This blog post was written by Mekkiayah Jacobs, Digital Media Mentoring Program mentee.
This was my first time at a Girls Write Now QWERTY event. I invited my sister to come with me, and she was very happy at the end. I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought it would be a Girls Write Now CHAPTERS event, but this was much different. It was more like a gallery walk, and people would walk around the room, come to projects they were interested in, and hear about our process.
As I was sitting in the New-York Historical Society Museum waiting for the event to begin, the panelists were on stage interacting with other mentees in the program. I thought that the panelists seemed cool, but hesitated about going up to them because I’m not really that kind of person to talk to others. But then Isabel came over and told me to get up there. I’m glad that I did. I talked to Sudi Green, a script writer for SNL (Saturday Night Live), and I don’t why but it seemed so cool that I was talking to a script writer. Even though she is not an actor, she’s basically famous. We took some pictures and went back to our seats.
Panelists Kimberly Drew, Lynette Nylander, Sudi Green, Jazmine Hughes, and Vivian Lee (Left to Right)
As the event started there was a mentee and mentor pair, Havi and KK, who talked about their experience with each other and their experience with the program. It was very heartwarming and touching. I had to constantly wipe my eyes so tears did not roll down my face. Then came the panel talk; there were five great women talking about their role in taking ownership of their community and how they became writers. They didn’t know what their futures had in store for them when they were just starting out, but they were happy that things worked out. They wanted you to just persist through all the race and gender barriers that the world had for us, so we would be able to change the world and make it a better place.
The five women were given questions that gave us a little more intel about who they are, what they do, and what they have done for themselves and others. It was very interesting to me. I always want to know how people found success without much help. Their responses to the questions really made you think about how they must have impacted their community. Before we (mentees) were sent back to set up our projects for the rest of the world to see, we had a graduation ceremony for all seniors. Names were called, and claps were given. Even though I didn’t know any of the girls personally, I was happy that they were going onto the next chapter of their lives.
Mentee Tiffanie Roye shows her project to an audience member
When people started coming back it was a lot of people who knew the mentees personally. Unfortunately my mentor could not make it, but I had the support of my sister. I liked a lot of projects that were there. Everyone who saw my project responded positively. They thought it was beautiful and wondered if I would still be in the program for more years to come. Of course I said yes. This program is amazing, and I would never give it up.
Check out photos from QWERTY!
