A special celebration will take place Saturday, July 9, 1-4 p.m. to mark the halfway point of the Beyond Beautiful Empowerment Summer Camp for the Dane County cohort launched at the East YMCA in June.
The Beyond Beautiful Girls Empowerment Academy was founded by Dr. Jasmine Zapata, an award-winning author, local pediatrician, public health specialist, and community leader, to address the need for more socio-emotional support for young girls. The Beyond Beautiful mission is to help girls increase their self-esteem, confidence and leadership skills.
“Beyond Beautiful means that in addition to your outward appearance, true beauty and power are within,” said Dr. Zapata in a statement. “I’m so incredibly excited to partner with the YMCA to spread this message and celebrate these incredible young ladies this weekend at the red carpet empowerment event.”
The Beyond Beautiful Empowerment Academy is a unique, evidence-based program aligned with national education standards existing to remind young girls, especially girls that experienced adversity or trauma, that they have tremendous inner qualities, and that when those qualities are nurtured and unlocked, girls possess the power to overcome any situation in life and still accomplish their dreams and goals.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with Dr. Zapata and her team to help make this incredible program available to girls in our community. Giving kids the self-confidence to thrive is one of the most important things the YMCA does,” said YMCA of Dane County President and CEO Mark Westover. “When I learned about Beyond
Beautiful, I immediately reached out to Dr. Zapata so that we could bring this program to the community.”
Dr. Zapata and Beyond Beautiful book series co-authors from across the country will be in attendance at Saturday’s event signing books, holding breakout discussions with the girls and enjoying music from the DJ. “Mama Jewel,” Dr. Zapata’s mother, will lead a special activity with parents in attendance.
