Local business empowers young girls

TAMPA, Fla. – The organization called GEMS, or Girls Empowered Mentally for Success, Inc., helps young women and girls learn entrepreneurship skills and empower them toward a brighter future.

One program they started is called Transitions Candles Social Enterprise, where the girls learn how to manage a small candle-making business.

What we know:

Candle-making isn’t the only thing happening inside the building along North Second Street in East Tampa. 

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The lives of young girls are changing in front of Crystal Petersen’s eyes. 

Petersen said, “We open up shy girls and expose girls who are in a bad way or dealing with a family situation that caused them a deficit.”

The backstory:

She started GEMS in 2003. 

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“Our focus is to create a space where she can have goals, understand time management and increase communication skills,” Petersen explained.

Which then turned into several other programs, like Transitions Candles Social Enterprise, which are designed to help create a bright future for girls who may not have access to help. 

Petersen said the candles are the tools they use to teach success, and that’s what’s happening inside their shop in East Tampa.

Big picture view:

The young women have the opportunity to learn entrepreneurship skills. 

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“They are highly intelligent, but are part of scenarios placing them at a disadvantage, and we want to level the playing field,” she added. 

It also helps them build their future. 

“Being an entrepreneur, there are no excuses and the buck stops with you,” Petersen said. “So, we teach them the way to negotiate and make cold calls.”

What they’re saying:

One of the participants said that it also gives them life skills and gives them access to help. 

“Girls that don’t have access to things, we still have big dreams, but we settle for less,” Naomi Jackson explained. 

She said they teach them precision when they put the wicks into the candle wax. They also learn other life lessons. 

Jackson added, “I have learned independence, how to be more accountable to myself. It’s a big change for me.”

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It also gives them a way to take a breather from their daily lives. 

She said, “This is very therapeutic, you can put yourself in your candles.” 

And the entire program gives them the building blocks to be successful. 

“A lot of people grow up not having everything and tell themselves they will never be what I want because of the resources,” Jackson thought. “But, organizations like this, they help us actually have the opportunity that gives hope for people that may not always find that.”

Her Future:

Jackson learned during the program she wanted to be a forensic journalist. As she works toward that, she wants to be a kindergarten teacher, molding the minds of other young girls, just like Petersen.

“I want to do what Ms. Crystal is doing: give kids and the younger generation inspiration,” Jackson explained. “I want to be that person that stepped into their life and changed their perspective.”

She said she’s working on getting her high school diploma now while working and then plans to head to college. 

Why you should care:

Petersen added it wouldn’t be possible without community partnerships, like Seventh Avenue Apothecary in Ybor City. 

“I told them I was in the business of changing lives, and they were like we’re in,” Petersen said. 

The girls get to have an internship there and learn from a real-life business about what it takes.

She explained, “They can take that into their lives and advocate for themselves.” 

Petersen called this entire project her labor of love, igniting a fire inside these young women and giving them a brighter future. 

“This is my God assignment,” she explained. “To know my legacy would be to lead someone to an opportunity to see themselves better, that’s what drives me everyday.”

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They normally have five girls at a time in this program, so they can focus on each girl’s needs. 

Petersen is asking other businesses to step in to help, by offering a paid internship, and a place her girls can learn. 

Her GEMS programs have influenced more than one-thousand girls in the Tampa Bay community. 

The Source: FOX13 gathered this information during an interview with the founder and CEO of Girls Empowered Mentally for Success, Inc.

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