I Choose To Win

Women who are boldly, bravely and brilliantly unleashing their God-given gifts to impact the world. In life, we win. Welcome to 'I Choose To Win!"

Our mission is to strengthen the mental wellbeing, resilience and economic position of BIPOC women and girls in the Philly area. What if a generation of women were challenged to believe in God with renewed vigor and promise? What if this generation of women believed what God – and not society – said about them? What if they looked into the mirror and were reminded of God’s love and purpose? What i

f they peered into their souls only to find images of light, courage, boldness and salt? What if they recognized themselves as children of God perfectly designed and properly equipped to live the life God has purposed for them? What if we have a group of women who refuse to accept ‘what is’ as the end, instead they repurposed the lessons learned from trials and turned them into stepping-stones for their promising future? What if young women determine in their hearts that they choose to win in this life?

‘What if’ has become what is!

06/01/2026

Happy Monday, Winners! This past weekend, the final LET HER! session, titled "LET HER!...MOVE" was facilitated by Alyssa Bowser, owner of Second Chance Dance and a 2024 Bold, Brave & Brilliant Awards Gala honoree.
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With Alyssa's guidance, we followed our body's lead in the expression of thought, emotion, and remembrance through jazz and modern dance. With every song that played, different parts of our respective personalities stepped into the proverbial spotlight to be seen, felt...witnessed.
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⁠😅Together, we gently pressed our way beyond comfort zones with plenty of laughs to spare. Alyssa shared something that we're passing along, in case you may need it too:

The first time you're trying something new or returning to something you haven't done in a while, you're likely going to experience some internal resistance or limitation (especially from your body if it's something physical). Know that this is okay and to be expected.

Give yourself grace.

But that second time? The second time is you telling your body, "Listen, we're doing this," and then proceeding to do it...again.

A made up mind can lead you (and your body) to move beyond what even you thought to be possible.

🥹And that's precisely what we experience and accomplished. Together.

As we prepare for the upcoming Culminating Celebration to mark the conclusion of the LET HER! Mentorship Program, our last session of this collective healing journey from gun violence affirmed a few things:

💜 Trauma doesn't mean we can no longer be triumphant.
💜 We can be both heartbroken and healing.
💜 Grief, grace, grit, and gratitude can coexist.
💜 While the internal work of healing is unique to the individual, the external experience of it can be done, and safely held, in community.

💜Thank you Alyssa and SCD for reminding us that our freedom, our healing, our joy is worth a second chance and then some!

📸: Photography by J Nicole

05/27/2026

UP NEXT: Tomorrow, our FINAL (🥲) LET HER! Mentorship Program session will be facilitated by Second Chance Dance, Philadelphia's first adult-only dance school.

This session will empower us to explore how moving energy through the body supports our emotional processing -- especially that of heavier ones such as grief.

At , they're on a mission to cultivate confidence, joy, and a renewed sense of possibility. With the private Culminating Celebration for LET HER! on the horizon, this is precisely the energy we desire to cultivate within our mentees and mentors as the program comes to a close, and their healing journey continues.

👀Can we share one of our favorite parts about this session? Alyssa Bowser, owner of SCD, is a beloved honoree of our 2024 Bold, Brave & Brilliant Awards Gala! We're thrilled to continue celebrating and supporting our honorees and their wins, and look forward to this shared one with the SCD team.

💜Thank you, Alyssa and team, for showing us how embodied expression, creativity, and physical movement all play important roles in our emotional healing from gun violence!
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05/26/2026

Happy Tuesday, Winners! Hope you enjoyed the loooong weekend; we sure did!

Our sixth LET HER! session, titled "LET HER!...GLOW" took place on Saturday with Center City Philadelphia as our beautiful backdrop 32+ stories high in the sky as Marquita Robinson Garcia, a cosmetic chemist and owner of DVINITI Skin Care facilitated.

🌍️With her guidance, we made a powerful connection between our inner and outer worlds and beauty, and became more educated on the nourishing ingredients Mother Nature provides in order for us to nurture our souls and the largest organ we have -- our skin.

With an infectiously joyous energy, Marquita shared how skin essentially serves as a protector and a messenger, often communicating what's going within. Her question for our reflection:

Are we honoring our bodies so that it can function in its optimal state, thereby empowering us to function in OUR optimal state?

It was truly a moment to sit with how...

✨️Our INNER G (inner glow) is ENERGY!✨️

In addition to exploring ingredients for our custom body oil, we learned about technology in the beauty industry such as facial mapping and its use for identifying different areas of the face, their connection to other areas in the body, the messages they send, and why.

💜By the session's end, EVERYONE was pleased with the custom blended body oil which we named, "LET HER GLOW!"

Thank you, Marquita, for informing, empowering, and giving us space to create in the spirit of your "Mad Scientist Gone Good" energy -- all in support of skin health, yes, but our spiritual and mental health too! Especially on our journey as cosurvivors to healing from gun violence!

WE GOT THE GLOW!🤩

📸: Photography by J Nicole

05/20/2026

UP NEXT: This weekend, our sixth LET HER! Mentorship Program session will be facilitated by Marquita Robinson Garcia, a cosmetic chemist and owner of DVINITI Skin Care (), a plant-based, naturally derived skin care and spa company.

This session will empower us to nourish and love the glow of our skin AND our soul!

Marquita, known as Philly's 'Mad Scientist Gone Good,' uses her extensive experience from the beauty industry to bring personalized, sustainable skin care to the mainstream.

Simply put, she's on a mission to help us learn to love our skin by emphasizing the ‘care’ in ‘skincare’ and leading us through the process.

"I chose the name 'DVINITI' to remind customers that despite how the media may have influenced their self-image, each of us is already beautiful (or handsome!)" she says. "Your skin is your body’s largest organ, functioning as a defense mechanism to preserve and protect you from the external environment," she says.

Through Marquita's science and beauty-based teaching, we'll strengthen the connection between our inner and outer beauty. In addition to facial mapping and a skin analysis, we'll "Make 'n Take" custom blended products selected and curated in-studio.

💜Thank you, Marquita, for showing us how deeply connected and powerful our inner and outer illumination is, even as we heal from gun violence!⁠
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05/18/2026

Happy Monday, Winners! This past weekend, our fifth LET HER! session, titled "LET HER!...CREATE" was facilitated by Ayiana Viviana at The Apologues, "where art creates change."

With Ayiana's guidance, we engaged in the creation of neurographic art -- an intuitive drawing practice that integrates psychology, meditation and art to explore our inner world.

After learning about the practice and its powerful use for releasing tension and unlocking creativity, we set intentions, connected with our canvas, and let our hands journey across the canvas. Though we entered into the experience as a collective, each creative process and its revelations were as individual and unique as the creations made. (Similar to our healing journey within this 8-week program.)

💜 We were together in creative solitude.
💜 We are together in our individual healing from gun violence.

Our mentees and mentors went home with the art supplies needed to continue working on their masterpiece, and discovering more of themselves within it.

Thank you to Ayiana, Zarinah Lomax and The Apologues for hosting two program sessions, and Photography by J Nicole.

Stay tuned for more!

05/13/2026

UP NEXT: This weekend, our fifth LET HER! Mentorship Program session will be facilitated by Ayiana Viviana, a Philadelphia-based Latina visual artist, published writer, and creative facilitator.
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Ayiana uses her artistic abilities as a vehicle for storytelling, exploring themes of resilience, hope, love, and growth. She believes that the exploration of creative expression and human connection is a healing conduit for anyone willing to dive into the freedom they offer.

Ayiana hopes to inspire others to use art as a "tool for emotional regulation and a keen sense of self-awareness."
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Our next session, which will take place back at , will help bridge conscious thoughts with subconscious emotions, creating space for reflection, insight, and emotional awareness.

Using abstract neurographic art, Ayiana will guide our mentees and mentors on an introspective journey that helps bridge their conscious thoughts with subconscious emotions. ⁠
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💜Thank you, Ayiana and Zarinah, for creating space for reflection, insight, and emotional awareness connected to our collective healing from gun violence!⁠
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05/11/2026

"Let your coils be seen. Each coil is building, and has its own identity." - Gail Jones, ceramics artist and LET HER! Mentorship Program facilitator

Happy Monday, Winners! This past weekend, our fourth LET HER! session, titled "LET HER...MOLD!" was facilitated by Gail at The Apologues, "where art creates change."

With Ms. Gail's guidance, mentees and mentors created Soul Bowls -- a creation to hold the affirmations, trinkets, and memories of things that support their healing and empowerment.

This session was about practicing how to take the vision we have in our mind's eye and manifest it through mindful molding of the materials we have to work with. Much like how we built a Soul Bowl coil by coil with our clay-covered hands, we too are building lives our souls feel healed, whole, happy, and at home in.

💜We are both a creator and the creation, uniquely designed by our Creator!

Ms. Gail reminded us all of something that we're passing along to you to remember throughout this new week:

✨"Have fun building!" 🤩

PS: We also honored Mother's Day (see last post) and two birthday queens (, whose birthday is today, 5/11, and , a lead mentor whose birthday was 5/1)!🎉
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💜Thank you to the Gail, and , and Photography by J Nicole (.becomes.her).
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Stay tuned for more...⁠
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05/10/2026

Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to every mom, mother-figure, godmother, aunty, grandmother, community mother, church mother, mentor, etc who nurture and pour into the many lives that God entrusted to us! Yesterday, at our LET HER! Mentorship Program session, .always.roy carved a special moment to celebrate the adult women in attendance currently serving as program staff, facilitators and mentors for their dedication to uplifting the next generation and for their contributions of time, talent, energy and heart for the healing of the girls in our program and beyond! ❤️

Address

P. O. Box 613
Fort Washington, PA
19034

Website

http://www.ichoosetowin.org/

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