Super Girl of The Month - Aisha Addo

"It’s been a long journey for me to reach this point in my life. I am still on my journey of discovery, yet I am grateful for the moments when I felt like giving up and the moments when I dreaded all was lost."  

 

Aisha Addo was born over two decades ago in Accra, Ghana and moved to Canada at the tender age of 14, in a bid to further her education. She is the Founder & Lead Mentor of "Power to Girls Foundation" (PTGF), an organization which empowers and mentors young girls to be the best they can be, encouraging them to reach beyond the ordinary and awaken their inner purpose. Trained in Business Administration Accounting at the George Brown University, our Super Girl has embraced her passion for nurturing girls and helping them live balanced lives as opposed to balancing books as an Accountant.

Ms Addo was inspired to start PTGF, due to  her personal experiences as a young girl growing up in foster care. In her words;

"I realized that young girls like myself strive so hard to attain perfection; yet, we do so in the wrong ways. We go through so much emotional turmoil, stress, depression, anxiety, etc. These were all things that I was personally dealing with...I realized everyone tries to talk at you - telling you the things you should do with your life but no one really takes the time to talk to you; to listen and understand your journey. No one takes the time out to help you figure out yourself and the purpose for which you have been placed in this world. That became my mission when I turned 18; to be the ear and the heart for young girls and to be the person I longed to have at my side while I was growing up."

 

Super Girl Aisha started PTGF as a weekly mentorship meet-up with only 6 girls. As they bonded, shared life stories and built strong relationships in 3 years, the number quickly grew. This motivated them to host the 1st ever "Girls Power Conference", which brought over 70 girls together. PTGF was then registered as a non-profit in 2013. Today, the organization offers leadership and mentorship programmes to young black girls in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada and has quickly expanded its work to empower more girls in West Africa. 

Aisha Addo is an ardent believer in the words of Mahatma Gandhi - "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."  Owing to her selfless work for young black girls in Canada, she recently received the "Young Black and Gifted" Community Service Award, 2015. She has been recognized as one of the 100 Black Women to Watch (2015) in addition to being dubbed a "2014 Role Model" by the Black Diversity Group.

Whenever Aisha is asked to share her bucket list, she has this to say - "I haven’t drawn up a bucket list just yet, but one thing I know for sure is that I want to die empty so I am only the vessel for what God wants to do with me and at the right time it will all manifest." Her key message to upcoming super girls is to "find out what you are passionate about and go after it." 

Girl Pride Circle is inspired by Aisha Addo's super journey. We wish her the best in all her future endeavours!