Launching Fall 2025 Proudly Serving Greater Grand Rapids Area Schools
Launching Fall 2025 Proudly Serving Greater Grand Rapids Area Schools
An afterschool program designed to empower Black girls in grades 6–12.
LeadHERship Impact is a culturally rooted, healing-centered after school program designed to empower Black girls in grades 6–12 and young adults. Our work centers identity, wellness, leadership, and liberation recognizing that thriving is a powerful act of becoming for youth who face systemic barriers every day.
We provide a safe, affirming space for youth to show up fully, build community, and gain real-world tools to shape their futures. Through mentorship from trusted BIPOC leaders, creative expression, and holistic life skill development, LeadHERship equips participants to lead with confidence, clarity, and cultural pride.
Whether navigating school, healing from trauma, explor
Mission
To equip Black girls and youth of color with the tools, community, and confidence to lead lives of purpose, wellness, and power through culturally responsive programming that centers identity, healing, and leadership.
Vision
We envision a world where Black girls are safe, celebrated, and supported to lead boldly grounded in who they are, connected to their purpose, and free to thrive.
Core Values
Love: We lead with radical, affirming love that nurtures connection, healing, and belonging creating space to be fully seen and valued.
Rest: We honor rest as a necessary practice of liberation and self-preservation, especially for Black girls who are often asked to carry too much.
Peace Over Perfection: We release the need to prove, perform, or perfect. We create space for authenticity, self-acceptance, and grace.
Access: We are committed to breaking down barriers ensuring every girl has access to opportunity, mentorship, and resources that reflect her needs and culture.
Joyful Identity & Discovery: We center joy, cultural pride, and self-exploration as essential to healing, growth, and the discovery of one’s purpose and power
Every dollar, hour, and connection fuels her leadership journey. Here’s how you can support the mission of LeadHERship Impact:
Walk alongside a girl on her journey. Be present, offer guidance, encouragement, and a listening ear as she grows in confidence and purpose.
Whether you’re a speaker, event planner, artist, or educator your talents can make a difference. Help us create transformative experiences she won’t forget.
Join us as a school, church, organization, or business. Together, we can build a stronger network of support and liberation rooted in community, equity, and collective care.
LeadHERship Impact is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift helps us create safe, empowering spaces for Black girls in grades 6–12 to lead, heal, and thrive.
Give today—fuel her future.
Lariesha Lee, LLMSW- Founder & Executive Director
You are not what you’ve been through you are what you choose to become.
I became a teen mom at 17 just as I was thriving as Miss Lake County, a student-athlete, and a young leader known for my community service and big dreams. When I found out I was pregnant, everything changed how others saw me, and how I saw myself.
By 23, I had three children, no degree, and was struggling to survive. At 26, I made a decision to reclaim my life. I went back to college, started my healing journey, and chose not to let struggle be my final story.
My early hope came from the Young Ambassadors Art of Leadership (YAAOL) program in Lake County, Michigan. Despite being one of the poorest counties in the state, that program gave me purpose, mentorship, and the courage to dream. Mentors like Mary Trucks believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself.
Today, I’m a Clinical Therapist, nonprofit founder, and community advocate with over 16 years of experience in social work, education, and leadership. I hold an Associate’s degree, a Bachelor’s, and a Master of Social Work from Grand Valley State University. I currently serve as a therapist at Inner Fitness Counseling & Wellness and lead LeadHERship Impact, where I mentor young Black women through culturally rooted support, leadership development, and identity formation. It’s not what they call it’s what you answer to.