GREEN BAY, Wis. — What looked like a simple exercise for 15 Green Bay Preble High School students served as a deep conversation starter.
The girls were handed a sheet of paper with the outline of a gingerbread man. The instructions were to fill the inside area with descriptive words as they see themselves; on the outside, how others may perceive them.
“That was hard for me. When I looked at my paper, it was like dang, there are so many bad things that surrounded my little character,” said Dominique Williams, a Green Bay Preble sophomore.
Williams said she makes it a point to attend these monthly gatherings at Preble, where they share their negative experiences and develop strategies to help overcome them.
“I think it’s a really good experience. You learn a lot. You understand so much more about your peers and the people around you and what other people are dealing with,” explained Williams. “Half of these people in the room, you would never expect them to have to go through so many racial slurs thrown at them.”
Rhonda Chandler started get-togethers like this to help out her daughters after moving to northeast Wisconsin.
“They were experiencing micro-aggressions and racial incidents at school. I was trying to build a community for them,” said Chandler, executive director of Lovin’ the Skin I’m In.
It began in her basement in 2019 as an outlet to empower and uplift Black and brown girls.
“Just being intentional, letting them know we’re interested in hearing them, and we are going to give them the space to be heard,” said Chandler.
She said sharing negative experiences in a nonjudgemental environment helps the girls avoid bad situations down the road.
“It festers. Then we have situations where they erupt because they’re angry. They’ve been dealing with this, and no one understands, or no one is giving them the opportunity to speak,” said Chandler. “No one feels like they’re on this island by themselves.”
It was Tameika Hughes-Foote of Go Girl! Life Coaching who ran the gingerbread man exercise. Chandler brought her in to work with the girls.
“I do believe it’s my purpose to be able to give back, to be able to help other women who may have gone through those things or teach them the tools and boundaries to prevent them from possibly going through having unhealthy relationships,” said Hughes-Foote.
After the exercise, the girls shared their descriptive words, which often led to personal stories. Chandler and Hughes-Foote offered strategies to help overcome problems. Other times, they simply listened.
Chandler’s idea keeps growing. She now holds sessions with four different age groups of girls and another session for anyone to attend at Life Church in Green Bay.
She was recognized in December by the NFL and the Green Bay Packers as an inaugural Inspire Change ChangeMaker Award recipient. Chandler was presented with a check by Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy for $10,000 on the field.
“It was huge. Just to be the voice for these kids, they know this is meaningful. It’s been pretty surreal,” said Chandler.
Building from humble beginnings, Chandler said she isn’t predicting how far her idea will spread.
“However big it’s supposed to get, I’m here for the ride,” said Chandler.
She’s allowing girls in difficult situations to speak, be heard, and gain confidence in themselves.