M.E.A.N. Girls Empowerment™ Founder and Executive Director, Shatina Edwards, was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, IL.  She is a certified Life Coach and Mentor who is exceedingly motivated and passionate about empowering youth. Shatina has been a youth advocate since 2006, and has dedicated her time volunteering, mentoring, and participating in numerous events supporting the youth within her community and church. With a passion to serve others, she was determined to build a girl-friendly network to expose young ladies to a feminine outlook, which she felt was lacking in today’s society. A victim of bullying herself by peers in middle-school, Shatina now uses her past to speak out against bullying and empower young ladies to avoid negativity, which is her organization's mission. Shatina founded the nonprofit organization M.E.A.N. (Manage-Emotions-Avoid-Negativity) Girls Empowerment in 2014, which aims to prevent this form of violence and provide mentorship to young ladies. 
 

Following the blueprint of M.E.A.N. Girls Empowerment, M.E.A.N Girls University launched in 2019 and extends to young women ages 18-24 and mimics the motto and mission of its predecessor organization. Shatina saw a need to expand into this population of college age girls, to empower and equip these young ladies with the tools they will need to continue in their success post their high-school careers.  The University program encourages its participants to continue to make healthy choices through confidence, courage and creativity.  

​

Beyond her service to the organization, Shatina is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She possesses many talents including but not limited to team building, organizational and structural development, community-based programming, and executive-level strategy alignment of management processes.  To highlight Shatina’s peak performances, she has been featured on ABC 7 news Chicago for her proactive work in the community. The organization was both the 2022 Champion and 2023 Unity Award recipient by the National Bullying Prevention Center which provided recognition for their amazing work.  

Shatina obtained her bachelor's degree in Health Administration from Governor State University (2012) and her master's degree in Health Administration from Purdue University (2016).  As an entrepreneur, wife, and mother, Shatina’s mission is to live with purpose and accomplish excellence in all areas of life while encouraging others to do the same. Shatina sees value in the uplifting of youth that follow in her tracks. She is dedicated to exuding poise and integrity with her incessant commitment to empower her community.