girls Rule Foundation
- Focus is to empower teen girls in finding their own unique power, their voice and feel confidence when they enter adulthood
- They work with middle school and high school age girls in self-empowerment and leadership skills building
- They hear the girls wanting to “make a difference in this world..do it with a sense of purpose and power”
- Foundations of the programs are self-esteem
- [spp-tweet tweet=”It’s that self-esteem or belief in yourself that gets goals accomplished”]
- First program was Brilliantly Bold and Beautiful workshop-focus on self-esteem and self-confidence
- Dream Big workshop-focus on skills sets for girls to identify their dreams, get clarity and focus
- Begin to explore what money, education and other resources do they need for the dream and teach goal setting
- Shine Brighter Lead Mother-Daughter summit-weekend event, have various keynote speakers, discuss dreams and empowerment
- Girls can dream big and not be shunned or dismissed for dreaming big
- Leadership/Entrepreneur summer camp-7 days long, held at The Orme School Ranch, taught the 12 leadership principals, entrepreneurial skills and other summer camp activities
- Set up mock business to learn entrepreneurial skill set
- Dream Lab-national program, 12 week after school club, any teen girl can start at their school for small fee, learn 12 leadership principals, do a dream circle, and at end of 12 weeks they do a community project together as team
Importance of Leadership skills
- Women bring love and compassion to what is being created
- Women’s involvement is important from home level, to local community to more global level
- If girls don’t know their value or their worth they won’t use it
- Two movements currently-one is women’s parity and one is women being in more leadership positions
- Need to include our girls in these conversations because “power unused is power unused”
- Girls need to have to skill sets when they get knocked down they are able to bounce back
How can parents teach leadership skills at home
- Listen to podcasts, read blogs or find resources around leadership and empowered parenting
- Share your values with your daughters
- Listen to your daughter’s dreams and wishes
Other tips
- In two of their groups they have label removal exercise-find a label you find hurtful and “rip it off”. Girls become free from that label
- [spp-tweet tweet=”When we become the judgement we lose our power”]
- Dena encourages girls to identify their smallness voice and shut it down because it doesn’t serve them.
- Know your worth. It is not about perfection.
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Dena’s Information:
Website: www.girlsrulefoundation.org
Dena’s website: www.amazinggreatness.com
Book for women: Lioness Arising: Wake Up and Change your World by Lisa Bevere
Dena’s upcoming book: Igniting Greatness to be released this year
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