GenZ Girls

ATHLETICS

Name: Claire Emanuel

Age: 13

From: Delaware, Ohio

Claire is a young girl passionate about a wide variety of things. Some of these things include playing tennis, the piano, and on top of that, she loves to sing as well. Tennis really connects with her, and she finds herself through music. Claire believes that you can be great no matter the age, and if Claire wants to inspire others in her community, she hopes to let kids know to “focus on themselves to take the time and effort in practice to help them grow and get better in their future with everything they do.” Combining sports and music, Claire has a great future planned for her.

Disregarding Claire’s passions and what she is going to be great at, Claire is a black girl, and often feels that her voice is silenced in the world. Claire explains, “...there are other times where even if I’m the leader of the project or something, groups don’t want to listen to me and have their own ideas and don’t listen to others.” Because Claire knows that her voice has been silenced, and others’ voices have been silenced as well, if she could give any piece of advice to young females around the world to become agents of change, she would tell them to speak up. In her words, “Something just as simple as raising your voice can help others really take you seriously and listen to things you have to say.”

You can contact Claire through her Instagram and/or Snapchat @carumoe

Name: Piper Biziorek

Age: 18

From: Naperville, Illinois

Piper is a young adult that sees herself giving a lot of dedication to the sport Soccer. Piper says, "Exercising is my happy place... I love soccer for many reasons, but one reason that I think it is such an awesome sport is that it empowers female athletes here in the United States. Our women’s national team is the best in the world and has earned so much press and publicity and the respect of everyone who watches them… The US women’s national team is proof that women can achieve equal or greater goals than men in historically male-dominated fields such as sports, and soccer continues to lead the female empowerment movement. "With a great passion for soccer, Piper will have great success in the near future. Piper’s vision is to “empower kids through sports, and teach them to handle all that life has to throw at them using the beauty of the game.”

Piper has never felt like her voice has been silenced in the world even though she knows that a lot of people’s voices are. In her life, her voice is generally listened to and respected as well. She doesn’t recall a time when anyone dismissed her opinion just because she was a young woman.

Name: Rithika Selvendiran

Age: 14

From: Westerville, Ohio

Rithika is a young girl that finds most of her passions through sports. She loves to play tennis, and also an Indian classical dance form, Bharatanatyam. She’s made a lot of friends through these two sports and has learned other things like patience, how important consistent practice is, and teamwork to be successful. Rithika finds herself spending her time to inspire people not to lose hope in anything they do. She also inspires people by saying that you are only meant to learn from mistakes. With these great lessons that Rithika preaches, she will be a very successful girl through her athletic passions.

Being an Indian girl in the United States, Rithika has felt her voice be silenced several times. Rithika believes, that “In the world we live in, young girls have the face the unjust challenges everyone throws at them. They’re often looked down on as inferior, so they’re opinions do not receive the necessary attention. I do believe that women’s voices are silenced because they still face many problems, which they wouldn’t have to if people just took the time and carefully listened to their problems(or ideas),”. But in order to give inspire, a piece of advice that Rithika gives to young females around the world is “The world can be cruel to girls, but that doesn’t mean you can lose hope. Hope can make a big difference in how you see the world and it can give you the strength to never give up.”. With Rithika being big on not losing hope, she wants to see the best out of more young girls just like her.

You can contact Rithika through her Instagram @rithikaselvendiran

Name: Arefa Kapasi

Age: 13

From: Lewis Center, Ohio

Arefa is a young female that is passionate about tennis. She has been playing for a long time, and really enjoys and loves doing it. She sees tennis as a way to make a lot of new friends and to express herself. Having a lot of experience in tennis, Arefa goes out of her way to let others know some great opportunities provided for people like them. She also volunteers at the Delaware Library to recommend books to various types of readers.

Arefa does not often find herself being silenced in the world, yet she knows many people who’s voices go unheard. Arefa is grateful for the fact that in her community, she has the ability to voice her opinions through various social media platforms. Hearing the stories of many who don’t have much of a say in society, a piece of advice that Arefa would give them is, “Always voice what you want to say and don’t worry about others might think of your opinions or how others might view them.”

You can contact Arefa through her Instagram and/or Snapchat @arefa_groot

STEM

Name: Suanely Padilla

Age: 17

From: Bronx, New York

Suanely is a young girl who aspires to accomplish many things. One topic she is strongly passionate about is Mental Health Awareness. Suanely resonates with this topic because she says “As someone who’s experienced the in and outs of a deteriorating mind and it’s consequences, I don’t want to see others have to live through what I have. I want them to feel supported and understand they aren’t indifferent for the ways in which they feel. I want them to have the hope and foundational support that I lacked. I want to see people thrive and in order for people to thrive, we must improve the way we educate and assist.”. In order to inspire others, she has created a mental health club in her school called RUOK. This is a club where people can share how they really feel and can have their voices be heard by others. She’s also very passionate about equality. Being a black child, she feels very grateful for everything that she has.

Suanely does often feel like her words are silenced by the world. Suanely believes that “Women are already belittled in our society as it is, but when you take that and also blend it in with youth, you get an individual that isn’t taken seriously. Public figures, people of authority, and just the world, in general, don’t take the youth seriously because of our age. I believe in terms of mindset, age is just a number because I’ve seen teenagers my age carry more wisdom than a grown man who’s lived in this world for twice the amount that we have.” Her advice to other young females would be that you don’t need to be the most famous person to create change. You just need to have the determination to create a change.

You can contact Suanely on Instagram @suwavy and on Snapchat @january.6

Name: Himani Akula

Age: 17

From: Dublin, Ohio

Growing up, Himani was involved in a plethora of unique activities ranging from ice skating to robotics. As she refined her interests over the years, Himani realized that she is passionate about experiences that broaden her perspectives. Her love of learning led her to pursue courses and extracurriculars in STEM and educate children about a variety of topics. Additionally, Himani is not interested in just one subject; rather, there are concepts and processes that interest her. In fact, she loves the nature of problem-solving and challenging herself with realistic goals and puzzles. The platform of viewing daily interactions and phenomena from an interdisciplinary lens and finding the nuanced connections between seemingly distinct fields is what keeps her going. This mindset is what has led Himani to study Anthropology, Biology, and Neuroscience at the University of Albany, SUNY as a Combined Medical Program Scholar. She will graduate from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University as a doctor in 2027.

Himani inspires others in her community by continuing to do what she does best. As a female deeply involved in STEM, she hopes that the devoted image that she projects through her STEM engagement serves as a role model for other young females and previously discouraged individuals. She believes that she is making a difference one step at a time by adding to the positive representation of women to the conversation. In a more active manner, Himani is involved in community service, volunteering, and outreach events that target the innate curiosity that all people are born with. By presenting STEM In a positive light from an early age through outreach, she hopes that the kids gain confidence and appreciation for the field. When demonstrating everyday phenomena at a local science museum, she relates science topics to fun stories and interactive questions. Himani wants young girls to continue doing what they love to do because, at the end of the day, the world remembers the people who have lead their life with purpose and passion.

You can contact Himani through her Instagram @himani_akula

ACTIVISM

Jasmine is not your average fourteen-year-old. She is extremely passionate about studying the intersection of neuroscience in women since it’s heavily understudied. In fact, the first studies done on autism, which were a catalyst to revolutionize modern psychiatry as we know it, were done on only men/boys. As a result of this, many women weren’t diagnosed with autism until their late teens or early twenties. Furthermore, autism in women is highly stigmatized as it goes unnoticed. Jasmine wants to pave the path such that men and women receive equally proper and accurate diagnoses.

Currently, Jasmine is shedding light on issues such as neuroscience in women and the racial biases that people of color and the LGBTQ+ community faces. To motivate others, Jasmine highlights the importance of healthcare and educating oneself to address stigmas/stereotypes. Unfortunately, Jasmine is catcalled by some of her peers as a “social justice warrior” (SJW) or a “loudmouth,” therefore having her views turned down. Jasmine is fierce and doesn’t let these comments get to her. Her motto is “Don’t doubt yourself for even a second because if you work hard, you’re unstoppable!” In the future, Jasmine will expand her knowledge by partaking in medical research and educating others. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine to give the gift of healing.

You can contact Jasmine on Instagram @fatherjasmine

ACTIVISM

Name: Chazzel Ferbol

Age: 15

From: Bronx, New York

Name: Lindsay Rule

Age: 17

From: Huntington Beach, California