Working with Interaction Theory classmates Kelly Green and Shayna Proctor, I helped to develop a concept for a start-up business that promotes social education for high school students called Express Yourself. On this project, I served as the lead writer and strategist. Express Yourself is a curriculum designed for twelve to sixteen-year-old girls who would benefit from guidance to feel more confident as they grow up. Express Yourself is a participatory experience that empowers girls to be proud of themselves and to feel like they can assume a meaningful role in a larger social culture. Our product is a boxed game-like lesson introduced in Health classes in public schools throughout the country. It is a 2-4 week program that is taught by a team of strong and successful local women volunteers. Lessons take place in the form of team building exercises, card games, and discussions on relevant student-chosen topics. The curriculum is supplemented by a safe online space featuring a public forum and a private journal. Our preventative-measures program ultimately aims to reduce populations of at-risk youth - making for an overall happier and healthier society.

1. Kelly Green, Allison Leach & Shayna Proctor

2. Express Yourself??
• 12-16 y.o. girls
• A curriculum designed to empower girls
•
Participatory experience within a safe environment
• reparing girls for a confident powerful future
P
as adults

3. The Bigger Picture
We are addressing a modern need - we live in a time
of social media oversharing, in a reality-TV nation
where high school students would prefer to be the
assistant to a celebrity rather than lead their own
companies .

4. A Healthier Society
Preventative Measures to Reduce:
• Teenage pregnancy • Low socioeconomic status
• Drug use • Shorter life span
• riminal or antisocial
C • Mental health problems
behavior (violence, theft, etc.)
• Lower IQ
•
High school education
or lower

5. Self- - Esteem Sociability

6. The How
• A 2-4 week program integrated into health classes
• A team of trained strong successful local women
• Games, team building exercises, discussion
• A series of triggers applicable both in out of the
classroom environment
There are 2 levels:
• Level 1 is for junior high students (gender-separated)
• Level 2 is for high school students (gender-mixed)

7. THe What

8. Revenue Plan
• File for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status
• Grant writers
• entors instructing the class will be local
M
volunteer role models
• Low-cost materials
• Single-cost web development
• Projected implementation plan:
Begin in San Francisco public schools, and expand gradually
to underserved public schools nationwide.

9. What matters
most to you?? ?