Growing up, I was obsessed with Barbie dolls. However, as I grew older and navigated the challenges of being a girl of color, I soon realized the flaws in Barbie. Girls were expected to look and act picture-perfect, or face consequences like societal disapproval. I found myself seeking role models who fought against racial discrimination and for gender equality. I studied the work of Kamala Harris, Sonia Sotomayer, Malala Yousafzai. These women inspired me to take action and stand up for the causes I believe in. More specifically, after facing sexist comments from male swimmers on my team, I was pushed to create an organization to help other girls because “we realize the power of voices only when we are silenced”(Malala Yousafzai).

When I first launched my idea of Girls4Sport by word of mouth to my friends,  I received positive feedback through texts, social media comments and word of mouth. Girls came to me emphasizing that this organization was a much-needed service because they struggled with sexual comments, and feeling inferior because of males. 
Even though our events are free, upon launching, people immediately wanted to support the cause. They helped us raise hundreds of dollars within 2 months. This positive commentary helped me realize how important Girls4Sports was for society, cementing my belief in this cause.

As an avid athlete, I have always grown up loving sports. Sports have always been a part of my life, as I played over 6 sports including basketball, swimming, badminton, tennis, soccer,  and volleyball. 

As I grew older, swimming became my most passionate sport, the sport that I spent hours upon hours on. I went to practice 5 days a week, striving to improve my best time by even milliseconds. But soon, I realized my times weren't good enough compared to others. Other male swimmers teased that their times were many seconds ahead of mine, because they were faster, stronger and male.

I was too slow. I was too weak. I was too female. 

These moments of simple teasing had lasting impacts on my mind. And, this was a shared experience amongst all girls on the swim team. Even in our local  Dublin police department, among interns there were 14 boys and only one girl; me. The program allowed us to participate in physical activity alongside police officers, often involving  2 mile runs in 90 degree weather or bench pressing to our best capacity.  I noticed that I would fall behind during the runs or press the least amount of weight—making me evaluate the weaknesses of simply being a girl. 
These words, actions and shared experiences made me think for hours each night if there was something I could do about it,  and that is how Girls 4Sports was created.

Girls4Sports opens up opportunities for underprivileged girls to play sports and raises awareness about inequality seen in female sports. We do this by making accessible events such as free sports camps, free webinars with professional athletes, sports equipment drives, and free advocacy workshops. 

Every month we host sports equipment drives that are donated to children's homes, children's hospitals, and local sports teams. We have collected and donated a total of over 300 sports equipment for  Sacramento Children’s Home, Oakland Children’s hospital and more local sports teams. These equipment drives allow those who are not able to access sports to play. 

Secondly, we host sports camps every 4 months. Last summer,  we hosted a free summer camp for over 200 low-income individuals and taught them sports, to make sports more accessible. 

Moreover, every 2 months we host advocacy conferences. In October, we hosted a webinar aimed at creating a welcoming and open space for female athletes and local girls in the community–allowing them to hear from professional athletes like Chris Evert, the former worlds number 1 tennis player–on their perspective of gender equity and how to become more successful in sports. These conferences allow girls to learn more about becoming successful.

Every single event at Girls4Sports is free and made to be accessible. 
Our webinars are online and recorded, accessible to anyone interested in learning more about sports equity and advocacy. 

Secondly, our team is strategic in partnerships.  We have reached out to collaborate with famous athletes, nonprofits and companies. We have been able to work with former World’s 1 Tennis Player, Chris Evert, and nonprofits that emphasize equity for all such as, Girls On The Run, Global Youth Unite, Intelliher, Global GI, and Henna Heath to name a few. Working with nonprofits such as these help us reach our target service group and reach our goals of equity. Additionally, we reach our target service group in diverse ways–be it helping sports teams, hospitals, schools and small businesses. Specifically, we use social media partnerships with other youth-led nonprofits to reach new audiences and increase brand awareness, allowing us to expand our message of gender equity in sports to more people. 

Lastly, we have a variety of events in Girls4Sports, allowing us to help the community in a variety of ways. We host sports festivals, sports equipment drives, speaker showcases,  olympic athlete conferences and 5k’s allowing us to host 12-16 events each year. We are constantly trying to unite the community, giving many opportunities for people to get involved and enjoy our message.

Girls4Sports started out with one person, one idea and one dream.  But through its growth, we have been able to expand to over 25 leadership members, 10 branches and 230 members. All of these people have been given opportunity to understand and carry out Girls4Sport’s  mission of accessibility in sports.  

Moreover, our chapter’s specifically allow girls to create solutions and events to the issue we are addressing. A girl I was mentoring in a different program was truly inspired by the works of Girls4Sports and immediately asked how she could get involvedi n her local school. As a track athlete she understood the hardships of gender inequity seen in sports  and her eyes were filled with curiosity on how she could do something more. When I explained the chapter process to her, she was excited to create a branch of Girls4Sports at her school. She was able to form an officer team, more leadership members, proper social media marketing and gain tens of members within simply a month. After that, she was able to lead her Girls4Sports at her school and is currently working on numerous projects at Girls4Sports. Her branch, EHS Girls4Sports, was our first branch of Girls4Sports–propelling Girls4Sports to create 10 more branches and many more impacts. Today, her club has over 30 members and is working on over 5 projects.