Q&A with Keren Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of WriteGirl

Q:   When did WriteGirl start and what was its genesis?

Taylor:   As a songwriter, poet, and freelance writer, I appreciate the power and versatility of the craft of language. While living in New York City, I helped establish a creative writing and mentoring organization for girls and I saw first-hand what a tremendous impact it had on both the girls and the women involved - giving them self-confidence, new skills, new friends, and expanding their dreams and goals. When I moved to Los Angeles a few years ago, I wanted to continue to combine my love of writing with my community work. I put a notice out by email to various writers groups, gathered an initial leadership group of about 10 women, and launched WriteGirl in December 2001. It helped that I had just been made a casualty of the dot-com crash - suddenly I had time and peace to think about going in a whole new direction. Starting a nonprofit was not only appealing in terms of making a contribution to the community, but it challenged me to apply all my business and creative skills. I'm always up for a good challenge.

Q:   How did you decide on the program elements (i.e., weekly one-on-one mentoring, monthly workshops, publishing books, etc.)?

Taylor:   The program is designed to encourage self-expression and communication in several ways: weekly one-on-one sessions with a mentor, monthly writing workshops for all members (more than 100 women and girls in one room!), and the sharing of work at public readings and in our annual publication. We've created a safe, supportive environment that cultivates strong communication skills. Curriculum is developed by our own experts and we work hard to keep the program lively, engaging, and relevant to the lives of our members, as well as aligned with academic standards and goals. Over a nine-month period, roughly corresponding to the school year, I see girls and women really come out of themselves, take chances, try new things, and explore their ideas to the max.

Q:   How do the girls find you and vice-versa?

Taylor:   We ask English teachers at high-density public high schools and middle schools in central Los Angeles to help us identify girls who would most benefit from the program. We look for both low and high achievers, since both groups of girls need individualized attention, and we bring together girls from diverse cultures, neighborhoods, family units, and social backgrounds. Now that we are a bit more established, many girls find WriteGirl through word-of-mouth, our website, newspaper articles, or at book fairs and public readings throughout the city.

Q:   Where do your mentors and volunteers come from?

Taylor:   We recruit from all over Los Angeles, searching for professional women writers as well as women with strong communication skills who use writing in their careers. Our volunteers include screenwriters and television writers, novelists, poets, songwriters, editors, marketing and public relations executives, teachers, journalists, and attorneys, all of whom mentor our teen members or support the organization in other ways.

Q:   What kind of application process is required of your mentors and volunteers?

Taylor:   All volunteers are required to submit a written application that describes their work experience, writing background, and previous volunteering or mentoring experience, along with two writing samples. We conduct personal reference checks as well as criminal background checks, and WriteGirl has a mandatory comprehensive training for all volunteers (as well as ongoing training) to fully prepare them for their roles as mentors or support volunteers.

Q:   How has the program evolved since its inception?

Taylor:   WriteGirl has grown tremendously. We now have 50 high school girls and more than 100 women actively participating each season. Our alumni membership totals several hundred, and our list of supporters is even larger. But numbers only tell part of the story. The fact that we have a 100% success rate in getting girls to graduate from high school and then enroll in college speaks volumes about the impact of the program on our girls. While the program has changed very little since the beginning, we have added skilled board and staff members who have greatly enhanced the management of all aspects of WriteGirl's activities. We've also trained a number of our adult members as team leaders (or “committee heads”) to help manage important aspects of the program.

Q:   What do you find are the program's biggest challenges?

Taylor:   Our two greatest challenges right now are securing long-term, multi-year financial support and expanding board membership. WriteGirl produces more than 20 major events annually as well as a 200-page anthology. That requires a great deal of professional staffing and management oversight. We're working on expanding our program and event staff so that we can focus our board and key staff members on finding resources and financial support for WriteGirl's future. Once those efforts are on track, we can start working on our growth plan so we can expand to serve more girls in more locations.

Q:   What is most rewarding to you about the program?

Taylor:   It's amazing to see a girl enter WriteGirl as shy and withdrawn, or perhaps outgoing but a bit awkward, and see her in only a few months make an amazing transformation into a self-assured, well-spoken young woman. I have an email folder where I keep letters from mentees - unsolicited letters where they spontaneously share things they've learned or gained from WriteGirl. They're like an espresso shot for me - I check them out when I need a lift. The outpouring from parents is just as great. It's also very satisfying to see the women in the program grow more confident, expand their creative genres, make new friends, and even find writing and business partners to help them in their own careers. We're building a community for them as well, and that's rewarding too.

Q:   What do you feel are the biggest needs of the organization?

Taylor:   Long-term financial support and expansion of management staff and board membership, so we can stay on track, continue to build a strong structure, and grow.

Q: What are your hopes for WriteGirl's future?

Taylor:   We know that anywhere there are women writers, there are girls who need them. We look forward to expanding WriteGirl into other neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and eventually other cities. And as our alumni membership grows, we can't wait to hear (and share) their stories of achievement and success.