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.

She’s the First Poetry Campaign Started with a Tweet!

In March 2011, She’s the First Founder/President Tammy Tibbetts and Hannah Brencher, creator of MoreLoveLetters.com, decided to combine their love of poetry and social media with their passion for girls’ education. They launched She’s the First Poetry Month in April to coincide with National Poetry Month, which the Academy of American Poets inaugurated in 1996.

Celebrating Poetry Month with Girls Globally was born! The goal was to sponsor a girl in South Sudan while working with girls in a New York City public school for the first time. If we could use spoken word poetry to teach girls confidence and what it meant to be a “first,” not only would they empathize with girls in dire circumstances around the world, but they’d also realize they have the power to make a difference.

One tweet in search of a performance poet to lead the school workshop connected @shesthefirst with @azureantoinette, who had just been featured in the April Poetry Issue of O, the Oprah Magazine! Based in Los Angeles, Azure Antoinette spoke to Tammy by phone. Convinced this was a Poetry Month opportunity like no other, she immediately used her frequent flyer miles to book a flight to NYC in mid-April.

The girls jumped out of their chairs at our first workshop!

The workshop was held at the Young Women’s Leadership Network School in Brooklyn on April 15, and it was such a hit, the teachers invited Azure back to run summer camp…and then hired her as a poetry instructor at their Astoria school in the fall! Yes, she moved to the Big Apple permanently!

She’s the First is now an official partner of the Young Women’s Leadership Network Schools of New York City, which reaches 2,000 economically disadvantaged girls—80% of whom will be first in their family to go to college.

Read Annah's letter to us at http://www.shesthefirst.org/annah

While these incredible relationships developed offline, She’s the First shared original poetry from our supporters, as well as sponsored girls in India and Nepal, online. We even created a She’s the First Twitter Poem, with followers tweeting verses to the prompt, “If the world was your classroom, what would you teach a girl?” She’s the First Art Director Genevieve Tabios ultimately created ecards that were sold online to raise more than $360, sponsoring Annah in South Sudan.

In February 2012, the second annual She’s the First poetry campaign began, with an even more ambitious goal–to raise $10,000 through poetry! No longer just a month, we renamed the 90-day campaign Voice Your Verse. In April, She’s the First will publish an anthology of poetry submitted from all over the world and donate 100% of the proceeds to girls’ sponsorships in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nepal, and India. We relaunched shesthefirst.tumblr.com with poetic inspiration, and Azure Antoinette revived her successful poetry workshops throughout New York City. More than 5,000 poems were submitted!

Jancy, pictured left, will receive a $500 scholarship from the Voice Your Verse campaign. We're raising another $9,500 to help more girls!

Zinch.com partnered with the project and generously offered to provide a $500 scholarship to one U.S. student with an amazing poem! Chegg for Good was inspired to match that award with a $500 scholarship for Jancy, a senior sponsored at the Shanti Bhavan School in India.

Voice Your Verse will culminate in a fantastic poetry night on April 17th at the Poets House in Lower Manhattan. There will be special guest performances by Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, She’s the First Chairwoman Karen Karpowich, and host Azure Antoinette.

Now, it is YOUR TURN to get involved! She’s the First is inviting all campus chapters and students nationwide to host their own She’s the First Open Mic at their school.

Meet the #VoiceYourVerse Team!

We couldn’t move a step further into our #VoiceYourVerse Campaign without introducing you to the leaders of the pack. Without further ado, meet the ones who, like you, are pinning their hearts & poems to girls’ education now through April’s National Poetry Month. Email them at poetry@shesthefirst.org.

Azure Antoinette, Host

Azure Antoinette is a poet/spoken word artist, freelance photographer, and youth literacy advocate. She recently formed Studio: Alchemy, launching this spring, to house her inspiring projects. As a poet/writer, Azure Antoinette has been commissioned to write for the First Lady of California – Maria Shriver (Minerva Convention), Tuskegee Airmen Col. Lee Archer, American Cancer Society just to name a few. An Oprah-approved poet, Azure teamed up with She’s the First in April 2011–all because of a tweet! @azureantoinette

VOICE YOUR VERSE: First Poetry Fundraiser

Our campaign culminates with a live event
during National Poetry Month in NYC!

Purchase tickets & learn more about our guests here.

Can’t make it? Tune into the Livestream below at 7pm EST on Tuesday!

Where Poetry Month Ends, a Girl’s Education in Sudan Begins

Well, the April showers are officially in yesterday’s forecast and, sadly, so is our She’s the First Poetry Campaign.

But not without some fantastic news!

We will meet the girl we sponsored together at Project Education Sudan in about 2 weeks!

I’ll be the first to announce that…WE DID IT! We sold 96 ecards to date and surpassed our goal of sponsoring a girl for one year at Project Education Sudan! Thank you so much to all who bought and sent ecards. You certainly made some friends, mothers, and a girl in Sudan very happy this month.

I have adored every second of making & sharing poetry with all of you throughout the month of April and I am already revving up for April 2012!

Of course, I want to extend a special thank you to everyone who contributed to our #stfpoem, those who submitted original poetry, our girl poets in India, Nepal, & Sudan, and of course, Azure Antoinette for hosting an awesome poetry workshop in Brooklyn last month.

I can officially say that our first ever She’s the First poetry campaign was the success we dreamed of!

I obviously cannot leave you without some poetry to round out the month. Today’s final submission comes from April Elliott over at Mental Makeup. April, thank you for your beautiful words. They are a testimony to the reasons why we pin our hearts to girls’ education every single day.

A Poem for Education in Sudan
A Poem for Change

Each morning the sunlight gently stirs my eyelashes
Fluttering against my face like butterflies on a flower
And I open the windows to my soul
To the world I know.

My heart is beating just like yours
Like the wings of the butterfly
That are stirring the air
Creating a gentle breeze that cools my face

It is the wind- carrying a song of peace.
The winds of change are upon my village
And the world is on my shoulders
It is up to us to carry the sun
And shine the light upon the world

I carry the future.

I am the future.

Teach me what you know.

And I will use it to make myself better-
Though I am all ready perfect, just the way I am.
Because like you, I am a child of the stars…

To read more, check out Mental Makeup!

An Original Poem from Poetry Month Emcee, Hannah Brencher

Sing the Solar System

By Hannah Brencher

My favorite pair of arms perform a wondrous magic trick.

Arms with the mysterious ability
to hold you tight and let you go.
All in the very same moment.

My mother and her mystical arms pull me in
each morning
beneath the papaya trees. Eating toast and jam,
we brush watercolor beauty into my school lessons.

Name the colors of this sunrise, Little One. She asks of me.
Count the spaces between your fingers and mine.
Sing to me the planets of the solar system.

Hannah Brencher: She's the First Poetry Month Emcee, hannah@shesthefirst.org

Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth,
Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn.
All spinning beneath the papaya trees with me, mama,
and her Great Magical Arms.

Little One, she asked one day.
What do you dream to be?
When you gather up all your learning,
what do you dream to be?

A question that cannot be answered with counting or naming.
An answer that propels you
out to the stars
to spin and jig among the nine planets.

A difference, Mama. I answered.
I want to understand the differences of this world.
Grow big. Grow strong.
And then make the difference disappear.

Ah, Little One. She said turning me around to face her.
Her wrinkles whisper testimonies of great wisdom.
You can know the difference
and wash the difference away all at the very same time.

Simply walk 1,000 steps. And then walk 10,000 more.
Read this map I have drawn myself to find the one who looks just like you.
Look for the difference in her and when you find it,
there you will find all you dream to be.

And so I set out with the sun the following morning.
Coaxing it from its crouching position
behind the hills.
A Golden-Ray Travel Companion.

One Thousand Steps. Ten Thousand More.
Following a delicately drawn map,
created by the hands
of my Great Armed Mother.

And there,
by the brook that chattered as he babbled,
stood a girl
who looked just like me.

May I look deep into your eyes?
I asked the Young Girl.
Yes, you may.
She answered.

Deep Brown. The same as me.

May I touch your hair?
I asked the Young Girl.
Yes, you may.
She answered.

Rich and soft. The same as me.

May I ask you your name?
I asked the Young Girl.
I have many names, she replied.
But my mama calls me Little One.

Little One. The same as me.

Same Elbows.
Same Knees.
Same Missing Teeth.
Same Hairs On Her Head.

I am supposed to find the difference in you. I told her.
And yet I can find none.
You and I,
we are the same.

And so, together, me and my Same Girl laid down
beneath the blanket of the night sky.
Clouds for cotton.
Stars for buttons.

Friend?
She asked me,
her fingers folding into mine.
How did you find me?

I counted 1,000 steps. And then 10,000 more. I told her.

Counting. She repeated. I am sure I know nothing of that.

And then I read a map my mother drew for me. I continued on.

Reading. She repeated. I am sure I know nothing of that.
If you are looking for our difference,
it is sitting right here, friend.

I only dream to count and read, to sit beneath
papaya trees and name the solar system’s
Planet Children as if they were pupils of mine.

I am just one of many
Who aches for school books to hold
and a uniform to tug at the collar of.

I am just one of many who longs to recite poetry
And sing the solar system
as if it were my lungs’ favorite lullaby.

Hold your school lessons up to the sunlight, friend.
You will then see the difference that needs washing away.
I am the first you found, yes,
but I will be the first of many girls who are the same kind of different as me.

Begin with me? She asked. I am eager to begin.

And so there, beneath the blanket night sky,
we made a beginning.
The first beginning of many.
The First Beginning of Many.

I taught her Saturn. I taught her Neptune.
We counted the spaces between her fingers.
Then counted the spaces between mine.

For we had the same spaces. We had the same night.
We had the same stars and the Same Wide Eyes.
We had the same dream, the same Big Dream,
of seeing the difference between us fall away.