I Choose To Win

💪🏾A small but mighty army can serve an entire village.💫

We're grateful for the people behind the scenes who keep our mission in motion so that we can do our part to help transform the lives of women and girls.

The Culminating Celebration for our LET HER! Mentorship Program would not have been possible without the leadership of Saroya Royster (), LET HER! program manager, and the dedication of a small but mighty army of volunteers and vibe curators! 😎

On behalf of our mentees, mentors, and the ICTW community at large, a BIG THANK YOU to:

💐 Constance
💐 DJ Afrvbz
💐 Gabby
💐 Jordan
💐 Katie
💐 Natalie
💐 Mariel (mentor + volunteer)
💐 Tyla (mentor + volunteer)
..for each doing your part, and from the heart, to bring the vision for "A Celebration of Becoming" to life!

🤲🏿"LET HER HOLD THIS MOMENT."🤲🏽⁠
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It's been one week since we celebrated the journey of mentorship, courage, and growth that participants experienced through our LET HER! Mentorship Program. 🎉 ⁠
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The Culminating Celebration honored the incredible mentees and mentors' (co-survivors of gun violence in Philadelphia) completion of our 8-week program! Loved ones, supporters and partners joined us at P4 Hub in Germantown as we recognized each participant’s commitment to personal growth. ⁠
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Guests enjoyed a floral bar; a Sister Circle facilitated by Constance Brown-Gainor; affirmation and keepsake activations; a vision board gallery; raffles and giveaways (like rowing sessions with BLJ Community Rowing🚣🏾‍♀️); a special message from our community partner, Philadelphia Youth Basketball; a keynote by our licensed professional counselor and fellow co-survivor, Ahyana King; an Afro-Beats dance session by DJ Afrvbz, and more!⁠
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💫 Thank you to everyone who joined us in commemorating this special moment. Your presence helped affirm a supportive network where girls and women are edified, empowered, and equipped to keep choosing to win in life! ⁠
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Ps: The last two photos capture exactly how we're still feeling!⁠
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✨️It truly takes a village to LET HER! ✨️

To our facilitators, venues, vendors, and community partner: thank you for saying "yes" to the LET HER! Mentorship Program.

Thank you for showing up with authenticity, care, and generosity. Because of your contribution, our participants were exposed to new healing tools and modalities, empowered to explore the fullness of their humanity, and reminded they are supported by a community that believes they can and will WIN -- in whatever ways they so choose to define it.

The impact of your work and presence extends far beyond the time we shared, and we are deeply grateful to have had you on this journey with us!

💜Philadelphia Youth Basketball ()
💜Our House Culture Center ()
💜Black Girls with Green Thumbs ()
💜The Apologues Center ()
💜Gail Jones Art ()
💜Ayiana Viviana ()
💜DVINITI Skin Care ()
💜Second Chance Dance ()

💟 Photography by J. Nicole (.becomes.her)
💟 Catering by Jerk Squad Philly ()
💟 Cupcakes by A.N.Y.A.S ()
💟 Constance Brown-Gainor, Natalie Francis (), and Katie Barnes

And last but not least, thank you to the volunteers; 2025 Bold, Brave & Brilliant Awards Gala donors; supporters; families and each of YOU for being a part of our collective declaration to the world to LET HER!

Sometimes, it's not permission that we need to elevate, evolve or win...it's protection -- the intentional act of being kept safe as you embark on the journey.

Over the course of eight weeks, the participants in our LET HER (Ladies Enduring Trauma Healing Emotionally Right-Now)! Mentorship Program co-created a safe space for every girl and woman to consciously choose the next step in her healing journey as a co-survivor of gun violence. The promise we fulfilled to each other, was that every choice would be guided and held in community.

On June 6, 2026, we held "A Celebration of Becoming" to commemorate the powerful transformations that occurred in both mentees and mentors throughout the program.

There's plenty from that we can't wait to share😆 but, for now, we offer this reflection on the program experience from Ms. Karen, our Community Mentor:

"Transitioning to New Journeys: It's been a wonderful journey with everyone for the program. We were always in a serene environment having fun talking and discussing our experiences while learning new ways to take care of ourselves mentally, spiritually and physically. Now it's time to recognize the strength and techniques that we've learned together.

We are stronger and will be successful on this new journey.

We have chosen to win."

Through this program, we declared to the world to "LET HER!"

💜Let her feel...
💜Let her grieve...
💜Let her process...
💜Let her heal.

Because when we do, she will be empowered to better choose.

They chose.

Stay tuned for the celebration of that choice. 😉

Today we celebrated! Cheers to our program team, participants, volunteers, facilitators, funders, and partners for a job well done! Ms. Roya, Reeta and Ahyana did their big one 👏🏽💕

LET HER CELEBRATE 🎊! The LET HER! Mentorship Program by I Choose To Win is an 8-week initiative for youth mentees and adult mentors, who are all co-survivors of gun violence. It was created to mirror the hopes and aspirations of my 12-year old self, when I lost my father to gun violence. I wanted community, connection, exposure to new experiences, safe opportunities to learn myself and a chance to process my big emotions around not only the loss but my new identity as a fatherless daughter. Launching the initiative alongside a dynamic team who partnered to execute the vision was a beautiful experience. This program allowed me to be the change I wished to see in the world - and creating what my younger self needed. I’m incredibly grateful to celebrate the culmination of this initiative with as my right hand and impact consultant; .always.roy as the program director carefully tending to the details and communication; for powerful and engaging group therapy sessions and .becomes.her for capturing and visually documenting the experience. Cheers to teamwork making this 12-year-old’s dream work! 🙌🏾❤️

Happy Monday, Winners! This past weekend, the final LET HER! session, titled "LET HER!...MOVE" was facilitated by Alyssa Bowser, owner of Second Chance Dance and a 2024 Bold, Brave & Brilliant Awards Gala honoree.
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With Alyssa's guidance, we followed our body's lead in the expression of thought, emotion, and remembrance through jazz and modern dance. With every song that played, different parts of our respective personalities stepped into the proverbial spotlight to be seen, felt...witnessed.
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⁠😅Together, we gently pressed our way beyond comfort zones with plenty of laughs to spare. Alyssa shared something that we're passing along, in case you may need it too:

The first time you're trying something new or returning to something you haven't done in a while, you're likely going to experience some internal resistance or limitation (especially from your body if it's something physical). Know that this is okay and to be expected.

Give yourself grace.

But that second time? The second time is you telling your body, "Listen, we're doing this," and then proceeding to do it...again.

A made up mind can lead you (and your body) to move beyond what even you thought to be possible.

🥹And that's precisely what we experience and accomplished. Together.

As we prepare for the upcoming Culminating Celebration to mark the conclusion of the LET HER! Mentorship Program, our last session of this collective healing journey from gun violence affirmed a few things:

💜 Trauma doesn't mean we can no longer be triumphant.
💜 We can be both heartbroken and healing.
💜 Grief, grace, grit, and gratitude can coexist.
💜 While the internal work of healing is unique to the individual, the external experience of it can be done, and safely held, in community.

💜Thank you Alyssa and SCD for reminding us that our freedom, our healing, our joy is worth a second chance and then some!

📸: Photography by J Nicole

UP NEXT: Tomorrow, our FINAL (🥲) LET HER! Mentorship Program session will be facilitated by Second Chance Dance, Philadelphia's first adult-only dance school.

This session will empower us to explore how moving energy through the body supports our emotional processing -- especially that of heavier ones such as grief.

At , they're on a mission to cultivate confidence, joy, and a renewed sense of possibility. With the private Culminating Celebration for LET HER! on the horizon, this is precisely the energy we desire to cultivate within our mentees and mentors as the program comes to a close, and their healing journey continues.

👀Can we share one of our favorite parts about this session? Alyssa Bowser, owner of SCD, is a beloved honoree of our 2024 Bold, Brave & Brilliant Awards Gala! We're thrilled to continue celebrating and supporting our honorees and their wins, and look forward to this shared one with the SCD team.

💜Thank you, Alyssa and team, for showing us how embodied expression, creativity, and physical movement all play important roles in our emotional healing from gun violence!
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Happy Tuesday, Winners! Hope you enjoyed the loooong weekend; we sure did!

Our sixth LET HER! session, titled "LET HER!...GLOW" took place on Saturday with Center City Philadelphia as our beautiful backdrop 32+ stories high in the sky as Marquita Robinson Garcia, a cosmetic chemist and owner of DVINITI Skin Care facilitated.

🌍️With her guidance, we made a powerful connection between our inner and outer worlds and beauty, and became more educated on the nourishing ingredients Mother Nature provides in order for us to nurture our souls and the largest organ we have -- our skin.

With an infectiously joyous energy, Marquita shared how skin essentially serves as a protector and a messenger, often communicating what's going within. Her question for our reflection:

Are we honoring our bodies so that it can function in its optimal state, thereby empowering us to function in OUR optimal state?

It was truly a moment to sit with how...

✨️Our INNER G (inner glow) is ENERGY!✨️

In addition to exploring ingredients for our custom body oil, we learned about technology in the beauty industry such as facial mapping and its use for identifying different areas of the face, their connection to other areas in the body, the messages they send, and why.

💜By the session's end, EVERYONE was pleased with the custom blended body oil which we named, "LET HER GLOW!"

Thank you, Marquita, for informing, empowering, and giving us space to create in the spirit of your "Mad Scientist Gone Good" energy -- all in support of skin health, yes, but our spiritual and mental health too! Especially on our journey as cosurvivors to healing from gun violence!

WE GOT THE GLOW!🤩

📸: Photography by J Nicole

UP NEXT: This weekend, our sixth LET HER! Mentorship Program session will be facilitated by Marquita Robinson Garcia, a cosmetic chemist and owner of DVINITI Skin Care (), a plant-based, naturally derived skin care and spa company.

This session will empower us to nourish and love the glow of our skin AND our soul!

Marquita, known as Philly's 'Mad Scientist Gone Good,' uses her extensive experience from the beauty industry to bring personalized, sustainable skin care to the mainstream.

Simply put, she's on a mission to help us learn to love our skin by emphasizing the ‘care’ in ‘skincare’ and leading us through the process.

"I chose the name 'DVINITI' to remind customers that despite how the media may have influenced their self-image, each of us is already beautiful (or handsome!)" she says. "Your skin is your body’s largest organ, functioning as a defense mechanism to preserve and protect you from the external environment," she says.

Through Marquita's science and beauty-based teaching, we'll strengthen the connection between our inner and outer beauty. In addition to facial mapping and a skin analysis, we'll "Make 'n Take" custom blended products selected and curated in-studio.

💜Thank you, Marquita, for showing us how deeply connected and powerful our inner and outer illumination is, even as we heal from gun violence!⁠
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