Written by Lauren Martin, Founder of Wear Your Crown
Roughly one year ago, I had the vision of establishing a student organization at UNC Charlotte called Wear Your Crown (WYC). It was going to be a dual mentorship program - meaning members were both mentors and mentees - as well as include personal development workshops. Essentially, college women were going to have professional women serve as their mentors as well as be assigned a middle school girl as their mentee. I thought this was the perfect organization because it was a win-win situation for everyone involved. However, after implementing this at UNCC, I quickly discovered this was not being well received nor was it filling a need on campus. So, I went back to the drawing board.
Currently, WYC at UNCC is structured by hosting discussion-based meetings regarding a unique topic for each meeting, such as healthy dating and overcoming obstacles. In addition, we host social meetings so members can form a friendship and community with each other. This format was better received and actually helped to uplift college women.
Fast forward to June 2020: I chose to take a leap of faith and incorporate Wear Your Crown as a nonprofit. This felt like a wise decision since I want to expand WYC to other college campuses as well as host public events for women. It was during quarantine that I realized I could either chase after my dream or ponder on what could have been. With that said, I am excited to see what the future holds because I truly do believe that WYC is bigger than UNC Charlotte and that there are thousands of women we can assist with (re)discovering their true self-worth.
I am sure the road ahead will not always be easy but I am prepared to stick it out during the rainy days so I can enjoy the rainbows.
About Lauren
Lauren Martin is a junior at UNC Charlotte studying Accounting as well as Operations and Supply Chain Management. She is involved in several student organizations on campus including Tan Kap Vini, Business Honors Program, College Readiness Workshops, and Women in Business.
She has a passion for assisting women and inspiring those in her community. This was evident at an early age. For instance, during her sophomore year in high school, she established HRHS Girl Up, a chapter of the Girl Up initiative. HRHS Girl Up was dedicated to teaching girls how to be advocates as well as fundraise for girls in developing countries. In addition, in 2016, during her junior year of high school, she created a chapter of Girl Talk, Inc in Harrisburg, NC. Through Harrisburg Girl Talk, Lauren was able to lead a group of high school girls to serve as mentors to local middle school girls. It was during this time she developed and crafted her skills in leadership, mentoring, and serving others.
She hopes to continue to fulfill her purpose of working with women through her nonprofit, Wear Your Crown.
Meridiem Marketing services for Wear Your Crown:
brand design and content calendar creation
Comments