Ladies of Virtue (LOV) has been highlighted and funded by prominent Black women leaders like Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance and Oprah Winfrey’s Charitable Foundation for its commitment to empowering girls across Chicago.
But the recognition that matters most is from young Black women like Danaya Weaver, 18, who see the organization as a respected, sacred and safe space from the world around them.
“You will forget everything that is happening at home because you’re surrounded by positive women — adults, teens, kids, elders — and they’re going to make sure you’re good.”
Weaver is a freshman at Kentucky State University who is studying elementary education. She has been a LOV sister from 5th grade to her senior year of high school. Over the eight years, she benefited from the organization’s programming that promotes character development, career readiness and civic engagement. Over LOV’s 13 years, it has made history through the 2,000 young Black women they’ve helped to evolve into purpose-driven leaders.
“We’re making history by the fruit of what we’re offering to the community. The young women who walk through our doors are often the first in their families to achieve milestones. Thinking back when I first launched the program. One of our first six girls now has her Ph.D. and is the first in her family to have one. Our girls are many firsts: homeowners, college graduates, and entrepreneurs,” reflects CEO and Founder Jamila Trimuel.
Every February, Ladies of Virtue hosts several events to spread love to young Black girls and women to promote self-confidence, self-care, and good mental hygiene. On Feb. 23, LOV will host their annual event, Black Girl Rest, a self-care experience for high school girls, from 4-7 p.m. at South Shore High School.
“Black Girl Rest is a signal to all the work that Black women and girls do. Born during the pandemic, the program was created by our high school girls who wanted to help each other tend to themselves once they’ve been a service to the community,” Trimuel says.
How LOV Works
From October to May each year, LOV offers mentorship and support for Black girls, ages 9 to 18, through project-based learning at their twice-a-month workshops at Saturday Institute and LOV clubs that provide during and after school programming at partner schools.
According to its website, participants are not selected on academic performance but rather on their willingness to participate in the activities, their selection interview, and bolstering a positive attitude. LOV also recruits adult mentors who participate in the Saturday Institute and engage with all the girls in the program. Each May, LOV hosts Match Day to pair each mentor with a handful of LOV sisters they deem a good fit. After that, it is incumbent upon each pair to cultivate a relationship and spend time together outside of the program.
While the program has been serving young girls and women for 13 years, it is constantly evolving based on the needs and voices of the LOV sisters.
Trimuel shared, “From the very beginning, we’ve always incorporated the voice of our girls. I didn’t even pick our brand colors. When I launched the program in 2011, I asked the group of girls for their favorite colors, and pink and blue were most common.”
Beyond the program’s aesthetic, participant voice is prominent in how LOV runs its program.
“From the food we eat at Saturday Institute to our curriculum. We’re always asking our girls what they liked and what could have been better. We also create opportunities for them to lead and plan events. Our Black Girl Rest event was created by an alum when she was a high school senior in our program.”
LOV realizes that their work needs to permeate outside of their programming. In a Columbia Law School 2015 report, Black girls disproportionately faced harsher school discipline than any other group. In 2023, LOV launched Grow to Glow to respond to this crisis: a strength-based approach to building authentic relationships with Black girls. Starting with 200 Chicago educators, they led teachers to explore patterns behind their students’ behaviors before disciplining them.
“Oftentimes administrators are looking on the surface at the behavior and punishing without determining the root cause of the attitude. We’re showing educators how to navigate those challenges. So when our girls are learning how to manage their emotions and communicate effectively, we want to make sure they’re going to get that same response and support in other areas of their life, and that includes school,” Trimuel said.
Mentorship Matters
Alexis Nimmers has been an LOV mentor for two years, and she serves because she sees so much of herself in the LOV sisters.
“I was born to young parents, and I had to figure out a lot on my own. I was a first-generation college student to graduate, and I didn’t want to be a product of my environment. I wanted something different for myself, and so do these young women.”
Through LOV, Nimmers can provide the necessary support that young Black girls require despite the reality that most adults don’t think they need it, according to a 2017 Georgetown Law report.
“One of my mentees shares deeply intimate things with me that she otherwise doesn’t feel comfortable sharing with others. In some instances, she asks me to be the intermediary between her and her mother, suggesting that she’ll receive it better if it comes from me. So as mentors, we’re helping them build those bonds with their parents as well,” Nimmers adds.
Mentors also show how the girls can manage relationships with each other. When Nimmers first became a mentor, she was surprised by the other women in the room.
“I have never been a part of a group of Black women that were so inviting, smart and educated.”
LOV sisters pick up on the respect between the LOV mentors and model their relationships with each other after the mentors. A program alumnus confirms, “In all the years I’ve been active in LOV, there has never been any situation between the girls. We’ve all respected one another.”
A Vision of Purpose-Driven Leaders
Mentors like Nimmers lead successful careers and can contribute to the program’s career readiness and exploration elements.
By sharing more about their lives outside of the program, they build connections with the LOV sisters and show them that a career of their dreams is possible. In addition to mentorship support, the organization has secured partnerships with companies and local community organizations like Walgreens, Brightstar Community Outreach, Lurie’s Children’s Hospital and Rush University, to name a few.
When it came time for Weaver to select her academic major, she considered her LOV experiences and the outpouring of support she received from mentors.
“I could talk to my LOV mentor about a lot of things that I couldn’t share with my family. Because I have those people in my life, I want to do that for other people.” Weaver said. As a future elementary school teacher, she hopes to be a supportive adult in her students’ lives.
LOV sisters like Weaver show that the organization’s mission is working and is helping young Black girls have a successful future. Ladies of Virtue was designed to keep young Black girls on a positive life trajectory. Trimuel shares that as she prepared for life after high school, it was due to parental support and guidance that led her down the right path. But it wasn’t the same for her friends.
“I noticed that some of my friends weren’t planning for what they were going to do after high school. And I shortly saw how their lives took a downward turn. So that’s when I realized that positive role models, whether they are parents, mentors or teachers, positive role models can literally change the trajectory of your life,” she said.
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