We were lucky to catch up with Jalesa Green recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jalesa , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The idea of a girls mentoring group came from me being an adolescent and needing a mentor to help me navigate all of the different issues that comes with growing up and trying to find out who I am. I struggled with my confidence level, self-esteem, friendship, peer pressure etc and just wanted that listening ear other than my mom in which she was amazing, but to also to provide techniques to help me through those years who was not my parent. I was in a program “My life As a Girl” as a freshmen in high school, but after being in the program for a few months and completing it there were no other mentoring programs for girls who struggled secretly like me. This is where I desired to create my own program that young ladies can be thier authentic selves without being judged and criticized.

Jalesa , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jalesa Green and I am a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW). I currently work at Charleston Dorchester Mental Health where I am a school based mental health professional. I was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina where I attended high school at Burke High School. After high school I attended and graduated from South Carolina State University where I received my Bachelors of Social Work. It was very hard trying to find a job in my field and I began feeling and wondering what was my purpose so I enrolled at the University of South Carolina in which I graduated in 2018 with my Masters of Social Work. I never thought I would be doing the work that I do now or even get my licensed because I did not see my worth or purpose, but I had to take a deep dive on what I enjoyed. I noticed that I really connected working with young ladies as I worked at Kaleidoscope for a period of time after receiving my BSW and working at the Department of Social Services in the intensive foster care unit. I spoke to one of my best friends, Kimberly Bowman, in which we basically grew up together since meeting her in middle school at Rivers Middle School about creating a program for girls in middle school because we knew that middle school was a rough period for us. She stayed on me because I am a procrastinator and she lit a fire under me and this resulted in our Girl 2 Girl Mentoring program in 2020 a month before the pandemic.
In the group there are two other mentors that I cannot do this without and look up to Kimberly Bowman, and Loumera Wright. We help preteens with a variety of topics such as self-esteem, puberty, knowing your worth, positive affirmations, friendships, budgeting, boundaries , awareness of self and/or others, peer pressure and the list goes on. I’m so proud of us and the work that we have done for the two going on three years that we have been established. My proudest moment has got to be navigating our group with the pandemic. We aim to meeting our young ladies two times per month for about an hour and a half via free conference video chat and once in person each month so that we can have fun while still learning and discussing topics.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met Kimberly Bowman at Rivers Middle School our seventh grade year. I remember walking into the classroom for the first time and I was the first person there with my mom and she was the second person there with her mom. My mom said that is going to be your best friend and that is what actually happened. We clicked on so many levels and could relate to each other. We both knew that we struggled with our confidence level and self-esteem and wished that we had someone who could lead us in the right direction because we weren’t with the “cool kids”, but we did things our way and we had a blast. I’m proud to say that we made it! We sit back and joke about when we were younger and knew that we wanted to help young ladies that may loudly or silently faced the same issues.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A story that I would say that shows resilience is when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2017. At first after going through all of those test and MRIs I became depressed thinking to myself “Why me”, “So I can’t get rid of this” I would google what MS was and I thought my life was over, but my mom made me open my eyes to continue to live and be strong. Of course I would think “you don’t know what I go through” but I appreciated her, my family, and friends supporting me. At first I felt down, but after talking to God and my doctor I was grateful that I was where I was and tried to see the bigger picture of it all I’m MS strong, and I’m able to complete my everyday task effectively with great thanks to my support system and my doctor. I decided to share my story on lives during the pandemic to give people a look into what I experience with this disease. Another journey for me that illustrated my resilience was after I graduated from USC with my MSW and taking the test was a hard task for me. I was looking to receive me LMSW so that I could be able to find more jobs because everyone seemed as though they wanted credentials such as your LMSW or a higher credential. I kept finding jobs where I was unhappy and felt like I was falling into a state of depression. I would study during work when I had a break and after work and I just would miss the test by a couple of points. After failing the test three times I wanted to give up, seeing all of my classmates passed the test and I began comparing myself. That was a huge red flag. Once the pandemic came I cracked down since I was working from home with my job at that time. I hired a tutor and began listening to YouTube videos, study materials, and writing on posters. I would listen to my study materials as I Door Dashed when work was slow and told myself “If I can memorize a song I can memorize this material”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.girl2girlmentoring.com/
• Instagram: Girl2Girl Mentorship
• Facebook: We have two groups on Facebook Girl2Girl Mentoring Program, and Girl2Girl Mentoring Group