iSparkle2 is a freshly launched Houston County based nonprofit organization that aims to transform the lives of females between the ages of 11 and 18 years of age. Its co-founders, Keayana Minus and Natasha Durham, are central Georgia moms with a shared passion to help young girls live out their existences with a positive shine, even during a time in which the world can often appear dim.
“This all started with her inviting me to church,” revealed Durham. “Keayana kept telling me to come to church with her, and I kept saying, nah… I don’t think I’m ready for that. She was the youth pastor there,” Durham went on to explain. “Working with children had always been my passion, but it had been with older kids.”
A drive to positively influence girls wasn’t the only thing that these two entrepreneurs had in common. Both were also raising daughters of their own, and both had strong military backgrounds. Durham (who also has one son) is a disabled vet who spent 15 years serving in the United States Army. Minus is still an active member of the armed forces, serving in the United States Air Force. As a bona fide “military brat” whose father also served, Minus said negative influences have always been a part of growing up, but she feels the stress of it all is more taxing today than ever before.
“In my day, teens had their peer pressure,” Minus acknowledged, “but now, having had all girls myself, I see first hand that they face much more than we did. With the few issues that we did have, we didn’t have the resources, the outlet or the safe place where we could go and talk. Now, just imagine not having that with today’s issues,” she emphasized.
Durham eventually accepted Minus’ invitation to attend her church, and when she did, not only was her faith elevated to a new level of strength, but she, herself, made a new cherished friend. As they worked together in the church’s youth ministry, a bond between the two women formed. Today, they are the best of friends.
“We would talk and share our visions of what we wanted to do beyond the church’s youth ministry,” Durham recalled. “We found out that both of us wanted to create a teen mentoring program, so we joined together to make it happen.”
“And as we were praying about what the vision would be,” Minus expounded, “we decided that we wanted it to be a safe place for girls to come; a place where we could help them find and develope their identity. We want them to know that they can sparkle. No matter what situations they’re faced with, they can overcome—and not just overcome, but thrive and shine.”
Minus went on to point out that self-esteem is a prominent issue that many tweens and teens face. “They see the models on TV. They see the TikTok videos on social media. They see these images and decide that they want to be like that. They start doing all sorts of things to try and get their identity from these images. When they come to iSparkle2, we want to teach them to form their own identity based on who they were meant to be, not on what someone else is telling them or showing them that they should be. We want to teach them to love and respect themselves. Our vision is to empower them in an environment that’s free from drugs, mental illness, sexual abuse and judgment.”
Judgment, in Durham’s opinion, is a huge oppression from which girls need to feel freed in order for them to share openly and honestly. “You never know why these girls are the way they are,” Durham said. “You have to establish a genuine connection and a genuine trust with them. That’s what our mentors do. We’re here to provide whatever is needed so that these girls don’t grow into adulthood still trying to heal the child in them. If we tackle the issue now, the adult version of them can be healthy and healed.”
Minus recognized that iSparkle2’s mission is not an original one. She said there are many pop-up organizations that claim to have similar missions. Because of that, she admitted that iSparkle2 has to prove itself. While that—in and of itself—is a challenge, Minus said that it’s one that they are up for.
“We’re on a mission to convince Houston County that we’re not just another organization,” she insisted. “We’re here to make an impact in our community. We want to see the change. We want the support of the Board of Education. We want the support of the juvenile justice system. Getting the resources needed can be tough,” said Minus. “A lot of what we have now, we’ve come out of pocket to get, but when you have a passion for something, you’re willing to pour into it.”
iSparkle2 has been two years in the making, and in that time, there have been several mountains to climb, so to speak. Among other challenges, delays have come by way of family issues and military responsibilities.
“In the beginning, when we were going to get this started, she left,” Durham said, pointing toward Minus. “The Air Force took her away for a few months, and we had to put things on hold. Right after that, I went through a divorce, and that slowed things down too, because I couldn’t focus like I needed to. Then when Keayana got finished and came back, I was moving from one home to another. And just when it seemed like everything was finally starting to get settled, the pandemic hit.”
Because of COVID-19 the ladies had to refocus and revamp how they would unveil their mentoring program. They were determined not to allow the pandemic to completely cancel out the vision. Their perseverance and determination paid off.
“We contemplated just launching the website. Even in doing that, we had butterflies,” Durham admitted. “But we prayed and decided to go ahead and advertise it. The support was just overwhelming! The television people got in contact with us and featured us, and it was like … wow, this is what we asked for. This is what we prayed for. I knew it would be successful, but I didn’t know it would happen so fast.”
Minus nodded in agreement, saying, “We had moms calling and crying, telling us how they had been praying—saying that they didn’t know what to do with what was going on with their daughters. They saw the feature on television and saw it as the answer to their prayers. This was a breath of fresh air for them.”
Among the offerings extended through iSparkle2 is its specialized EmpowHERment Mentoring program (a 12-month, one-on-one mentoring option). After the 12 months end, the girl and her mentor can continue working together, or the mentor can be rotated out and be replaced by another advisor. The Diamond LeadHERship program is another feature. It is an eight-month curriculum-based program that runs consecutively with the school year. Through it, enrichments like STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), college tours, and classes on public speaking, entrepreneurship, self-esteem boosting and etiquette are offered.
With the early demand, Minus informed that iSparkle2 is already in need of volunteers and mentors. “We have a very extensive mentoring application, because we want to make sure we’re bringing the right people in,” she said. “They do have to go through a background check. We want to know their passions. We want to know what made them want to become a mentor. The more we know about them, the better we can pair them with a mentee that they will be able to relate to. The more a girl feels that an adult can relate, the more they will be willing to build a relationship of trust.”
iSparkle2 is currently headquartered in an office space at 1000 Corporate Pointe in Warner Robins. Though they feel the launch has been successful, the organization’s co-founders see more—much more.
“I have a vision for us. I see it almost every day,” Durham disclosed. “I see us in a building of our own. I see the girls coming in, and we’re greeting them at the counter. In our back area are a computer lab and so many other things. I see this going so much further.”
Summing it all up, Minus said, “No girl is turned away from iSparkle2. This is our passion, and we’re not half-stepping. We’re all in.”
iSparkle2 is a member of Robins Regional Chamber. For more information or to recommend a girl for the program, go to
www.iSparkle2.org.
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