LOS ANGELES - For Paula Bond, Know Better 2 Do Better is an opportunity to expose young girls between the ages of 11 and 15 to ideas, people and places that will challenge them to dream big and live their best lives.
As the founder and executive director of the organization, Bond teaches the social, personal and leadership skills she acquired while working as an international model for seven years, and as one of the only African-American women with a successful production company called First Option Entertainment.
Bond understood how valuable this knowledge was when she returned home from Europe and many of her friends, who were now mothers, asked her to teach their daughters how to navigate through the world.
“Exposure is everything,” Bond said. “It is so important to get young girls out of their comfort zones.
Something as simple as learning good posture, learning introduction skills, learning how to look people in the eye, and learning how to open your mouth and let people know that you are mature, and what is going on with you, can make all the difference in a young girl’s future. You see yourself differently when you have confidence.”
In addition to social skills, the organization also prides itself on teaching young women life skills that include female hygiene, hair and makeup tips, and the importance of dressing to impress. There also is a huge focus on understanding the good and bad aspects of social media and the organization teaches a curriculum based on Bond’s book, “Social Media, Say Hello to Social Skills.”
While the organization serves girls from different socio-economic backgrounds, Bond would like to expand the work she does with inner-city girls who may be suffering under “systemic academic deficits, socially inexperienced and materially disconnected.”
“Many of our young girls face an unequal playing field still in 2018,” Bond said. “Many of their schools don’t offer the resources or the programs that they need to build their leadership skills. … They are starting at a deficit.
“We seek to uplift those who are growing comfortable with low expectations, have stifled imaginations, snuffed out dreams, limited exposure and a lack of wise mentorship,” she added. “We believe in daughters with the potential to develop boldness and strength and courage to establish productive, peaceful and civically minded lives. … We are convinced that when you know better, you have every opportunity to do better.
Looking towards the future, the organization hopes to secure funding to reach more schools and organizations throughout the United States and for a nationwide girl’s leadership conference that will share the confidence-building skills girls need to achieve life-long success.
In the meantime, Bond will continue to provide a mirror to young girls of color, by not only using herself as an example, but by ensuring that her comprehensive program continues to expose them to other women of color who are successful in their fields.
“I am this black girl from Compton …who was the first black woman crowned Miss California International … and who became a model and traveled the world … and when I do these workshops, they see a woman standing in front of them that looks like them and that is very powerful,” Bond said. “[My program] strives to make girls believe they can do anything they put their minds too.”