Spotlighting successful and stand-out women in the community is important to Forsyth Woman. With the help of LEAD Girls of NC, the Exceptional Young Women in the Community column helps spread the word about local youth and their positive impact on the world around them.
This month’s exceptional young woman, Leilany Aguiar, has been involved with LEAD Girls of NC for three years at a local Title 1 middle school. Her involvement with LEAD has allowed her to learn to see things from a different perspective, grow from mistakes and take away valuable lessons, and engage in healthy interactions and communications with others.
One of Leilany’s biggest takeaways from involvement in a particular LEAD session is identifying safe individuals. In the session, she learned how to identify who her support system is and how to discern safe individuals to confide in and from which to seek support. Assisting young women in recognizing the traits of emotionally safe peers and adults is only one of the helpful life skills Leilany has learned through LEAD Girls of NC. She looks forward to furthering her success and personal growth as her involvement with the organization continues.
When she is not busy with LEAD or school, she enjoys playing soccer and basketball. She also takes an interest in drawing and art, listening to music and spending time with her family. If she had to choose her favorite meal, she would order a spicy chicken deluxe sandwich from Chick-fil-A with plenty of ketchup and Polynesian sauce on the side.
Her career aspirations include becoming a lawyer out of a desire to help those who are wrongly incarcerated. In fact, studies show that between 4-6% of those incarcerated in U.S. prisons are innocent, meaning one in every 20 criminal cases results in a wrongful conviction. From Leilany’s own life experience, she has learned that everyone makes mistakes and that no one is beyond help. She firmly believes everyone is capable of learning from his or her mistakes and thinks people should be given the opportunity for a second chance.
Learning Everyday Accomplishing Dreams (LEAD) Girls of NC is Winston-Salem’s beacon of hope for local young women as a nonprofit organization supported by dozens of sponsors and grant making organizations, including The Women’s Fund, Winston-Salem Foundation, J.H. Walker Legacy Foundation and others. LEAD strives to act as a mentor to girls in order to propel them to succeed academically, professionally and personally through its numerous programs available. Young women involved with LEAD grow in confidence, social skills and leadership skills, setting them up to become successful entrepreneurs and fulfilled members of their community.
LEAD offers school-based programs at partner middle schools as well as community-based programs available for any middle school students from a local school that are attended in person in downtown Winston-Salem. Topics covered through LEAD’s evidence-based curriculum include The Importance of Empathy, Dealing with Authority Figures, Exploring my Goals and Dreams and Connecting with Each Other. These sessions encompass awareness, communication, leadership and perspective – which LEAD touts as its four core fundamentals. Each year, LEAD hosts numerous events to support the community and is currently planning its 2025 LEAD Girls Soiree – March 16, 2025. According to the LEAD Girls of NC website, “After one semester with LEAD, 90% of participants recognize their good qualities, 87% feel confident about their future and 100% believe they can be entrepreneurs.”
LEAD is always looking for new volunteers and welcomes all support from the community. Read more about LEAD’s mission and the programs the organization offers at leadgirls.org.
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