In the Lead Spotlight: Women of Tomorrow

 

The In the Lead spotlight was created to recognize non-profit organizations dedicated to the financial health, wellness and literacy of women. Women of Tomorrow was selected as the 2024 Spotlight partner in recognition of the organization’s work providing mentoring and scholarships for thousands of high school students since its inception in 1997.

“If you can show a young woman the opportunities out there and how they can achieve it, they will achieve it.”  Jennifer Valoppi founded Women of Tomorrow to give at-risk students the chance to connect with professional and highly accomplished women through mentoring sessions. Its mentors work with student mentees at high schools across the country to inspire, motivate, and teach critical life skills. To date, the organization has worked with 24,000 girls and awarded over $8.5 million in scholarships.

Jennifer Valoppi, Founder & President of Women of Tomorrow, spoke about what inspired her to start the organization and the important work it does.

Forming Women of Tomorrow

When asked about her inspiration for the organization, Jennifer credited her studies and her time as an anchor at WTVJ NBC 6 in Miami. She majored in psychology at Oakland University in Michigan, specializing in supporting women and adolescents.

Over the course of her studies and early career, Jennifer noticed, “The issue wasn’t only that men felt women were inferior — it was that women agreed.” As her career progressed, she also began to see that “women at the top didn’t help the women below them.”

Jennifer strove to break the pattern. She had always made time to mentor fellow students and younger colleagues (both men and women). And after 20 years — and multiple Emmys — as a news anchor, she wanted to solidify her mentoring into something more formal.

In 1997, when Jennifer was the main anchor at WTVJ, she brought together a group of 23 extremely accomplished, professional women as Women of Tomorrow’s Inaugural Mentors. These women worked to help at risk young women from six public high schools reach their full potential.

An organization people believe in

Since that inaugural class, Women of Tomorrow flourished – now reaching 4,000 mentees in in 168 schools. The program has grown to include 350 mentors. “Everybody gets involved because they’re asked,” Jennifer explained. “But they stay because the girls inspire them so much.”

One mentor who had been with Women of Tomorrow since the very beginning only just retired. “We have a long tenure for mentors. You just can’t leave because the work is so meaningful,” Jennifer said.

Women of Tomorrow is now in its 27^th year and going strong.

The mentees

Participating schools nominate at-risk students for mentorship through Women of Tomorrow. Many of the participants are victims of abuse, homeless, in foster care, or come from difficult backgrounds. “Schools choose the girls who need the program the most,” Jennifer explained. They are often the first in their family to even graduate from high school.

“98% of our girls graduate from high school, and that number is growing,” said Jennifer. “We have mentees who have become judges, a lawyer for the US Senate, and more. They work for NASA, the Justice Department, and the CSI.”

Many of the graduates come back, becoming junior mentors. When they’ve established themselves and are comfortable in their careers, they become fully fledged mentors.

Mentoring program

Women of Tomorrow’s mentoring program is designed to build support groups for participants. Mentors lead monthly group sessions of 10 – 15 girls per mentor.

Groups are structured so mentees can connect with people they don’t typically hang out with. The girls can lean on each other’s strengths and help each other through their weaknesses.

In Women of Tomorrow, the focus isn’t on matching mentors to mentees based on backgrounds. It’s on making sure the girls can connect with the mentor. “Teens are great lie detectors — most important is the degree to which the girls perceive their mentors care about them. That’s where the magic occurs,” explained Jennifer.

Scholarships

In 1999, one of the graduates voiced a concern about where she could go from there. “She told us ‘It’s amazing you do all this mentoring, but now that we’re motivated, we don’t know how to get there,’” Jennifer recounted.

Women of Tomorrow hosted a New Year’s Eve fundraiser, and raised $50k for scholarships, which was matched by the state of Florida (where the organization was founded).

In 2000, the first scholarships were introduced and as of today, Women of Tomorrow has granted $8.5 million in scholarships. These scholarships help graduates of the program attend college so they can continue to follow through on their own path to success.