Future Leaders Event

Fourteen of our high school scholars had a two-day experience of a lifetime!

Earlier this month, Girls Inc. of Alameda County was invited to be a part of the Future Leaders Event sponsored by Rakuten and The Golden State Warriors.  The girls were matched with a mentor from either Rakuten or Warriors and were led through two full days of empowerment events.

They engaged in a panel discussion with insightful women who are leaders in their fields including Charmin Smith, the first Black women’s basketball head coach at UC Berkeley. Steph Curry, as the moderator, joined the discussion and expressed how honored he felt to be in the presence of all these strong and impactful women. Our youth had a chance to ask questions and the first question asked was, “Do you feel like you are the best version of yourself, or is that yet to come?”

Next, the scholars  experienced a “Dress for Success” workshop at Nordstrom and met with personal stylists to select a business casual outfit to wear during the job shadowing session. Each scholar shadowed a Warriors employee on game day learning about guest services, security, VIP fan experiences and more. A few of our scholars were part of the on-court entertainment team during the player introduction hoopla! The job shadowing was fun, exciting, and in some cases exhausting. Our youth were surprised at how much their mentors had to run around the Chase Center, including up and down stairs, on game day!

The event culminated with seats in a suite with their mentors to watch the game. The mentoring sessions continued while watching the game, and the group even made an appearance on the jumbotron during the third quarter.

One scholar summed up the visit by saying, “What an incredible opportunity to meet everyone, while learning how important it is for us as women to take the risks no matter what. I just know they’ve all left an impact on me, inspiring me to chase my dreams.”