More and more, young people are finding out that they don’t have to be adults to take action and speak out and up in regards to things that are important to them. And that is exactly what thirteen-year-old Mikaela Sydney Smith is doing.
The thirteen-year-old aspiring actress started a sock drive when she was eleven to help out people in her community during winter. “I created something called ‘Mikaela’s Crazy Knee Socks for a Cause,’ where we would give out socks…during the winter time [to those in need].” Mikaela not only made sure that the socks were warm but she made sure that the 600 pairs collected were fashionable too.
Of course this inspirational teen didn’t stop there. She continued to think about how she could help others around her. She didn’t have to look far beyond her school hallway.”
“In school, I would see other girls getting teased because of their skin color or their hair,” Smith commented in a recent interview. “I would talk to them and just say, ‘You are beautiful. Don’t listen to those other people. They’re haters.”
Having experienced this type of bullying herself, Smith made it a point to ignore the teasing and encourage others that found themselves in the same shoes. Taking her encouragement to the next level, Smith came up with the idea of “Brown Girl Magic” to truly lead as an example.
“Brown Girl Magic,” along the same lines as “Black Girl Magic,” is all about “activating your Inner magic”. Hosting her first conference in Atlanta with the same theme, Smith notes that her key reason for putting on the convention is to encourage all girls who look like her. “I am a brown girl with lots of magic and that’s one of the main reasons why I started the organization. I want brown girls like myself to feel something ’cause we’re always looked over and pushed to the side.'”
With a guess line up of speakers that include NY Times bestseller Denene Millner, Chopped Junior winner Rose Genter and America’s Next Top Model Alisha Ballard, we think that this conference is going to be one of many more to come!
To find out more about the Brown Girl Magic conference, click here.
