25 years ago, we created Girls Write Now to mentor and amplify disempowered and systemically under-represented voices. We continue to break down barriers in our fight for equity—and also to elevate the power of our stories to shape culture, impact industries, and inspire change. Join the next generation of girls, women, and gender expansive identities to lead us into the future.
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Mentor applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Mentee enrollment is now closed. Stay tuned for the next enrollment cycle in 2024.
The Collaboratory is Girls Write Now’s new home for our Expansive Community of mentors & mentees to connect and create.
> ONE-TO-ONE MENTORING
Build personal and professional mentoring relationships that last a lifetime!
> DIVERSE COLLECTION OF LEARNING JOURNEYS
Get exposure to all types of writing, with the option to embark with your mentor or mentee on a specialized track of poetry, audio, performance, leadership development, college essay writing, career readiness, and more—including workshops, independent studies, and self-paced projects attuned to your goals.
> COMMUNITY STUDIOS
Meet with a small community of mentors and mentees at least once a month to connect and share your interests and passions. Studios cover a wide range of genres, media, topics, and professions—held at different times and locations to fit your schedule.
> HYBRID & ASYNCHRONOUS CURRICULUM OFFERINGS:
Have the freedom and flexibility to decide when, where, and how you want to learn.
> UNIQUE LIBRARY OF COMMUNITY-INSPIRED RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES
Create, play, innovate, stretch—and make your mark.
A Holistic 360 Approach to Writing:
Learn at the Intersection of Language, Technology, and Art—and Across Industries.
Enrich, Expand, Extend,
Experiment, Elevate, Empower
The Collaboratory is where we ENRICH ourselves with relationships and opportunities—for life. Here we EXPAND our minds and hearts, and EXTEND our networks. We EXPERIMENT as far as our imaginations take us. This is where we ELEVATE voices that have been ignored or silenced for too long. The Collaboratory is bursting with the next generation of writers and leaders EMPOWERED to share their stories—and decide how those stories are told.
Mentor & Mentee Collaborators
A Diverse, Expansive, Multi-Generational Community.
Mentors
Mentor Collaborators—ages 25 to 95 from around the United States and across industries—are passionate about passing on their knowledge, experience, and craft to support the next generation of writers.
Mentees
Mentee Collaborators—age 14-24 from all around the United States—want to learn and grow as writers and leaders across genres, media, and platforms, and down many different academic and career paths.
Alternative Mentorship Opportunities
Unable to commit to a full year of mentorship? There are still plenty of ways to be involved with Girls Write Now!
We offer mentorship options for everyone: long-term, short-term, event-based, and on-demand.
Mentor for the Day
(Event-Based Mentorship)
Podcast Interviews
Provide a selected mentee the opportunity to hone their interviewing skills by serving as a Podcast Interviewee. Podcast Interviewees are interviewed by one or more GWN mentees over their unique experience and insight into a specific topic. After a brief guest introduction, the host will ask the Mentor for the Day questions to guide the conversation around the episode’s topic, working to unpack their stories and lessons.
Creative Think Tank
* To schedule this event, you are committing to a company-led event, with volunteer participation led by employees from within your ERG.
Take Girls Write Now behind the scenes of a Creative Think Tank with your employees as they share their individual, departmental and organizational approaches to industry strategies in marketing, program or product launch, fundraising, event production, or wherever you believe the value of multigenerational, multiracial and multicultural voices are essential to bring a vision to life. Mentors for the Day will coach mentees on how to gather multiple viewpoints, implement into the creative design process and create a final product that everyone feels they had a personal touch in.
Talent Development Event
* To schedule this event, you are committing to a company-led event, with volunteer participation led by employees from within your ERG.
Does your company host internships? Are you getting ready to begin the hiring search for some entry level positions? Girls Write Now has promised a direct pipeline of diverse talent into our Corporate Partners and now’s the chance to bring it to life. Mentors for the Day coach mentees on resume/cover letter development for upcoming internship opportunities, host a mock interview roundtable or sit with a mentee and help curate a winning portfolio to submit to your company’s next hiring round.
Content Expert Conversations
Panel Discussions / Creative Q&As
Mentors for the Day participate in a structured conversation that brings together multiple experts or stakeholders to explore a specific topic, share their perspectives, and engage in lively discourse. A GWN moderator or presenter facilitates the discussion, dissecting the questions. Mentors for the Day share their opinions, experience and expertise from various perspectives in response to questions from the moderator.
In our Q&A style workshops, mentees will have the chance to ask content experts questions regarding their area of expertise, after a GWN staff member leads the Q&A with over a series of agreed upon topics.
College and Career Chats
College & Career Chats give young women and gender-expansive youth access and exposure to industries in need of their talents, while creating opportunities for youth to build their professional networks. Mentors for the Day have the opportunity to pass on your passion and wisdom as guest speakers in our intimate College & Career Chats. Acting as ambassadors for your alma maters or industry, you will share your personal and professional journeys, and offer tips for college as it relates to your given field. Most importantly, we discuss topics that go beyond how you’ve achieved success, but how you survived and now thrive where you are.
Software Trainings
* To schedule this event, you are committing to a company-led event, with volunteer participation led by employees from within your ERG.
Mentors for the Day provide mentees with the opportunity to learn new information, hear about expert tips and tricks to work more efficiently, use new features to increase productivity, meet new people and build relationships, all while developing software hard skills that will be utilized to complete required program projects.
Editors for the Day Event
Editors for the Day and Girls Write Now meet for an intergenerational exchange to help young writers take their manuscript–essay, personal statement, short story, and otherwise–to the next level! Editors for the Day come prepared to answer questions about their professional journey and work with mentees to strengthen their manuscripts in small group breakout rooms. Girls Write Now will fully prepare you to offer constructive feedback on drafts, or partial drafts, of personal statements using our Active Listening exercise, a tried and true methodology. Don’t miss this opportunity to make an impact while enjoying an intergenerational gathering of insight, networking and wisdom with youth writers!
Learning Journey Mentorship
(Short Term Intensive)
What is a Learning Journey Mentor?
Career 360 Mentorship
This 4 month program engages our career-ready mentees in interview practice, resume and cover letter creations, networking practice and other workshops that revolve employee engagement and sustainability in any work environment. We are looking for mentors ages 27+ who will individually coach our mentees through the application process for internships or full time positions. For more information about the program, visit Girls Write Now Career 360 Program.
College 360 Mentorship
Beyond engaging college-ready mentees in securing their application materials, this 4 month program allows mentors to assist in assuring that mentees are making the right higher education decisions for them. Finalizing college lists, discussing higher education paths from community college to normalizing gap years, we recognize high education is not a one size fits all. We are looking for mentors ages 23+ who want to prepare mentees to be successful on whatever educational path they choose- discussing time management, prepping for dorm life, finding your community on campus and helping mentees identify scholarship opportunities and ensuring a degree is well within their reach with the right support and resources.
Mentor on Demand
(Ad-Hoc by the Hour)
Mentors on Demand are there to guide mentees as needed. We are looking for eager volunteers who would like to spend an hour occasionally speaking to our mentees about college, career, writing or digital media feedback and assistance.
With the assistance of a Girls Write Now staff member, mentees may request to schedule a session with you for one of the following:
1. Acquire resume feedback, interview support or job application protocol.
2. Receive insight on college selection and application process
3. Review scholarship writing samples or application portfolios
4. Find a supportive ear and advisor to navigate campus or work culture scenarios
5. Enlist a writing guide to receive practical advice and useful examples regarding grammar, style, structure, content and more on specific writing pieces, submissions, essays, etc.
6. Gain feedback and advice on visual and digital media projects
Gender Identity
Girls Write Now welcomes cis women, transgender men and women, non-binary, 2Spirit, genderqueer, and other gender expansive identities as mentors and mentees. We are a space for writers and creators too often not given the respect, opportunity, and care due to their gender identity. This includes femme-presenting writers and creators connecting with each other around their femininity and experiences as girls and women.
Collaboratory Fundamentals
Three Elements of your Mentor/Mentee Experience.
Time Commitment
As a mentor or mentee in the coming year, you make a commitment to your partner and to the community at large from September 2023-June 2024, spending a minimum of three hours per month. The Collaboratory model has three mutually-reenforcing elements. Combining all three together is what makes them work, but this structure is balanced by lots of room for flexibility.
1. Mentor/Mentee Pair Sessions
Pair sessions are one-to-one meetings with your mentor or mentee that take place weekly or every other week. They are typically an hour long but can vary. These take place virtually on a range of platforms unless you live within traveling distance of your mentor/mentee.
2. Community Studios
Studios are small groups of mentors and mentees who gather each month to focus on certain genres, media, topics, or other points of entry. Mentors and mentees are required to attend at least one per month which you can select based on your shifting interests, needs, and schedules. This gives you an anchor into the community.
3. Curricular Learning Journeys
Girls Write Now offers Learning Journeys on different genres, media, topics, and more. Many are project-based modules that can be taken live, virtually, and/or asynchronously. Each semester, you and your mentor/mentee have the choice of embarking on one or more adventures with specific goals, outcomes, and deliverables. Learning Journeys may range in time from a one day intensive bootcamp to 6 weeks to 9 months. Learning Journey registration begins after you are accepted into the Collaboratory.
Embark on a Learning Journey
(Or Hang Out in the Collaboratory—It’s Up to You!)
LEAD 360
Fall 2023-
Spring 2024
A yearlong initiative to harness the power of storytelling and inspire change. Pairs who participate in this initiative will design projects & receive resources to use storytelling and creativity to make an impact on their local communities.
CAREER 360
Fall 2023 &
Spring 2024
One cohort will meet in the Fall, and one cohort will meet in the Spring. Pairs who participate in this initiative will learn all they need to find and secure careers that fulfill and supports them.
COLLEGE 360
Fall 2023 &
Spring 2024
One cohort will meet in the Fall, and one cohort will meet in the Spring. Pairs who participate in this initiative will learn the ins and outs of college applications as they prepare for the next step in their academic journey.
POETRY 360
Fall 2023 &
Spring 2024
The instability of the past three years has led to a mental-health crisis among young people. Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude is an antidote. Build your capacity for wonder, gratitude, and resilience by engaging with the text, writing poetry in response, then performing as a podcast.
PRINT 360
Fall
2023
Create and design multimedia work to be a part of a Girls Write Now printed publication.
AUDIO 360
Spring
2024
Conceptualize and create an audio production to be hosted on Girls Write Now’s publishing platform.
PERFORM 360
Spring
2024
Learn performance tech skills, gain experience, and feel confident performing original work in virtual, in-person, and hybrid formats.
TEACH 360
Spring
2024
Professional development for mentors, mentees, and staff to become Teaching Artists.
Top Five Reasons to Collaborate with Us!