Meet: Dr. Shekina Farr Moore!

Introduce yourself and profession to our readers:
My Blah to Fierce movement is empowering women and girls to move from mediocre to magnetic!

My name is Dr. Shekina Farr Moore and I am an Author, Gender Advocate and Master Certified Coach (MCC). I am also Co-CEO of Eroom Marketing Group, an empowerment parent company that oversees Intercontinental Coaching Institute, Literacy Moguls Publishing, Black Reins Magazine, ZOOM CON (featured on the White House's United State of Women in 2016), Tween Star Awards and my Non-profit, B2F Girls Worldwide--a gender empowerment incubator that offers girls empowerment coach certification and produces advocacy initiatives, campaigns and events.​

I have spoken out against gender oppression and disempowerment since 1992, penning my first published article, "Blocking Out the Gender Gap", while a high school student, garnering the attention of the National Press for Women. I am the author of nine empowerment books including: Blah to Fierce; Beautiful, Big-boned and Brown; Black Girls Hear: Untold Stories of the Maginalized, Unsafe & Unwelcomed; and When Dark Chocolate is Bittersweet: Controversy Within A Culture.​

What inspired you to pursue this area of interest?
My own inspiration has always been making the little girl in me proud. As a young girl, I was very introverted and withdrawn. I didn’t trust my voice and I learned to not be seen. When opportunities came, I would shun them. When I had valid points I would let others make me feel small or like my opinions didn’t matter. My self-esteem was in a low place and it held me back. It wasn’t until I started taking on leadership roles, excelling in school and playing sports that I began to come out of my shell and see the value I brought to my teams and organizations.

​As my confidence grew over the year, I began to notice the magnetic pull and influence I had on others. I have always felt that if I felt this way as a youth that other young women struggled with the same. Today, I am very passionate about showing women how to be magnetic (what I call blah to fierce) and empowering girls with health esteem and leadership tools. This makes the little girl in me proud of who I have become and overcome. 

What advice would you share with those interested in a similar pursuit?
Get certified to launch your own girls empowerment company! Today's girl is inundated with messaging that her worth lies in her body. She is told over and over again that she can't do this and that she can't do that. She is in trouble and needs your sisterly advice, your guidance, your know-how, your presence.

B2F Girls offers a girls empowerment certification program that equips women with skills and strategies needed to run a successful girls empowerment program. Our Girls Empowerment Coach program is a licensed program available for women with a calling to mentor and train girls specifically. The bonus is having a network of industry insiders with whom to collaborate and to share ideas, methods and innovation. 

Discuss a professional challenge and how you overcame it:
We initially started as an organization that offered free workshops for girls ages 10-17 that addressed the areas of self-worth, body image and leadership. After our first successful year we had an influx calls, messages, inboxes and emails from women from various parts of the country asking how they could implement a similar program for the girls in their communities. 

It was then that we realized that this need required a systematic and accessible way of providing the training we were already offering. Women were seeking to give back and mentor girls but didn't know where to begin or how to launch. They wanted me to mentor and guide them in how to implement a successful program, but I was busy running my own. Fast-forward, another six months went by and the requests to train women from all around the country continued to come in. In June 2015, I acquiesced and Tween Style Power became B2F Girls!™, a certification platform that equips women to launch their own girls empowerment programs across the country. In essence, the mission stayed the same; the how changed. In business we must keep a pulse of the ground and what our customers and consumers are wanting.

What is next for your brand/business in 2017?
Right now, my husband and co-CEO, Stanford Moore and I are gearing up for the launch of the dopest magazine to tell our story—Black Reins Magazine. We launch on August 12 and we’re so excited. Black Reins is an American bi-annual magazine marketed toward African-American Cowboy enthusiasts and horse lovers. It was created to spotlight the Black Cowboy and the rich history this country has because of his journey and contributions.

 I am also preparing for the release of my new anthology project, Black Girls Hear: Untold Stories of the Marginalized, Unsafe & Unwelcomed, that addresses the quagmire of intersectionality (the intersection of race and gender) and how it plays out in the lives of brown women. The anthology will share stories of women from around the world in hopes to shed light on the ways in which brown women are left out.
Lastly, I am speaking at several major conferences in 2018 and gearing up for my 2nd Annual ZOOM CON in March. ZOOM CON is major conference held in Atlanta to inspire girls to accelerate into leadership.
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How can readers connect with you online and through social media?
I can best be reached online at www.B2Fgirls.org.  I can also be found on social media at these links:
FB: /shekinamoore   /B2Fgirls  /blackreins
Twitter: @B2Fgirls
Instagram: @blahtofierce  @B2FGirls  @tweenstarawards  @ZOOMCON  @blackreinsmag

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