Be Bold - Existing to Empower!

Dare to Dream! Dare to Hope! Dare to be BOLD! 
"Be Bold exists to empower: from the hood to the holler, our girls matter!"


Captain Sex Kitten salutes the women of Be Bold, especially Tanya Torp, the founder of this organization who seeks to provide an inspiring, motivational, and above all empowering environment for young women and girls from our neighborhood. As she says, "if you judged our community's statistics against the affluent places you've heard of on our city's map, you might dismiss it as just another high crime, low income neighborhood." Yet the community has pulled together to bring many new resources in via grant funding and volunteer work - including rain gardens, artistic bus stops, neighborhood clean-ups, and a new Farmer's Market on the East End of Lexington, KY. 


Tonya went walking in her neighborhood one day. At the corner light, she struck up a conversation with a group of young women. She couldn't help but notice that they were all very scantily clad, and was surprised to find out how young they were, ages 10-15. They flaunted their sexuality because they had already learned that this was a major bargaining chip. Tonya says "...their bodies were currency and they were willing to cash in to get what they needed. Attention, someone to think they are important, give them nice things. My heart breaks for problems that are so big that there are few answers." These girls did not have direct access to many positive role models, and were already becoming entrenched in a degrading "survival" mentality.  


A woman of action, Tonya immediately started brainstorming and created a community initiative called Be Bold, designed to help expose these girls to strong, positive lady role models with a variety of creative talents and careers. Some of them went to college, some of them did not, all of them are successful in their chosen field. Tonya wants to inspire girls to be successful on their own terms, no matter what, and provide the solid foundation of self-esteem that they need to respect themselves and others. The women of Be Bold will be presenting a workshop on Saturday, October 20.  Collaborators on the Be Bold project include poet-activist Nikky Finney, local fashion designer Soreyda Bendit Begley, and special-effects make up artist Ari Arsenic. 


To find out more about how you can support Be Bold, go to:
http://www.daretobebold.org/