TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — A Tampa nonprofit is working to make sure young women in the community have positive role models in their lives, and the people behind it say they are already seeing the difference.
Girls Empowered Mentally for Success, known as GEMS, has spent 23 years creating safe spaces for girls and young women in Tampa. Founder and CEO Dr. Crystal Petersen describes the mission simply.
"Girls Empowered Mentally for Success is a place where healthy transitions happen," Petersen said.
The organization focuses on what Petersen calls the hard spots, the transitions from elementary to middle school, middle to high school, and high school into adulthood. GEMS serves girls and young women ages 9 to 24, going into schools, foster care systems, and detention centers to bridge gaps before a crisis occurs.
"We are not crisis managers. We are not The Crisis Center. There are crisis centers for that. We are the thing that happens before the crisis," Petersen said.
A mission born from personal experience
The work is deeply personal for Petersen, who has shared her own story as part of a recent campaign to raise awareness about the power of mentoring.
"A little girl, maybe 10 years old, and having some trauma, and how she grew to be 13, and she was really smart, but by the time she was 16, she had mastered the art of being invisible in a room full of people, because at a certain point she starts to shrink back and she starts to lose her confidence," Petersen said.
That girl, she said, was her.
"That girl who made some bad decisions, who got lost in the crowd, was me. And God put me on an assignment to make sure that the rest of the girls got seen," Petersen said.
Petersen said the consequences of leaving a young girl without guidance can be severe.
"The challenge that we have, and I will say, is that if she doesn't find someone to answer her questions, she doesn't go away. She doesn't disappear. Her questions disappear. Her confidence disappears," Petersen said.
She connects that disappearing confidence directly to the rise in crime and incarceration among young women.
"Between social media and poverty, and the lack of, I would say, attention paid to mental health issues, that would be what I would attribute more importantly to the increase in criminal activity for girls," Petersen said.
Tampa Bay consistently ranks in the top three nationally for human trafficking, a fact Petersen said further proves the urgency of the work.
"If you could see a girl before someone who's grooming her gets to her, right, you could avert trafficking and all kinds of issues," Petersen said.
Building confidence, one affirmation at a time
Inside the GEMS headquarters on 22nd Street in Tampa, a painted dress on display tells the story of the organization's approach. One summer, girls painted personal affirmations on it, a collection of "I am" statements about their own worth and strength.
"To think that a 12-year-old doesn't want to look themselves in a mirror and say something nice about themselves, it's heartbreaking. So I was like, okay, we can. So this is a bunch of 'I am smart and beautiful' and all of things," Petersen said.
Petersen said she tried to put the dress in storage before the organization moved to its current location but ultimately kept it on display.
"She's the embodiment of who GEMS is," Petersen said.
The practice of affirmation is woven into every GEMS group session.
"If I'm honest, I probably only in the past maybe five years looked in the mirror and said, you know, 'I am beautiful,' right? ... Now when they go around and you pass the mirror around, they're like this, and it really shines. Everybody's laughing, right? And then when they look and go, 'I am a success' ... yeah, that moment," Petersen said.
A candle business built on girls' stories
Toward the back of the GEMS headquarters is a candle shop, where teens and young adults earn money through a paid internship while learning every aspect of running a business.
"Because of our partnership with Seventh Avenue Apothecary, we learned all of the aspects of how to run a candle business," Petersen said.
The candles are tied directly to the personal stories of the girls in the program.
"Each one of these cards has a girl's story, and I'll share some of them. Our candles are named because of the stories of our girls, right? So, breaking free talks about a domestic violence relationship. Empowerment talks about finding strength. Friendship was talking about the transition from when you don't have friends to when you do," Petersen said.
GEMS recently launched a TikTok shop and has received funding from the Children's Board and United Way Suncoast to support the candle program. A partnership with cosmetics company Not Your Mother's has also helped the organization refine its business model.
Petersen said the candle business is ultimately a tool for something bigger.
"The candles are really a tool that we use to move them forward in life. We want to create a profitable space, absolutely. But what we want more than anything is to use something that is pretty safe, pretty simple, to situate them so that life will not overrun them, that they will take life by the horns and do amazing things because they can, they all can," Petersen said.
Interns are guaranteed 20 hours of work per week and are placed on the payroll of GEMS corporate partners when working at partner sites. Career Source of Tampa Bay also helps offset salary costs. Petersen said the program's goal goes beyond job training. It is about social capital.
"If you're a young lady, maybe first generation, and no one owns anything and no one has the connections, this is what we want to bring to the table," Petersen said.
One recent intern who was homeschooled discovered a talent for numbers while working at Not Your Mother's in a finance role. That experience led her to pursue accounting, and she is now preparing to enroll at the University of South Florida.
"She needed to see what she was already feeling, like, 'What do I do with this? I like numbers, right? How does that work for me?'" Petersen said.
Alumni speak to the impact
For the women who have come through the program, the impact is clear.
"If it had not been for GEMS, I would not be the woman that I am today. I would not have the confidence that I have today. I wouldn't be the professional that I am today. I wouldn't be even the mother that I am today," Mercedes Parson said.
"I am a first-generation college student and probably would have never even considered pursuing a higher education were it not for the mentorship of this program," Carolyn Allen said.
"Today I am blessed to say that I'm a college graduate at Saint Louis University because of them, and I'm so grateful for the role GEMS played in helping me reach that milestone," Ivana Williams said.
A call to the community
GEMS is calling on the community to help sustain and grow the work. Petersen has launched a campaign to recruit 100 people to donate $50 a month to support mentoring.
"What if we took it beyond Tampa Bay? What if individuals in California and beyond said, 'Hey, that's right. Everyone needs to have a mentor,'" Petersen said.
The organization is hosting its Crown Society High Tea on September 26 in Tampa, a Bridgerton-themed event at the Empress Tea House where community members can learn more about GEMS and invest in its mission.
"We'll come together, Bridgerton style, in high tea, and we'll have conversations, and the girls will be fascinators or whatever, and it's the whole experience that they will have," Petersen said.
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available at girlsRgems.org. Those who cannot attend can also sponsor a girl through the website.
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