Yes, queen! How a new Macon nonprofit is helping teen girls thrive in the real world

When Shira Lawrence was growing up, her family didn’t talk much about her future, finances, her self-worth or how her decisions would impact her life.

“When I was a teenager, my parents were in the military. There wasn’t a lot of conversation behind your identity, what happens after high school, the impact of the adult choices on the children,” she said. “I feel that if there had just been one person who took the time to allow me to voice my thoughts and feelings that I may have been able to adapt and thrive at a more rapid pace.”

Lawrence, 36, decided to create a nonprofit organization that would provide young girls with the resources she wished she had as a teenager.

Teens to Queens helps teenage girls through mentorship and workshops and educates them on topics, including communication skills, social media etiquette and financial literacy.

Registration opened for the program April 1 and will continue through May 1, and Lawrence is planning their first event to start May 21.

“So far we’ve got a really good crowd, but we want to just reach as many girls as possible,” she said. “Outside of the normal psychological changes and identity crisis that teenagers are experiencing, we have this wonderful pandemic and the isolation and the hyper social media frenzy going on, so we feel like they need to know that outside of technology, you have a support system. You have a voice. You’re able to feel and think, and this is a safe place to do that.”

Creating Teens to Queens

Lawrence initially started a weekend retreat for girls in the Columbus area in 2018 with the help of Support Teen Youth, an organization in the area, she said.

After speaking with some parents of teenage girls, she said she recognized a gap in educating these young women–a gap that she could fill.

“I just remember that, particularly in my culture, there’s not a lot of conversation had… So we decided that if we want to help be the change, we need to just take the initiative and create a program and put everyone together,” she said. “When I say my culture, I definitely mean the African American culture.

“It’s kind of taboo to talk through these sorts of things sometimes, especially mental health or trauma… We want to create a safe space, a safe environment where the girls can have a voice and talk through the challenges they’re facing.”

The girls who attended the first retreat didn’t want to go home, she said.

“Now that I’m living here in Macon — and Macon is sort of a great midpoint for all of these smaller cities — we’re going to do it here,” she said.

When Lawrence moved to Macon, she asked Support Teen Youth if she could officially start Teens to Queens on her own, and she said they were happy she wanted to continue the program in Middle Georgia with an added mentoring component.

In December 2020, she said she started to work to get the nonprofit registered as a 501c3, and the Middle Georgia community has welcomed her with open arms.

“They have just been overwhelmingly kind and excited about the opportunity,” Lawrence said. “I just want to partner with everybody who has the same interest and give these girls some resources so that they can not just survive, but thrive.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 12:06 PM.