The Impact of Partnerships

By: Jess Lawrence, Director of Cairn Guidance

Edited by: Amanda McMullen of Polished Pear Creative Editing

Nini Mohamed and I met at WorldFest in Louisville in July 2023 during a soccer clinic hosted by the LouCity & Racing Foundation, where I’m privileged to serve on the Board of Directors. I cycled to the event. Nini noticed my orange bicycle covered in stickers and a bead zip-tied to the head tube. 

“Did you bike here?” he asked.
I nodded. “This is my touring bike from my solo cross-country trip in 2013.” 

His eyes grew. “What country?”

I laughed. “The US!” 

He proceeded to tell me he needed my phone number. “I’m on a mission to surround myself with people who do inspirational things.”

I happily handed him my phone. 

During our first coffee meet up, Nini asked if I would mentor him. Since September 2023, we’ve met monthly to connect on all things soccer and life. Sometimes it’s the other way around and he mentors me. Around the same time as my bike tour, all before the age of 15, Nini took an incredible journey of his own— a difficult, life-changing trek to America by way of Somalia and a Kenyan refugee camp. His book, “The African in America” details the real-life struggle immigrants face while adapting to American culture, from unexpected racial divisions among Black Americans and African-born American Immigrants, to the need for acceptance within a community. 

Motivated by his experiences and desire for supporting immigrants, Nini founded The African in America, an organization soon to achieve non-profit status. Through The African in America, Nini creates opportunities for refugee youths to better connect with one another through his favorite sport: soccer. Every summer, Nini hosts free soccer day camps for 300 students in Louisville. His latest endeavor, a partnership with LouCity & Racing Foundation, focuses on building a high school refugee girls soccer team. For the past three months, Nini and his coaches have headed to the Foundation’s training field to teach soccer skills to over 30 high school refugee girls—a majority from Africa, one from Honduras, and another from Nepal—most of whom attend Jefferson County Public Schools but who do not yet participate in their school teams.  

In March, I showed up at one of the Friday night practices and was introduced to the girls by Nini and George Davis IV, the Interim Director of the LouCity & Racing Foundation. The Foundation assured the girls were equipped with clothing and cleats- all girls received the Lily Racing Lou jerseys and continue to wear them at each practice.

I chatted with the team briefly, explaining my professional journey from 7th grade teacher to now working nationally to create healthy schools for students through my business, Cairn Guidance, and through our work with The Dove Self-Esteem Project. 

As a national school health consultant, I’ve collaborated with Dove for eight years on no-cost school curricular materials, programs, and resources around body confidence, self-esteem, acceptance and discrimination, especially among Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ youth. 

During a call in January with the Dove and Edelman partners, I mentioned this all-girls refugee team and my passion around access to physical activity and soccer, among other sports. Dove was quick to offer me their Crown Hair Care Collection products for the girls, and within a few days, I had enough product for the entire team.

I asked George & Nini if we could not only distribute the product together, but if I could also facilitate self-esteem building activities for the girls via The Dove Self-Esteem Project’s My Hair, My CROWN programming and the newly launched Dove-Nike partnership, Body Confident Sport, that my company supported during its trial pilot in the US. He agreed!

LouCity & Racing Foundation offered their training space at the professional teams’ training center. Nini’s brother, Yetis, captured the program in photos, and Victor Reynolds, one of the coaches, provided additional support on the field. 

After a warm welcome by the Foundation, I invited the girls to participate in an activity in which they put check marks on the prompts around the room that resonated with them.

I showed the girls the “Dove As Early as Five” video, which enticed further discussion around their own experiences with wearing their hair in coils, curls, waves and protective hairstyles. Some shared things like, “I get asked if I have hair under my hijab,” and “People feel they can touch my hair without asking.” 

In their Dove Self-Esteem Project (DSEP) bags, we gave each girl a DSEP journal and pen and put the following prompts on the screen:

Write down one thing you appreciate about your body during this soccer experience you have had with The African in America. 

In a teaching role, I wanted the girls to feel comfortable and to trust me. I wasn’t their coach, but I thought it would help them connect with me, a person who has not had lived experience with hair discrimination, to understand that I have experienced body dissatisfaction and harassment around my body, too.

I shared photos from the end of my cross-country bicycle trip in 2023 and explained that in middle school, a couple of boys used to comment on my legs and how big they were. It was so annoying that my mom had to call one of the boys’ moms. I explained to the girls that on the day I finished my bike trip across the US, I threw my hands up in the air and I thought to myself: These “BIG” legs cycled 4200 miles while carrying my gear—alone. These “BIG” legs are amazing; my body is healthy, free of pain, and able to do something most people would never even try. I vowed that day to not be down on my body. Instead I would be thankful, no matter what form it takes. 

The girls cheered and clapped. We talked about what we see in the media. Being in my late 40’s, I didn’t see anything but incredibly skinny and slender in magazines as a teen. Now, we see more athletic and diverse bodies lifted up. The girls agreed. 

The male coaches were asked to leave the room, so I could talk about feeling good in your body when playing soccer and having the right equipment, including sports bras. I had purchased about 15 sports bras on my own for girls on the team that were distributed that day, but it wasn’t enough. Some of the other girls needed bras.

On a previous call, Dove mentioned an organization called Bras for Girls. I applied to get a donation of 17 bras. Within 24 hours, Bras for Girls had accepted my application and sent me a shipping label! 

This project started as the awesome brainchild of Nini Mohamed & George Davis IV, and by connecting with a community of equally passionate organizations and individuals, it’s grown into an experience that these girls, coaches, partners, and I will never forget. Together, we can be the types of people who do inspiring things. 

Thank you to everyone that came together to create a safe space for these girls to grow, play, and have fun on and off the pitch! This includes: Nini Mohamed/The African in America and his team volunteers (Victor Reynolds and Yetis Mohamed), Dove, Edelman, George Davis IV/LouCity & Racing Foundation, Cairn Guidance team, and Bras for Girls —and of course, to all 30 of the beautiful, strong high school athletes with fierce minds and quick feet.