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| Angela Welsh |
| MaryAnn Keim |
| Who We Are: I’m All Girl, Inc. is the brainchild of MaryAnn Keim, the company’s president and was conceived after I spent too much time shopping around in stores and on the web for a product that would teach my (then) 12 year old daughter about puberty…and coming up empty. Sure there were products sponsored by big corporations but those products were blatantly self-serving and the contents close to negligible. I wanted a product that educated her, sure, but one that would also help her get over the fears and misgivings associated with puberty. We all remember how weird we felt when our moods started to change along with our bodies and there was nothing on the market that addressed all those changes. So I enlisted the help of my sister, Angela Welsh, (with 20 years of marketing experience and artistic talents) and I’m All Girl, Inc. was born. The Period Pieces Kit launched in August, 2006 at a trade show in Orlando, Florida. We got a lot of positive feedback and heard comments such as “This is so unique!” “I never saw anything like it before” and “What a great idea.” We were excited and knew we had made the right decision. One thing we heard over and over was “You should bring these kits to schools”. So we went home to NYC and hit the streets. We called on private and public schools throughout New York City and what we discovered was astonishing and alarming: Although the students in Middle Schools were being thoroughly educated about AIDs and STDs, no one was teaching these children about puberty or their bodies. These children were actually expected to understand and adhere to the messages of safe sex without a clue to how their bodies work or a frame of reference to apply the information. Additionally, we started to talk to schools officials about how children today were inundated with relentless sexual images in music, videos, commercials, movies…and were acting out in response to this stimuli but were “working without a net.” Initially our concerns were met with skepticism and resistance. Our efforts to raise awareness of this issue were scoffed out and we almost quit. Then the facts started to surface: Public Schools in New York City are not teaching children about puberty. Parents are not talking to their children about puberty. Kids who are left on their own to learn the “facts of life during elementary school are not listening when the subject is addressed in high school resulting in the following statistics: • 1 in 4 teen girls have some and more than one form of sexually transmitted diseases. • Teen pregnancy is up for the first time in 14 years as are the numbers of Teens with HIV and AIDs • Violence in teen relationships is at an all time high. • Experts agree that in order for children to adhere to safe-sex guidelines, they must first be taught about puberty at an early age. We admit we felt a tad vindicated but the important point for us was that people were starting to listen. We also realized that more was needed: The Period Pieces Kit would only do part of the job. From principals to Parent Advocates, from nurses to PTA heads, over and over we heard the same response to our pitches: “Yes! Our children need this information…and, by the way, do you have anything for boys?” We enlisted the help of Arlyn Kelly, a Nurse Practitioner and for two years we did our research. We visited and talked to children, teachers, nurses, administrators and parents in the NYC public school system. From our research we developed an educational program – for girls and boys - that provides educators and parents with a system to educate children as young as 9 about puberty. One of the best parts of this experience has been going into the schools and giving the seminar. The look on the girls’ faces as they are hearing about their bodies for the first time is so exciting and rewarding, I could not imagine not continuing. We have a terrific biology teacher, John Russo, providing the boys’ portion of the program and he is always amazed at the fact that he could have 60 boys in an auditorium and you could hear a pin drop once he starts talking about the subject. From our engaging graphics to our informative seminar to our hands-on products – it all works together teaching children about themselves and their changing bodies. We are proud to say that Our Changing & Growing seminar has had tremendous success in the schools systems throughout NYC. Every school we go to book us for the following year. Our goal is to educate young preteens about puberty so they will be able to understand and adhere to the safe sex guidelines being taught in high school. By providing children with this type of education, we hope to turn the statistics around so that children can grow up to be happy and healthy adults. |
