Charity Shekinah is an educator, speaker and passionate peer mentor who is dedicated to empowering teens and children. She is also the founder of Back, Up and Strong and is driven by a deep commitment to shaping the generation coming after her, helping them discover who they are and what they are passionate about.
“I love saying I’m an educator because I feel like being an educator is more. You don’t just teach and go home, you create relationships with your learners. The impact that is made, it’s more than learning. I just don’t want to teach and go home. There’s a lot of work that’s done in class, out of class, with the connections that you make with them.” Charity says.
To Charity, it is especially important to have a career that is purpose driven in order to have longevity. In high school, she initially wanted to be a lawyer, which she qualified for but found her calling in teaching. Her attachment at St. Joseph girls changed everything. She had a great experience there and her then learners are currently her fans. “They made me love teaching. You wake up and you want to meet your learners every day. I feel like I’m there to change this narrative. I feel like it’s my responsibility to make learning fun for my learners. Make learning something that they also look forward to.”
Charity’s organization, Back Up and Strong was inspired by the increase of high school drop outs as a result of teenage pregnancies. Some are lured by predators who promise to take care of essentials such as sanitary towels, only to get pregnant and be dumped. She offers a platform for young people to learn and share about the real life challenges they are facing. “I noticed we have to normalize these conversations, conversations about menstrual health and relationships, because these are not things that you sit with your parents and they talk to you about.” The organization runs outreach programs in schools and also provide both girls and boys with dignity packs. Girls get sanitary towels, tissue paper, pens and boys get tissue paper and pens. For the needy students, they provide them with stationery.
Attending church on Sunday and having fellowship keeps Charity grounded. About her team, she says, “Anytime I feel like this is crazy, this is too much, I just remember that I have a team of people who believe in me and are willing to work with me.” On future plans for the organization, she says that she is working on a program where parents can sign up their teens and by the time they are done, they know who they are and what they want in life. The program will enable the teens to have a community, mentorship, coaching and feel supported in general.
Charity’s parting shot? “One thing that I always remind people is that young people, majorly teens and kids; all they need is love. Whether they are your cousins, nephews, nieces, children, siblings, all those young people around you, they need love. So you need to show them love in the conversations that you have with them, how you treat them, sometimes it’s just how you look at them.” She also urges young people to know that life is beautiful and no matter what is happening around them, things will get better.
Follow @charityshekinah on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and TikTok as well her organization, Back, Up and Strong.
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