Meet Bosilika An, Honored by #VoiceYourVerse

The host of Voice Your Verse, poet Azure Antoinette of Studio Alchemy, and Bosilika

[Editor's Note: If you couldn't attend the NYC celebration of Voice Your Verse on April 17--our campaign to sponsor girls' education through poetry--look out for blog posts this week to catch up on what you missed!]

When 18-year-old Bosilika An begins speaking, two things are immediately clear. The first is that she is an incredibly eloquent young woman. The other is that this is not your average teenager.

After a 2008 visit to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Bosilika and her friend Nathalia Ramos were inspired to do something to give back to the teenage patients they met. Since then, their signature fundraisers have raised more than $500,000 for Childrens’ Hospitals and their organization, BASH, is continually expanding, with new international chapters in London and Malaysia. Recently, Bosilika was elected an In A Perfect World Youth Ambassador, where she developed a speaker’s series, “Saving the World in 45 Minutes.” She is committed, she says, to “connecting youth and young adults to inspire them, to empower them and to show them that anything they want in life is possible.” Last week, at the first annual She’s the First Voice Your Verse event, Bosilika was the recipient of another honor– the Studio Alchemy Award. Following the presentation, I had a chance to sit down and learn more about Bosilika, and what she envisions for her future and the future of young leaders across the globe.

“We’re in a position where we can start a company, we can start a foundation, we can create a product to revolutionize the world, but at the same time give back to others,” Bosilika said. “Our economic futures, our personal futures really rest in sustainable entrepreneurship. How can we use philanthropy and business to solve our problems?”

As for the future of teen volunteerism, Bosilika is equally concerned with creating new leaders. “I’m 18, I’m only a teen for two more years. How do I get across this message of youth activism before I’m technically no longer “youth”?” With the organization, we want to breed a next generation. I want to inspire other young girls.”

It was with that in mind that Bosilika formed a “tween” BASH board for girls who are interested in becoming more involved with the organization, to give them an opportunity to take on introductory roles, volunteering in capacities suited to their age and abilities.

After four years with BASH, Bosilika is optimistic about what comes next.  “Personally, I want to be a brand of social entrepreneur and a pioneer for kids to know that taking the “not safe” route, being that entrepreneur and maybe not being the lawyer or the doctor is okay. That doesn’t mean you can’t be the lawyer or the doctor, but you can have that option.” Bosilika is working on her first book, Dreams To Goals: The Journey of a Social Entrepreneur.

Bosilika is an inspiring young woman and a fantastic leader, and as for her future, we are confident that there are many firsts yet to come.

Sample Poetry from “If the World Were My Classroom”

By purchasing the If the World Were My Classroom anthology, you make a $15 direct donation to sponsor girls! Order your copy here.

Need a little extra convincing that If the World Were My Classroom belongs on your bookshelf? It’s a no-brainer — 100% of the $15 price directly sponsors girls’ education in these eight countries! But, just in case you’re on the fence, here are some samples of the soul-shaking poetry that would be at your fingertips! Oh, and did we mention that Jess Weiner wrote the introduction? She’s the Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador and a huge inspiration to us and millions of young women, who read her advice in Seventeen and listen to her speak across the country.

Because we can’t say it enough: Thank you Azure Antoinette, Studio Alchemy, Zinch.com, and the An Family for making this first book possible!

Ascension

The nest is a cage
And you are but a willing prisoner.
When you find your infant feathers shedding,
Take a breath and leap.
Turn the thunder in your heart,
From apprehension to fervor.
For it is your turn to join the symphony of liberty,
And drink from the fountain of possibility.
Spread your plumes proudly,
For they may never be matched.
You are artwork of the sky.
Never mind the machines above,

With their painted corporate insignia,
And their creaky metal wings.
Through bolts and wheels they only hope to achieve,
What nature bestows upon you.
They soar too fast—
Always on schedule;
Always with a set destination.
You have a destination too,

But you might never be on schedule.
And that is a blessing.
Scale mountains,
Glide through jungles,
Surf the changing winds, and
Always, always, chase sunrises.
No boundaries, just horizons.

Becky Li

Dear nine-year-old girl,
Enjoy the days when you and your dad would twirl.
Before you know it, time flies
And soon you will be in junior high.
Don’t worry, this is your awkward stage,
You will be beautiful by your 17th year of age.
In high school there will be many boys,
I encourage you to have fun but handle them with poise.
If the star quarterback doesn’t see that you are beautiful inside and out
Don’t worry, I’ve heard college boys are what it’s all about.
So be patient with your life, enjoy being little,
And always remember, you don’t need a man to live your life like there’s no tomorrow.

Jordyn Wells

Classrooms are full of pressures and doubts.

No one hears her when she shouts.

She struggles through rumors, each story causing her more pain, when all she wants from this place is to make a name.

Little do they know she’s tougher than she looks, she has more knowledge than just from the books.

Knowledge and courage can get you far, whatever the goal, aim for the stars. Stand your ground firm and continue to learn.

Now keep your head up girl, you can conquer this world.

Jessie Price

Meet Tina Chang: Poet Laureate of Brooklyn

It’s officially National Poetry Month! She’s the First will make a global impact with the release of our first poetry anthology (you can order here) and our very first Voice Your Verse fundraiser on April 17th. 100% of event and book proceeds will sponsor girls’ education in our eight partner schools–we aim to raise $10,000!

To start the month out strong, we’re officially welcoming Tina Chang — the first female Poet Laureate of Brooklyn — to the campaign. As one of our featured poets performing on April 17th, Chang will surely inspire you with her words of wisdom about being a poet, a woman, a mother, and a change maker in this world.

VYV: When did your passion for poetry first begin?

TC: I really began to take interest in poetry when I was a child. I remember going through a lot of things with my family and finding an inability to be able to talk about it with anyone.

I remember someone had given me a blank journal for my birthday that I still have today. I began putting my feelings into the book. My feelings started turning into poems. I would get very carried away with these creative writing projects. I would make pages and pages and completely overdo the project.

My teachers sort of recognized it, and it has been the teachers in my life who have gotten me to take it to the next level.

I had a college professor who pulled me into his office and told me, “I think you really need to something with this in your lifetime.” I was very confused by the idea of what a poet did or how a poet was supposed to live though.

I spent a long time being really awful at being an editorial assistant and being awful in public relations. I basically took on every job you could imagine until one day, at the magazine job, I realized I was really unhappy. I thought, “When was the last time I was happy?” And the last time was when I was writing poetry. And so I decided to research different graduate programs.

That began my life as a serious poet. And I got to study with real breathing poets walking in this earth. And they gave me the example of how I could one day be a poet in this world.

VYV: So now that you recognize what it means to be a poet, can you explain it to us?

TC: Even though I am a poet laureate, it is still very hard to call myself a poet. I was speaking to these young girls as part of a leadership program and a girl asked me this question, “When did you decide you were a leader?,” and I hadn’t realized I was a leader until that moment. It took a 13-year-old girl to ask me a question in my 40s to realize I was one.

That actual claiming of being a leader and being a poet and being a woman is so important. Once you claim that you will gain so much power.

I have to be honest, I think the poet’s life for many is a struggle. I ask a lot of my poets friends, “What have you sacrificed to be this thing, which is this human, which is a poet, that is a lot different than other lives?” It inhabits your imagination all the time.

For a long time I tried to deny that calling because, in my life, I wanted to fulfill the things my parents wanted of me, and those were always traditional roles. I tried to fit myself, or wedge myself into that role, and it was sort of like ill-fitting clothing that never fit me. It was a matter of trying on lots of different outfits. The poet was never anything I had to fit into. It was just naturally me, myself, walking in the world, sitting down and giving life to my ideas.

VYV: What would you say inspires your poetry today?

TC: My children. I had my first child when I was 40. I never thought I could be a mom. I never knew I would have the opportunity. Then motherhood came upon me quite suddenly. Since then, almost all the poems I write are focused on the idea of motherhood and surrounding motherhood.

The creation of an idea starts from when people are very, very young and so watching language develop within my children, watching my son move from this place of not knowing language to develop those skills and then going from ABCs to the fashioning of a word like “snow,” and then feel of snow and the falling of snow is so inspiring to me. I seek to work with as many organizations as possible, and go to as many classes or lectures as I can, so that I can inspire as many children as possible.

VYV: So what does a typical day for a poet laureate look like?

TC: There is no typical day. A general day for me would be a juggling of many things.  I am educator, a mother, a teacher. In the course of one day I will get up and feed my children breakfast, answer emails, deepen some relationships with people, feed my kids lunch, run to class to teach my class at Sarah Lawrence, come home, and then after that, my majority of poet laureate work takes place. Right now I am working with the gardens across Brookyln and we are writing haiku. We are really trying to attact people to poetry where they didn’t think they will encounter it. That will be my evening.

A lot of my thinking in the future happens in the evening, after my children are asleep. I work on it until two or three in the morning.

VYV: What about the mission of She’s the First sticks with you?

TC: She’s the First resonates with me on so many levels. I am really the first in my family to go on to get an extended educaton in the United States. My mother made so many sacrifices to raise me as a single mother. Watching her as this very strong woman, basically giving us everything that she could so that we could go on and get an education. I look up to her as a woman. As a mother. As a leader. She was the first example to me of a powerful woman.

When I encountered She’s the First, I was so inspired by all that you do and I think, now that I am raising my daughter, I think so much of the things I want to give to her, the language I can give to her, and really showing her the power of language and what it is capable of. It is a capable of lighting people up, of moving nations, of showing people who capable they are. I couldn’t even put my finger on all that She’s the First was doing, but I think it is that idea of empowering women and girls that moves me so much.

TINA CHANG was raised in New York City. Brooklyn Poet Laureate, she is the author of the poetry collections Half-Lit Houses (2004) and Of Gods & Strangers (2011). She is co-editor of the anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (W.W. Norton, 2008).  Her poems have been published in American Poet, McSweeney’s, The New York Times, and Ploughshares, among others.  She has received awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Poets & Writers, the Van Lier Foundation among others. She teaches poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and she is also a member of the international writing faculty at the City University of Hong Kong, the first low-residency MFA program to be established in Asia.