• Journey
  • Fresh Mouth: Confidence Through Comedy (Summer 2026)

Summer 2026

Fresh Mouth: Confidence Through Comedy

This Journey transforms your unique observations and “wild and wacky” thoughts into a structured comedy set. Through bi-weekly Journey Meetings and personalized coaching, you will explore the mechanics of humor, moving from a raw premise to a polished delivery. You will learn to find the funny in the everyday while building the stage presence and confidence necessary to share your voice. The experience concludes in a live showcase alongside peers and professional comedians, where you will debut your original material and celebrate the power of humor as a tool for connection and self-expression.

Unique Benefits of this Journey

Learn from the Pros & Get Positioned for Success!

Work directly with professional comedians | Meet one-to-one for coaching sessions with our incredible teaching artist | Debut original work in a live showcase with professional comedians | Produce a final video for portfolios and use on applications.

How This Journey is Different

This is a special program designed for mentees ages 10-13 that helps sustain the Girls Write Now community

While the vast majority of Girls Write Now programs are offered completely free of charge to mentees 14-24, this small, premium Journey has been created exclusively for a cohort of writers ages 10-13, and includes a program fee for mentees. The fee supports the program experience and helps sustain Girls Write Now’s broader mission to provide free writing and mentoring programs to thousands of systemically underserved writers nationwide.
Hollie Harper and Ijeoma Asonye hug on stage at the Let Me Finish! Voices of Comedy Showcase at the Girls Write Now office in NYC.

Journey Cost & What Your Funds Support

To support our programs mentees pay $1500 (or $1200 if application received by April 6) and mentors generously volunteer time

By joining this Journey, participants are not only investing in their own creative development—they are helping make Girls Write Now’s free programs possible for systemically underserved mentees. As with all Journeys, mentors who give their valuable time also benefit by experimenting with new writing, learning diverse skills, and building relationships for life.

Girls Write Now Collaboratory

This Journey is Closed, but You Can Apply for a Fall 2026 Journey Now!

Apply Now

Journey Teaching Artist

Hollie Harper

Hollie Harper is a South Jersey comedy nerd/writer/actress/content creator. In 2021 she created and co-exec-produced Hella Late! with Hollie Harper on BRIC TV for which she was nominated for best actress at the 2021 NYC Web Fest. She’s a board member of Standup Girls where she teaches standup and sketch comedy and also teaches both for Gold Comedy. She was also a recent semi-finalist in the NBC Standup Competition.

Hollie is a creative consultant for the Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest and The Lake Placid Film Festival and has been featured on NY1, Black Enterprise Magazine, Black SD Magazine, Thrive Global, Confessional Magazine and was profiled on the nationally recognized Motherly podcast.

This past summer she won Best Actress at the Act One, One Act Festival, and her live, sold-out comedy show F.D.K with Emily Flake was selected for this year’s New York Comedy Festival.

This summer marks Holly’s 5th cycle teaching with Girls Write Now, and she’s loving it!

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Hollie Harper

Ready to Apply?

Check with your parents or guardians, learn more below, and get started now. If you do not already have a Girls Write Now Portal account, you will be asked to create one in order to apply.

Apply Now

Ready to Apply?

Check with your parents or guardians, learn more below, and get started now. If you do not already have a Girls Write Now Portal account, you will be asked to create one in order to apply.

 

 

Apply Now
  • JOURNEY REQUIREMENTS
  • Cycle(s) 1 Cycle (July 1st to September 30th)
  • Time Commitment A minimum 3 hours per month (4-5 hours strongly recommended!)
  • Journey Meetings Attend monthly Journey meetings. See dates listed below.
  • Mentoring Have a minimum of two one-hour pair sessions per month.
  • Journey Project Prepare a comedy set and participate in a stand-up comedy show.
  • Age Range for Mentees 10-13
  • Mentee Journey Fee $1500 or $1200 for applications received by April 6

Fresh Mouth: Confidence Through Comedy Community Experiences

Participants are required to attend two Journey Live Meetings each month throughout the cycle. Additionally, they can schedule 1:1 office hours with the Journey Teaching Artist for individual assistance as needed.

This journey concludes with a Stand-Up Comedy Show, where participants perform their sets for a live audience.

Summer Cycle Journey Meetings:

  • Wednesday, July 8, 6 – 7:30 PM ET
  • Wednesday, July 22, 6 – 7:30 PM ET
  • Wednesday, August 5, 6 – 7:30 PM ET
  • Wednesday, August 19, 6 – 7:30 PM ET
  • Wednesday, September 2, 6 – 7:30 PM ET
  • Wednesday, September 16, 6 – 7:30 PM ET

Showcase

  • Saturday, September 26, 2026, 4 – 6 PM ET

If you’re unable to attend a Journey meeting, please notify your Staff Lead in advance.

Journey Circle: Community

Fresh Mouth: Confidence Through Comedy Course

Finding Your Funny: An Intro Stand-Up Comedy
This accompanying course teaches the fundamentals of joke writing, comedic structure, and crafting punchlines. You’ll explore how to develop your unique comedic voice, shape personal stories into tight sets, and experiment with timing, rhythm, and delivery. By the end of the course, you’ll have polished original material and the confidence to perform it for a live audience.

Writing

Fresh Mouth: Confidence Through Comedy Mentoring

Mentees and mentors in this Journey will be matched for one cycle. Pairs will meet for at least two hour-long sessions each month.

Lead 360

All journeys within the Lead 360 Adventure emphasize leadership, aiming to help mentees and mentors develop their leadership skills and work together to create a better future. Explore the other Adventures offered at Girls Write Now below to learn more.

Fresh Mouth: Confidence Through Comedy is a Journey in the Lead 360 & Performance 360 Adventures.

See All Adventures

A Word from Teaching Artist Hollie Harper

Explore All Journeys

Explore All Journeys

Everything Is a Story: Nonfiction that Reads like Fiction (Fall 2026)

In this Journey, mentees and mentors will explore the ways in which creative storytelling techniques can be applied to nonfiction writing of all kinds, from memoir and personal essay to op-ed and how-to articles. We will dive into what makes a story—from structural archetypes to writing that flows—and learn how to harness the power of story to make nonfiction compelling and transformative.

Wild Ideas: Nature, Science & Creativity (Fall 2026)

Created in honor of Helen Ghiradella, the biologist who uncovered the hidden architecture of butterfly wings, this Journey invites you, mentor and mentee, to explore the natural world through the complementary lenses of scientific inquiry and creative expression. Through close observation, research, and reflection, you'll investigate the forms, patterns, and processes found in nature, then build an original project—writing, visual art, media, performance, music, or a form of your own choosing—that celebrates where these disciplines meet. Along the way, you'll sharpen your powers of observation, stretch your interdisciplinary thinking, and develop the ability to translate scientific understanding into meaningful art.

Civil Discourse: Connection & Persuasion (Fall 2026)

In this Journey, you—mentor and mentee—will build essential skills in public speaking, argumentation, and critical thinking. Through hands-on activities and lively discussion, you'll learn to craft persuasive speeches, construct well-reasoned arguments, and present your ideas with confidence. You'll explore what makes communication land, sharpen your thinking under pressure, and practice responding to perspectives unlike your own in a structured setting. By the end, you'll be able to make your case clearly, engage in dialogue that goes somewhere, and carry these skills into academic, professional, and civic life.

Civil Discourse Connection & Persuasion; two girls speaking with a mic

Dark Tales: A Horror Book Club (Fall 2026)

Step into the shadows of horror and discover what makes a story truly unsettling. Across three monthly book club meetings, you—mentor and mentee—will dig into close readings and lively discussion of selected works, examining how authors build suspense, conjure atmosphere, evoke fear, and use the genre to probe deeper social, psychological, and cultural questions. Together you'll unpack narrative technique, character development, and the many shapes the genre can take. By summer's end, you'll have a richer appreciation for horror, sharper critical instincts as readers, and a store of inspiration and craft to carry into your own writing. Required books this cycle: Dark Is When the Devil Comes by Daisy Pearce, The Body by Bethany C. Morrow, and I'll Watch Your Baby by Neena Viel.

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