Last Thursday, Kappa Kappa Gamma and I Am That Girl brought the IATG founder, Alexis Jones, to Chapman's campus to speak to students about female empowerment and redefining manhood as part of Kappa's fall philanthropy event, Fleurish. Alexis has spoken at the White House, Harvard, Stanford, and to multiple professional sports teams about empowerment, leadership, and activism, among other topics. She is also a KKG alumna, which made her visit to our campus all the more special for me.
During her talk, she spoke to how she came up with the name for her organization. She described how everyone had that "It girl" that they looked up to in their lives, the girl who had it all together, the girl who was nice to everyone even though she didn't have to be. She talked about how she always wanted to be that girl. And from there she found the name I Am That Girl.
Everything that Alexis said throughout her talk struck a chord with me, but when she talked about how we all had the power to be that girl, it lit a fire within me. We spend so much of our lives comparing ourselves to others around us and feeling that we will never be as good or as talented or as smart as that girl. Yet, if we were programmed to love ourselves a little more and believe in our abilities as much as we long for the abilities and talents of others, we each have the power to become that girl.
I'm a busy woman. I work thirty hours a week, I'm the Editor in Chief for my Odyssey community, I hold a leadership position in my sorority, I intern in the child life department of a local children's hospital, and I still find time to manage a decent social life and work on other creative projects that bring me joy. And that is so badass. Yet, day in and day out, I don't think I'm good enough or that I'm doing enough in comparison to others. That is such toxic thinking and I am so over it. I'm ready to be proud of everything I do and not reduce it to just being a busy person. I'm a badass because I love everything I do and I am proud of the person that I am. From here on out, that's the only thought I will keep in my brain.
This is not an easy time to grow up in. We are surrounded by negative, airbrushed, altered media that constantly makes us question our worth. We are all badasses. We are all incredible people. We can all be that girl.
