December Match of the Month - Kailiah & Nina

Kailiah’s mother enrolled her because she wanted her to work on female empowerment and having more positive adult relationships. Kailiah was interested in developing a positive identity and have someone to help guide her into young womanhood. We matched Kailiah with Nina about a year ago.   Nina has definitely helped and supported Kailiah this past year. They have created vision boards to show what their aspirations are for the future, come up with creative ways to earn money for activities Kailiah has wanted to participate in and worked on anger management skills.  Nina and Kailiah have shared about how confident Kailiah is and how they have been able to build a strong friendship.
 
They love going out to eat, shopping, volunteering, going to movies, making food, and dancing to music and talking while they drive places in the car.  They are always coming up with both simple and creative things to do together!  Kailiah also shared that Nina has helped her to try new things like raw sushi and ice skating.  Kailah went on to say that one of her favorite things to do with Nina is simply walking and talking. She said that it’s nice to have someone that she can be open with and someone who really listens to her.
 
One cool thing that they’ve done is spending some of the time on their outings dropping off job applications together, and Nina was there when Kailiah got her very first job! And Nina made her 15th birthday so special – she created a treasure hunt, and Nina used it as a way to tell Kailiah about all the things she loves about her.  “Being Kailiah's Big Sister has opened my eyes to how much she has to go through. She's taught me how to be a better friend and how to relate to people with different life experiences. It's so fun seeing the world through her eyes.” And Kailiah just loves Nina, saying “Nina is special to me because she is the Big Sister I never thought I would get.”