(gentle energetic music) - I am your host, AShira Nelson, and this is PBS Western Reserve "Forum 360," where we have a global outlook from a local view.

My guest today is Charlotte, Founder of It's a Girl's Life, and host of "It's a Girl's Life" podcast.

Charlotte is also a public speaker and mentor for young women.

Studies have shown that a significant percentage of young women, as high as 70%, struggle with the feeling of imposter syndrome and the need to be perfect.

These pressures and self-doubts can impact their confidence levels, and hinder their abilities to embrace their authentic self and pursue leadership roles.

It emphasized the importance of organizations like It's a Girl's Life, and fostering resilience and empowerment amongst young girls to help them overcome these challenges and strive in their personal and professional lives.

Hi, Charlotte.

- [Charlotte Wasserman] Hi.

- Thanks for being here today.

- Thank you so much for having me, it's such an honor.

- No problem.

So, let's start off light.

Tell me a little bit about you and kinda how you got into this space.

- Yeah, so I just finished my sophomore year at SMU, in Dallas, Texas.

But, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio.

- Congratulations, okay.

- Thank you so much.

And I grew up in the Shaker Heights area, going to Hathaway Brown school for girls.

So I think a lot of what I started stems from being in an all-girls school for my entire life.

But, I think I've always really been motivated by giving back to future and past generations.

- And I've really been touched by a lot of my experiences and being able to share that to empower other girls to be authentic, be themselves, and also live a life where they are resilient and really the creators of their own stories.

- Okay, I love that.

That's kind of why I felt like I needed to have you on.

I feel like this is such a relevant topic that so many women, so many young girls are facin'.

I have a young daughter, she's 10.

And as I was learnin' more about your foundation, I'm thinkin' like, "I need to prepare myself for this."

(both laughing) My daughter is going to experience some of these things, and I too felt this way when I was younger.

So, what year did you start your nonprofit?

- So, I started my nonprofit when I was a junior in high school.

- Okay.

- But the idea for it, I always feel like stems from when I was really, really young in middle school.

I started a blog for teen girls, and it was called It's a Girl's Life.

- [AShira Nelson] Ooh.

- And that was when blogging was really a popular industry, I guess.

(laughing) - Yeah.

- And I didn't really talk about anything that serious.

It was like my tagline was, "Food, fashion, and fun for girls."

But I always feel like it was kind of like the only place where I could really show girls that you could do anything you set your mind to.

And it wasn't about like talking about fashion or my favorite recipes that was really important, it was just like, "You can do what you want to do."

And in that point, it was like sharing those types of topics.

And as I got older, I was able to really like bring in topics that was more important to me like confidence boosting, and dealing with imposter syndrome, like you talked about in the introduction, that are really important to me, that I felt like were really important lessons to teach girls everywhere.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

So, how do you envision empowering young girls to become REAL, so resilient, empower, authentic, leaders?

- Yeah, so that was a tagline that I used for a really long time, and I've stopped using since then.

But I think the still the mission behind it and why I started it- - Yeah, but I have to say, I absolutely love it.

(laughing) I think it's so creative.

- I don't know how I thought about it.

- The fact that you even thought about that, you were like under 18- (laughing) - Yeah, I think it was- - And you thought of something so empowering is amazing.

- I think how I did that, it was during COVID.

- Okay.

I love that.

- There's not a lot going on, and I think that it really like kind of pushed me to be like more creative.

- Yeah.

- And I've always been creative and always loved alliterations, so I think like creating an acronym was something I always wanted to do, but- - Amazing.

- I think the message behind it is still really important.

And I think that the importance of resilience for example is that when you are resilient and teaching girls to be resilient, why that's really important is because without it, you'll never be able to realize what you really can do.

- Yes.

- And it's that moment when you go above and beyond, and you push yourself after you've fallen down or maybe been challenged, and you get back up- - Oh, yes.

(laughing) - That you realize what you really can do and you like reach your fullest potential.

And that's what I personally think.

- [AShira Nelson] I agree.

- And then, empowerment is just really important because without it, you can be really hard on yourself, you can really doubt yourself.

That's something I face.

And when you empower yourself to be able to do things, you realize, you know, "I was really able to do that."

- [AShira Nelson] Right.

- Authenticity is really important because if you're not staying true to yourself, then you're either gonna surround yourself with the wrong people, which I've had experience with, but it didn't really end well.

And when I was being myself, I found the people that I was really supposed to be surrounding myself with.

And then, leadership is kind of just like the ending and culmination of what happens when you put all those pieces together.

I believe you become a leader and someone to look up to.

Even if you're not like fully putting yourself out there, but you can still be like the leader of your own life, you could be the leader to your younger siblings, or your classmates, or whoever.

- Okay, okay.

So, what specific local and national events and initiative does your organization offer to support young girls?

- Yeah.

So when I was in high school, I planned events that were catered towards middle schoolers and high schoolers.

And the first three events were just for Cleveland teens.

So we did them downtown, it was called Grace by Grit, and then it was then called Dare to Get Gritty.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- And the Dare to Get Gritty event was our most recent event that was actually extended not only to Cleveland teens, but teens across the United States because it was on Zoom, so we were able to reach a lotta people.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- But we always had speakers at those events, and we were just invited... Like I remember the first year, it was like 180 girls across Cleveland.

- Whoa.

- And we had a bunch of speakers, and they taught girls about grit and resilience, and then they would also share their stories 'cause we would have like a keynote.

So, different guests we had was Ramona Robinson, who's a newscaster here in Cleveland, which was really amazing.

That was our- - Yes.

- I'm pretty sure that was like one of our first ever guests.

And she brought her book- - I mean, that's huge.

(laughing) - It was, yeah, it was a really big deal.

- Oh, wow.

- And then the next year, we had the first ever female NBA coach of the Cleveland Cavs, and that was Lindsay Gottlieb.

She had a really amazing story.

And then our last year, we had Nancy Bosnoian, and she was not from here, but she was able to Zoom in, which was really amazing during COVID.

And so that was kind of what I did in high school, which was really empowering.

And I had a lot of help with like adults, so I didn't just do it by myself.

- Okay 'cause that was my next question was gonna be, "Now, how did you accomplish this?"

- Yeah, I can't take full credit because there was definitely a lot of mentors along the way that helped me.

- Yeah, but that's great you were able to build a team.

- [Charlotte Wasserman] Yeah.

- I mean, and you will notice...

I mean, in life, you need a great team.

- [Charlotte Wasserman] You do.

- 'Cause it's so hard to accomplish things alone.

- [Charlotte Wasserman] You can't do everything by yourself.

- No, no.

- And if you really want to like do really great things, you have to invite people along.

- Yeah.

- And there was actually an organization that I worked with in California that was teaching girls in San Diego about grit and resilience, but I wanted to teach girls here in Cleveland about that.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- So we worked together for three years, and then our missions were going in opposite directions, so I left them and started my own nonprofit.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- And invited one of the women who I worked with there on our team.

And then, our nonprofit also is we worked with the head of entrepreneurship at John Carroll, actually.

Because that is where our last event was kind of in conjunction with them.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- And he's also on our board, so that's kind of our team.

And then in college, I decided after taking a whole year off of the events and everything, just so I could get acclimated to school and join clubs at college as well, I decided I really wanted to do something for girls and bring something back to school with me.

So that's why this year, I'm trying to plan where I bring in a financial guest to speak on campus, and empower girls to rediscover and rewrite the stories they have around money and finances.

- [AShira Nelson] Awesome idea.

- It's kind of a culmination of my internship.

- I absolutely love that.

(laughing) - Yeah.

- Very nice, very nice.

And you spoke about grit, what is grit?

(laughing) For people who don't know.

- Grit's a pretty complicated word.

I just think it has a lot of background to it.

I first learned about it with the book written by Angela Duckworth, called "Grit."

- Okay.

- But, she talked about how grit is the mix between passion and perseverance.

And how what happens when you fall down, it's not really important about what pushes you down but how you respond to that and get back up is really what builds like the grit and resilience.

And over time, that's like the one thing you need in life because like seeking and having problems and challenges is always gonna happen.

- [AShira Nelson] Absolutely.

- But, how you deal with those is the one thing that will like truly set you apart from like other people.

- Okay, I like that.

Thanks for breakin' that down because I heard of the term before, but not in more recent years.

And then, just tryna see how you kind of combine that with your foundation, it's pretty cool.

- Thank you.

- So, can you share some success stories or impactful moments from girls who were a part of your organization?

- Yeah.

I think most of my success stories stem a lot from the events because it was one of the first chances that I was able to see a direct impact with having girls surrounded around me that were my same age.

- [AShira Nelson] Yeah.

- And when the speakers would come in and share their stories, they're usually pretty vulnerable and were just sharing stories about their childhood or different really like gritty moments that they've had.

- [AShira Nelson] Yeah.

- And I really saw at our events how girls would respond to that and realize that, you know what, they weren't the only ones that were dealing with hardships.

- [AShira Nelson] Right.

- And then also, I realized that there's a range of challenges that can happen to people, and not every single person will face the exact experience, but that makes everyone unique.

And we all face different challenges, which is how we can kind of come together.

And girls used to always share and be inspired to really connect with each other, which was something I never really experienced.

But, it made me realize the importance of being vulnerable, and how that builds true connection.

- Yeah, I definitely can relate.

I don't know, I always have a hard time connecting.

I have friendships, but they're definitely- - You don't seem like you have a hard time connecting with people.

(laughing) - No, it's like it could be... You know, real friendship can be very surface level.

- Yeah.

- But findin' that deep connection, it's very nice to have your organization to help them find their voice to be able to do that and be comfortable with that.

'Cause it's not an easy task, so.

- No, it's not.

- In your experience, what are the most pressing issues that young adults face?

- I think a really big issue that young adults have is the amount of doubt that we put on ourselves and we feel.

Because I think doubt's like the one thing that will really stop you from doing what you're meant to be able to do.

- [AShira Nelson] Absolutely.

- And when there's a lotta noise in the world already from social media- - [AShira Nelson] Very much.

- And the news, and whatever's going around in the world, it can feel like there's a lot of pressing issues that are like really hard to be able to impact and control in a way, from being like a young adult.

But I think that's also like the one thing that's like changing now, is people are giving young people more of an opportunity to speak and share, like this.

- [AShira Nelson] Absolutely.

- Which is really important because it will help them kind of realize they have the ability to speak on what they are meant to do, and like they have really an important view on the world.

And I think that's like the best thing that you could ever do for young people is to show them that what they're thinking is... Maybe they have a lot to learn, but that doesn't mean like they can't share exactly what they're thinking right now.

- Right, your thoughts, your opinions are valuable.

- They're very valuable.

- Absolutely.

I believe that a young mind is just fresh, a fresh way of lookin' at things.

I never forget that I was young once.

So, I always like.... And especially with my daughter, I always try to listen and put myself in a young person's shoes.

And honestly, I feel like I'm still young, so.

(laughing) Even though I'm not, but I'm forever young at heart, so.

How does It's a Girl's Life address these challenges and provide practical solutions for young girls?

- I think one of our biggest ways we do this is through our podcast because we're able to really invite on people.

I'm able to interview people who have very diverse stories, and backgrounds, and opinions.

And it helps me be able to connect with different types of girls because every girl has a story.

And inviting on guests that I'm really able to push them and uncover all of what looks like very perfect from the outside, and see that they are just the type of similar person that has challenges and insecurities as well as all of us, I think is a really important thing.

And it allows me, or I hope to show other girls, that you're on the right path.

And just because you see one version of someone on social media, or on like YouTube or whatever, that's like not the full picture.

And trying to really show the full picture is kind of like my secret mission in life.

- I love that.

So hello, this is PBS Western Reserve "Forum 360," and today my guest is Charlotte.

She is the Founder of, It's a Girl's Life, and the Host of "It's a Girl's Life" podcast.

So just jumpin' back into it, so what partnership or collaborations have been instrumental to expanding your brand?

- Our biggest ever partnership was with a company called Little Words Project.

- Okay.

- And they create these bracelets.

I'm actually wearing two of 'em right now.

- Ooh.

- And this one's the one that we made with our organization.

- Very nice.

- But it's- - Very nice, they say, "Keep it real."

- Yes.

- Oh, this is so nice.

- They're really cute.

They're like really- - Okay, you're gonna have to send me one- - It's a really cool company.

- 'Cause this is so nice.

- I wish I brought extras, I should've done that.

- Ugh, I love this.

- It's super cute though.

And the reason why this is really special to me is that when I was a senior, so it was almost two years ago, which is like crazy to me that I was like a senior in high school like two years ago.

- And during COVID.

- Yes, during COVID, yeah.

- Whew!

- And it was right around the time I was applying to colleges and all that busyness.

But I was following this brand, it's called Little Words Project, and I learned about the founder's story.

She is probably around 30 or so, from New Jersey.

And she started this brand out when she was freshly graduated from college.

And she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, but she knew the words that she said to herself and the words that other people said to themselves really mattered.

And so, she created this brand to help people redefine the stories they had.

And that was really touching to me because she talked about how she faced bullying when she was younger, and how she really just wanted to help people and inspire them to keep going kind of thing.

And so when I learned about this mission of this brand, I was really inspired by it.

And so I reached out to them, and was like writing this email, and was like, "Here's who I am, this is what I do.

And I just really want to learn about more of what you do, and I'd really love to work with you guys on making a bracelet."

- [AShira Nelson] Yes.

- And I was really surprised when they responded, but then they said that they were interested, however they wanted to wait until...

It was November at that point, and they wanted to wait until January, the new year, to actually talk about something.

- [AShira Nelson] Ooh, yeah.

- So I was like hesitant if they really even were gonna remember me in two months.

- [AShira Nelson] Yeah, yes.

(laughing) - But little did I know, they did.

And it turned into them offering to...

They were starting this new project called Little Words Big Impact, where they highlighted nonprofits across the United States on a variety of topics.

And one of which they wanted to feature was It's a Girl's Life.

- Cool.

- And we were like their female empowerment organization.

- Awesome.

- They had like a breast cancer awareness organization, and other types of women empowerment organizations.

But it's really special that they chose such a young person like myself and my organization to highlight, and you can actually shop the bracelets if you wanted to and 25% of the proceeds go back to It's a Girl's Life.

- Wow, amazin'.

So, how can someone purchase the bracelets?

- You can find them at Little Words Project, their website, and then you can search like It's a Girl's Life or whatever, and it will usually come up when you look it up online.

That's like one of the easiest ways to actually like support us as well.

Or if you don't wanna purchase a bracelet, you just listen to the podcast, but- - Okay.

Yes, all support counts.

(laughing) - This is like kind of like the easiest way to look down and remember a really important message of like being real, like it brings back to what we were talking about earlier.

- Absolutely.

- 'Cause that's what it says there.

And just like a reminder to be your authentic self.

- I love it, very nice.

So as the founder, what has been the most rewarding aspect of leading a nonprofit and workin' with young girls?

- I think the rewarding aspect has been being able to realize that once you believe in yourself, and once you put yourself out there and do things that are really scary, that are really intimidating to you at one point, you realize that it's really not about you anymore and it's really about what you're giving back to the community.

- Yes.

- And you have to sometimes, like even for me, like sometimes I have to like pull myself out of it and be like, "You know what, I'm not even doing this for me anymore."

Like I'm doing it for my younger self, and the little version of me that was like starting this blog in her house, in her room.

Like I still like come back to that room like from college, and I'm like, "You know what?

I had big dreams, (laughing) and I never would've thought I'd be doing anything like this, so.

Stuff like that really makes me realize that it's really not about me, it's about giving back to the future generations.

- Very nice.

So how do you measure the effectiveness of your initiatives, in terms of empowerment and supportin' girls in their personal growth?

- Yeah, so I think originally, I was really focused as anyone would be on the numbers and like the numerical aspect of like, how many followers do I have on social media, how many subscribers do I have my podcast, or downloads, or stuff like that.

And then at a point recently, I realized that it's not about that really, it's really about... Like, I started to really shift my focus on like, was I empowering like at least one person?

- Okay.

- And I knew like that job, like check, that's been done for many years.

- Exactly, yes.

(laughing) - Like I've been doing that for a really long time.

And I started to realize that it's really not about like how many people you can touch, but instead the individuals.

- [AShira Nelson] Right, okay.

- And like, how you're changing how they view the world, and helping them recognize that they can do whatever they want to do.

And I just really started to appreciate like every part of the journey, and how like this is something that's a part of my story, and that's really cool and something unique about me, and it's a unique perspective that I get to like bring to the table.

And then also like personal growth, like in regards to that, I think that I've always been someone that it's really important to me to work on myself as much as I work on other things.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- Because if I don't help myself, I don't think I'd be able to do everything that I've wanted to do.

So taking time for like journaling, like this is my little journal that I have and I use every day.

- [AShira Nelson] Yeah.

- Or taking time to like exercise and really like release endorphins and stuff like that is really... And spending time with family and friends is just really important to me, so I can make sure I can keep performing at like where I wanna go.

- Okay.

So, have you faced any significant challenge in the journey of building and sustaining the organization?

- I definitely have.

I think there's been moments where I've definitely... Like, even though I've had such successful moments, I feel like there's also been so many moments where I've been like, "What am I doing?"

Or I've gotten myself too ahead, like too advanced, like just too excited.

And then I'm like, "I can't believe I actually like asked them to do that, and now I have to like perform at that."

(laughing) Like I've just like thrown myself out there, and like they've said yes, and it's like, "Oh, now I have to really prepare."

(laughing) But I think that it's in those moments where I can again remind myself how far I've come that has really helped me deal with that.

And then I think like a more specific moment has just been, I've wanted to keep this up for a really long time because I've loved it, but that means like taking time and breaks in between to be like, "It's okay to not do this all this time."

Like it's okay to like sleep in and stuff like that because I'm a really like ambitious person and I'm really passionate about the work I do, but I don't need to be doing something at every moment that's like furthering my nonprofit.

- Yeah.

- And school's also really important to me, and my friends, and family, and having fun, and still being a young person is really important to me.

So, balancing all that has been a lesson that has been a big challenge I would say.

- Okay.

- But, I'm definitely getting better at that with time.

- Nice, nice.

- Realizing life is important as well.

- So, how do you promote mental health awareness and self-care?

- I think I always want to share not only the moments where I'm like succeeding and doing well, but also the moments where I've had to learn really big lessons and have been pretty humbling.

Because I feel like those are the moments that people really relate to- - [AShira Nelson] Yeah.

- Is like the not so fun things to talk about.

- [AShira Nelson] Yeah.

- And I try not to be too personal because it's like I don't need to be sharing absolutely everything, which is what we were talking about before, it's really hard.

- [AShira Nelson] Yes.

- But, I really do love to like show all of my self-care practices.

Like, what if it is like journaling in the morning?

Like I show like, oh... Like, I don't show what I wrote because no one can actually read it 'cause my handwriting's bad, but I'll show like, this is what I'm doing right now to take care of myself.

Or I'll share like me going on a walk this morning, and it'll be like, "Take a moment for yourself today."

So it's like little reminders along the way that I can show people like, you need to appreciate where you are right now because you'll never be in this moment again.

And journaling's definitely a way to do that.

Like, exercise has been super important to me and a habit that I like to make sure I do daily, or at least most days of the week.

- I like that, yeah.

I'm tryna get into it, it's hard.

- It's definitely hard, but if you make time for it, you can make it happen.

- Let's talk about that because I do wanna get into journalin'.

My husband actually bought me a journal last week.

- [Charlotte Wasserman] Yeah.

- And so, how are you incorporatin' that?

Are you doing like a timer to remind yourself- - [Charlotte Wasserman] Oh, yeah.

- Or, first thing in the morning?

What are some tips you can give us?

- I love to do it first thing in the morning.

- Okay.

- And I was always that girl that really was wanting to be that girl in the movie that had a diary.

- Yeah.

- And I always remember when I was in middle school, I read these like really silly books called "Dork Diaries," and it's this girl's glasses, and it was like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," but for girls.

- Oh my God, yeah.

Oh, ooh.

- Yes, your girls would love it.

- Yes, yes.

- They're so cute.

- The preteen, she's into "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."

- Yeah, you gotta give her the girl version.

- Okay.

- "Dork Diaries."

- "Dork Diaries," okay.

- And I could never like put my thoughts on paper (laughing) when I was younger.

And I started a blog, so I started to get better at writing about my life and stuff like that.

But when I was younger, I still like couldn't figure out how to do it.

And then, when I was in my...

It was probably during COVID.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- I was really like...

I had too much...

I feel like I didn't have a lot going on, but yet at the same time, my thoughts were like rolling in many different directions during the day.

And I was doing a school assignment, and then I was working at It's a Girl's Life, and it was all in my room, and I couldn't keep everything straight.

And journaling was really the one activity that helped me like really focus on one thought at a time.

- [AShira Nelson] Okay.

- And when my mind's like rambling a lot at once in different parts of my life, it's the one activity that's gotten me to really slow down.

So I started with like one page a day about like whatever I was thinking, in the morning though.

And then, I found this thing called Morning Pages, which is writing three pages every morning.

- [AShira Nelson] Wow.

- And I thought that was really hard, but I started to do that this summer.

And I realized that like one page, I'd write like about what's just going on.

The next page, I like found like prompts online, and I'd respond to those.

And then the next page, I'd write about like anything that I really wanted to like happen, like future dreams and stuff.

And by doing that and setting a timer for like 10, 15 minutes, like I was able to feel really great and refreshed after and just like clear and stuff.

- [AShira Nelson] Very nice.

- So, that's been like a game changer.

- Okay, well thanks for sharin' that.

So what advice would you give a young girl inspirin' to become a leader in her community?

- I think I would say that you really just have to put yourself out there and you have to do it.

And I think the easiest way to start doing that is even though it's really scary, you have to just start talking about what you wanna do with people around you.

- [AShira Nelson] Yeah.

- Because it's like the one way, I swear, to like...

If you get the word out about it, I swear, there's like a higher possibility of it actually happening.

And I'm not very like spiritual, or woo-woo, or anything like that, but I know when I started to talk about things that I've wanted to do, it has really like made me like, "Okay, now I gotta like figure out how to do it."

- [AShira Nelson] Right, it like holds you accountable.

- Yeah, it holds you really...

Especially, writing it down too.

- Okay.

- But even just like knowing, and being really honest, and being like, "I don't know where I wanna take this, but I know I wanna do something like this," that will help you not put too much pressure on yourself, but just like start really small, and by there you can build it up into something bigger.

- Okay.

So, one final question.

Is there anything else you would like to share to our audience, like as it relates to empowering young women?

- I think I would say that I was a really young girl (laughing) with like no reason to really think she could create something like this ever.

But, I had like a motivation and a passion to do so.

And I didn't even know what it was going to turn into, but I kept doing it, I kept working on it, I kept changing my mission, and I've gotten it to where I have it today.

So, I would say never say never, and just believe in yourself because you never know what you're gonna be able to do.

- Thank you.

Well thank you, Charlotte, for bein' our guest.

This is PBS Western Reserve "Forum 360."

(gentle energetic music returns) - [Announcer] "Forum 360" is brought to you by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Akron Community Foundation, Hudson Community Television, the Rubber City Radio Group, Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron, Blue Green, Electric Impulse Communications, and "Forum 360" supporters.