On Friday morning, the Farrell Auditorium at the Saint Louis Art Museum was filled wall to wall with Black Girl Magic. More than 400 middle‑ and high‑school girls from 11 St. Louis‑area schools gathered for The Sophia Project’s 4th Annual International Day of the Girl Celebration — and somehow, in a room that size, the conversation still felt intimate.
This year’s theme, “She’s A Perfect 10,” centered confidence, identity, character, mentorship and leadership. But the real heartbeat of the morning came from the girls themselves. Their questions — honest, vulnerable and unfiltered — made it clear that they trusted the women seated before them. And for this reporter, listening from the back of the room, there were moments that sparked envy. Because these girls had a space safe enough to ask the things so many of us carried silently at their age.
They asked about heartbreak. About peer pressure. About self‑esteem. About how to rise above circumstances that feel heavy even for adults. And then came the questions that reminded everyone in the room just how different their world is — shaped by social media, comparison culture and impossible standards.
One girl raised her hand and asked, “Have you ever thought about getting surgery to change the way you look?”
Diana Smith didn’t flinch.
“No, I haven’t,” she told her. “I realized that I only feel bad about what I see on the outside when there is something internal — something going on that I don’t like on the inside.”
The panel — a lineup of women whose careers stretch across entrepreneurship, education, public safety, storytelling and community leadership — didn’t shy away from anything the girls brought forward. Tepra Wells, a national digital storyteller and founder of Tepra Marketing LLC, spoke openly about heartbreak.
“It can be so hard because you get used to being around someone in like or love with them for a number of years and then all of a sudden it falls off,” she said. “What I decided to do during that heartbreak is to lean into the love for myself.”
She told them she took herself to the movies. Took herself out to dinner. Looked in the mirror and said the same affirming things she once waited for someone else to say.
“Be your own soulmate versus leaning on somebody else,” she said.
Another girl asked what to do when boys call you ugly. Wells paused, then shared a story she admitted still stings.
During a fourth‑grade English lesson on nouns and adjectives, one of the most popular boys in her class used “Tepra” as his noun — and “ugly” as his adjective. Her classmates laughed. She put her head down on her desk and cried.
All those years later, her voice still cracks when she talks about it.
“But moving on in my life, I recognized that God did not make any mistakes on the way that He designed me,” Wells said. “And the same goes for all of you. You were beautifully and wonderfully made — and very special.”
Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith, president of Harris‑Stowe State University, reminded them that their futures are not defined by their zip codes or circumstances.
“I want you to leave here knowing that you can,” she said. “If I can, you can. You can be the first at whatever it is you desire to do.”
She encouraged them to speak power over themselves — even when it feels impossible.
“Stand ten toes down and be prepared to walk in any room and sit at any table,” she said.
In her recap of the event, Dawn Price, founder of The Sophia Project, said the morning served as a reminder that the girls do not have to have their entire lives figured out right now — and that their purpose does not have to look like anyone else’s.
“The assignment is not to fit in,” she said. “The assignment is to become who God created you to be.”
She praised panelist Nyshaun Harvey for urging the girls to listen to the inner voice that nudges them toward or away from people and situations.
“Discernment matters. Obedience matters,” Price said. “Make your plans. Pray. Listen. Stay open. Let God direct the path. You were not made to simply fit in. You were made to bring your own light into the room.”
By the end of the program, the girls had heard from women who built businesses, led institutions, created art, raised families and carved out careers in spaces where Black women are still too often overlooked. They had also heard from women who once sat in classrooms just like theirs — navigating the same insecurities, the same pressures, the same questions.
The Sophia Project has been creating spaces like this since 2011 — spaces where girls can be honest, curious, hopeful and heard. Spaces where they can see themselves reflected in women who have walked the road ahead of them. Spaces where they can learn that confidence isn’t perfection. And that leadership isn’t about being fearless — it’s about showing up for yourself, especially on the hard days.
On this International Day of the Girl, they showed up. And the women on stage showed up for them right back.
For a few hours on a Friday morning, they were reminded that they are not alone. That their voices matter. That their dreams are valid. That they are queens. And that even when their crowns lean a little, they have the power — and the support — to straighten them back up and keep going.