To usher in Women’s History Month, Girls Write Now is thrilled to partner with Dotdash Meredith for the publication of Mentee Chelsea Lin’s essay Each Tremolo Reminds Me in the March issue of Real Simple magazine!
We launched our partnership with an intergenerational workshop: Dotdash Meredith employees—mentors for the day—helped Girls Write Now mentees ideate and draft essays, taking their work to the next level before submitting to the My Simple Realization Essay contest. A panel of Real Simple editors then judged the entries, selecting winners based on originality, creativity, technical writing skills and relevance to the contest theme.
Chelsea’s essay won the Grand Prize and she went on to work directly with Real Simple’s editors to prepare the piece for publication. Thirteen additional mentee winners are also published on Stories by Girls Write Now.
Congratulations to Chelsea and the 13 Finalists
Meet the Grand Prize Winner
Girls Write Now
For 25 years, Girls Write Now has been breaking down barriers of gender, race, age and poverty to mentor the next generation of writers and leaders who are impacting businesses, shaping culture and creating change. Thank you for joining our movement.
“Wai-Gong [Grandfather] loved the implicit beauty of traditional instruments and how they eloquently communicated centuries of Chinese history through each note. It’s now up to me to continue his legacy, and so I do.”
—CHELSEA lin
Mentee & My Real Simple realization Contest Winner
My Simple Realization: An Essay Contest & Story Collection
14 Girls Write Now mentees share mini- and mega-moments of clarity in these personal essays. This contest was produced in partnership with Dotdash Meredith and the team at Real Simple as part of the SeeHer Initiative.
Chelsea Lin, Girls Write Now Mentee and My Simple Realization contest winner, writes about her grandfather.
My time-out rug was white, with blue squares and tassels at opposite ends.
A depiction of my journey in asking for help, this essay is my reminder that I deserve peace and welfare in a battle against the uncertainties and anxieties of my mind.
While I used to feel fractured when it came to my heritage, poetry has helped me realize that these fractures are, in fact, who I am.
Rolling Through Fear: Realizations at the Rink
by Camila BonillaThe time spent at the rink was too short for me to spend it wallowing in my mistakes.
The First Step Towards Making A Friend
by Denise DomenaI had no clue where I was going—let alone what academic path I truly wanted to take—so you could say I was a bit overwhelmed on my first day of college.
a lesson in pressure & prestige
by Megan XingWritten after submitting my Early Decision application, this essay shares the epiphany I was already having—one expedited by a choice that held so much weight over my future.
‘You Don’t Owe Anyone Anything’
by Megumi JindoThe reality of missing school for a whole two weeks and dealing with the stares of society.
Sometimes the Way to Win Is to Quit
by Hazel Agicha“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one,” is the best compliment for an overachieving young adult trying to find their way around the world. At least it was for me.
Rock climbing helps me realize that I am capable of beating all the “impossibles.”
I was floating, my elbows resting on the pool’s stone ledge as the jets massaged my back. That’s the last thing I remember.
The first time I realized my parents did not hold the answers of the universe in their palms was not when I was asking obscure questions about aardvarks or pirate ships.
Inspired by a sense of urgency to elevate diverse talent across industries, Girls Write Now proudly aligns with academic, community-based and corporate institutions to build customized partnerships. We are grateful to our friends at Dotdash Meredith: Together we are mentoring the next generation to be creative, communicative and competitive candidates—shaping the future of publishing and media.
The My Simple Realization essay contest is part of Dotdash Meredith’s ongoing participation in SeeHer, an initiative whose mission is to increase more inclusive representation of women and girls in media.
Interested in Becoming a Corporate Partner?
Get in touch with the Girls Write Now team.
Meet the Contest Finalists
Sanya Afsar
Sanya Afsar is a Pakistani high school senior in NYC. She grew up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, until the age of seven and now lives in the culturally rich Woodside neighborhood of Queens, NY. She is a multidisciplinary artist interested in fashion, photography and baking. Her literary taste skews toward dystopian fiction, romance and poetry novels. Sanya uses her time with Girls Write Now to explore different genres, narrowing her focus on college and career plans, to find her voice as a writer. She is particularly passionate about poetry, journaling and memoir.
Hazel Agicha
Hazel Agicha is a sophomore who loves anything plants, cats and reading. Her goals are to get into a college where she can pursue business and finance. She moved to to America five years ago from India.
Camila Bonilla
Camila Bonilla is a junior in high school who loves to bring her fictional narratives to life in writing. In middle school, Camila first dabbled in writing when crafting her Friend-fiction stories, featuring her classmates in school. Realizing that the limits in stories were endless, Camila now always stops to wield the power of her pencil when an idea sparks in her head. When not jumping from story to story, she enjoys painting watercolour portraits and making short films with her friends.
Liliana Colon
Liliana Colon is a sophomore college student currently living in Brooklyn, NYC. She made the decision to take a gap semester to further explore her interests. Her passion for writing and desire to create during this break led her to discover the Girls Write Now community. Liliana is a visual artist, musician and committed writer, and hopes to pursue these dreams. Liliana enjoys taking walks throughout the city and draws inspiration for her music and art through observing the world around her, particularly in nature.
Denise Domena
Denise Domena is a native of Brooklyn, New York. She is college freshman who plans to major in English Literature and concentrate in creative writing. In her free time, she embroiders, plays ukulele and piano and bakes cookies. Denise hopes to one day publish young adult fiction novels and perhaps a collection of poetry.
Anaís Fernández
Anaís Fernández is a second-year Girls Write Now mentee and a high school senior currently applying to college creative writing programs. When she is not writing poetry, prose or random snippets living in her head, she is making music, acting or reading. If she had to eat one thing for the rest of her life, it would be rice.
Ruby Faith Hentoff
Ruby Faith Hentoff is a passionate fiction writer and junior in high school. When she’s not writing short stories, screenplays and songs, you can find her drawing, baking or listening to Broadway musicals. One of her missions in writing is to spread epilepsy awareness and connect to those who suffer from seizures. She lives in Manhattan, New York.
Megumi Jindo
Megumi Jindo is a senior in high school. She loves writing, reading, listening to music, photography, art, and playing sports. She also loves songwriting and collecting new vocab to expand her writing style. She aims to become a best-selling author one day and wants to use her writing as a way to educate and help America be a better version of itself. Also, she loves sunrises, sunsets, astrology, psychology, and eating junk food!
Erika Jing
Erika Jing is a student, hopeful writer and aspiring poet (not necessarily in that order) based on the east coast. She can be found wandering libraries, listening to podcasts and struggling with languages. Her poetry has appeared in Eunoia Reviews but they mostly reside in her desktop.
Natalia Lashley
Natalia Lashley is an 11th grader at the Chapin School. She loves writing as it gives her an outlet to express herself.
Mengnan Lin
Mengnan Lin is a young artist, playwright and storyteller who uses art and writing as her two platforms to bring light to the unspoken sides of the “minorities” world. Growing up in a small town in Fujian, China, and then later immigrating to Queens, NY, Mengnan is a “citizen” of many places. All her experiences engaging with diverse communities give her incredible perspectives on distinct ways of discovering, expressing and refounding our identity. Mengnan aims to continue to speak up and advocate for the unvoiced communities through her words and artworks.
Megan Xing
A junior in high school, Megan Xing began writing at a very young age. She had loved to read even before she started school, and upon discovering her father’s computer in kindergarten, she learned she had an attraction to writing as well. Her favorite genres are narrative, memoir, fiction and fantasy, and she is increasingly eager to explore the worlds of poetry and film as well.
Dotdash Meredith & Girls Write Now Join Forces to Mentor the Next Generation
Inspired by a sense of urgency to elevate diverse talent across industries, Girls Write Now proudly aligns with academic, community-based and corporate institutions to build customized partnerships. We are grateful to our friends at Dotdash Meredith: Together we are mentoring the next generation to be creative, communicative and competitive candidates—shaping the future of publishing and media.
The My Simple Realization essay contest is part of Dotdash Meredith’s ongoing participation in SeeHer, an initiative whose mission is to increase more inclusive representation of women and girls in media.