Women's Leadership Project: Jamion Allen on Dr. Kamela Heyward-Rotimi

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Jamion Allen on Dr. Kamela Heyward-Rotimi

On November 13, 2012 Dr. Kamela Heyward-Rotimi visited Washington Prep High School. She spent lunch with us, the Women’s Leadership Project (WLP) talking about her career, interests, and what its been like as an African-American woman pursuing her doctorate degree.

I enjoyed meeting Dr. Heyward-Rotimi. She is intelligent and sees certain things just as I do.

She talked to us about living in Nigeria. She was very honest about her experiences there. She related to us, that as an African-American she was made to feel out of place by Africans. She talked to us about how some Nigerians don’t believe that American born black communities have culture.

What stood out to me most about our conversation was when I mentioned to her that I want to leave my mark on this world. She told me that I should set my sights on whatever I want to do because if I believe in myself and have a strategy to achieve my goals, then I will.

I will never forget meeting Dr. Kamela Heyward-Rotimi.

2 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 12:03 PM
I will never forget meeting you Jamion. You are an intelligent and great young lady with a bright future ahead of you. Thank you Women's Leadership Project for the opportunity to spend the day with such thoughtful young women.

And, most of my experiences in Nigeria show me that we should celebrate our differences and similarities. Overall, I have found Nigeria a fascinating place. "Dr. Kamela"
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Women's Leadership Project

The Women’s Leadership Project (WLP) is a feminist service learning program designed to educate and train young
middle and high school age women in South Los Angeles to take ownership of their school-communities. Since 2006 WLP
has been based at South L.A. high schools like Gardena and Washington Prep High School. Using a humanist curriculum with a social justice lens, the goal of the program is to empower young women of color to develop their own voices, increase their self-esteem, foster healthy relationships, promote critical consciousness about and activism around race, gender, and LGBT equality, and prepare for college and careers. WLP guides young women through public advocacy
projects of their own choosing, toward helping them develop and sharpen their critical thinking, writing, organizing and leadership skills. This year's cohort has been accepted to several UC and Cal State campuses in addition to out-of-state
colleges like Syracuse University and the University of Oregon and won prestigious awards such as the Horatio Alger and Posse Foundation scholarships.