Jovana Jenkins Wants To Heal Mother Wounds Through Mentorship

Source: Jouvir / Jouvir Jovana Jenkins

Jovana Jenkins is building a movement to stand in the gap for young girls experiencing trauma due to “living arrangements or family dynamics” that do not serve them. The founder of G.I.R.L.S Can Inc. wants to reach those who “may not have access to resources or representation.”

She was inspired to create the organization based on her own negative experiences growing up, including a fraught relationship with her mother.

Pouring From Pain

“The motherhood wound is something that has allowed me to pour into this movement,” she told HelloBeautiful.

There is a considerable amount of discourse regarding the role of fathers in the Black community, but there is less ambiguity when discussing the roles of mothers. Multiple states, including Florida, New Jersey, and Jenkins’ home state of New York, have rolled out major fatherhood initiatives.

There’s not as much emphasis on providing manuals for motherhood. Instead, there’s an assumption that Black women will live up to a saintly vision, sacrificing themselves so much that they’re impervious to criticism. Undermining that by questioning why some are emotionally or physically abusive to their daughters presents problems.

“We praise the Black mother, but we don’t really examine,” explained Jenkins. “That’s just not a conversation we have because it’s been swept under the rug.”

Source: Jouvir / Jouvir Jovana Jenkins

There’s no equivalent to Chris Rock’s “Keep My Baby off the Pole” monologue that focuses on mothers. “I personally feel like it is a conversation that we need to have more,” she continued.

Holding Space For Girlhood

Jenkins, a parent herself, does not want to persecute mothers. “She may be experiencing her own trauma,” she said. “That then spills over into the relationship of a mother-daughter, which is already complex.” It can be more challenging for young girls when they have access to others’ circumstances via social media, making them feel abnormal and inadequate . They have less space to ask questions or express themselves.

She intends to provide room for young girls to work through their mother issues without being defined by them. She hosted this year’s event in “Brownsville, one of the most underserved communities of Brooklyn.” G.I.R.L.S Can offers programming, workships, and events for participants all through the greater New York City area.

Jenkins wants to offer “these girls a safe space to be able to see themselves and people who have come from. Similar backgrounds or circumstances and situations like them.” Giving participants a chance to spot their own behavioral red flags that might be slowing their progress is also important to Jenkins.

“You can very well have your parent in the household, present physically, but not present emotionally, and those things can impact how you show up in other relationships with women and friends,” said Jenkins.

She acknowledged that a complex childhood impacted her path. “I definitely was raised on survival, and it really didn’t resonate with me until years later,” said Jenkins. “I’m always functioning in survival mode, and that’s something that I just really unpacked.”

“It’s just a really heavy thing to carry sometimes,” she added.

Persisting Through Trauma

“I’ve used it to make sure that I don’t show up the same way or even try to break the generational curse with my own daughters,” she said. “I didn’t realize that so much of my trauma was impacting me. As a parent.”

Jenkins exhibited behavior modeled for herself that she did not like from time to time previously. She knows that others can overcome it because she did it. “There were little things of her that showed up in me that I was just like, okay, absolutely not,” stated Jenkins. “I had to sit with myself [and] work through those things the best that I knew how to.”

She wants to teach young girls to know more than she did when she sought to bridge her own gaps in affection with unsavory attention. “I was a victim of domestic violence, and that came from not knowing my worth,” she said. “Having a parent who didn’t teach me that and because she didn’t love me, I didn’t feel like I was lovable so well, but I was getting attention and love. I stayed there even if it wasn’t the best place for me to be.”

Setting An Example

“We all know as young girls we fantasize about the future and what the future could be,” said Jenkins. “Sometimes life gets in the way, and it throws us off, and then we just feel undeserving of certain things because of where we come from.”

Jenkins is turning to younger mentors to form relationships with the girls in the G.I.R.L.S Can program. “I’m tapping the millennials because I feel like the message will be better received by the girls if they actually are seeing someone that’s not too much older than them,” she said. “I feel like their stories will definitely resonate.” Speakers at this year’s annual summit included Royal International Miss New York Queenasia Rosario.

As a Youtuber with over 1 million followers, she thrives in places relevant to Gen Alpha. Jenkins believes participants will benefit from seeing people with similar backgrounds thriving the way Rosario is. She wants to connect them with more people who remind them they are more than their circumstances.

“Your circumstances do not define your journey and your capability to be whatever it is that you envision your life to be.”

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