ReflectionMujeres con Ánimo came into our Girls Build LA project with the intent of healing a part of our campus–any part. We felt the environment had become hostile towards women on campus. Not only did we feel excluded due to our own intersectionality being women of color in a society that has not equipped itself to be ready for the change women are ready to make, but we felt that the very place we had come from did not appreciate our efforts. To counteract this, we had a plan: there would be a day where a group of women in our community–our very own campus–would have the chance to get together and be women who uplifted themselves. We spent the year fundraising for this event, knowing that our efforts would be strong enough to help us realize our goals. Once the day of our healing retreat occurred, we knew that the work we had done was all worth it. We had grouped together different women with different interests of different ages and had the chance to learn about each other and ourselves in a supportive environment that promoted both physical and mental well being. Healthy habits were encouraged and opportunities advocated for as we uplifted one another and realized the strengths we held within ourselves. Something we know we could have done differently was most definitely reach out even more to our community at large and raised more awareness to the issues we advocated for and the opportunities we provided. This regret stems from knowing that so many more could have benefited from our retreat and other activities; that reaching at least one more woman could have had access to a positive group of women who raised each other up. The commitment of our board and community members were what helped us to realize our goals, and our successes and hopes only drive us to work harder in the future.
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