TVbyGIRLS - a local nonprofit youth media organization that fosters leadership and cultural understanding among girls - brings together its participants to focus on similarities.
Today, girls across the Twin Cities will showcase documentary films they produced that address issues like bullying, life as a Muslim female and adolescence.
For Najma Osman, 17, of St. Paul, TVbyGIRLS allowed her to educate peers about her culture.
The Central High School senior said wearing a hijab pushed her to work on the documentary "Undercover," a film about the traditional headscarf Muslim women often wear in the presence of men.
"I think people generally think everyone is very different, and that's OK," Osman said. "But learning about those differences is what matters."
The Central High student came to Minnesota as a 5-year-old because of political turmoil in her native Somalia.
But Osman said it's not uncommon for her and other Muslim girls to feel alienated.
One day, a woman walked up to her and her mother at the mall, Osman recalled, and said, "You live in America. You are free. You're not oppressed anymore."
At school, some kids would ask, "Why do you wear that towel on your head?" Osman said.
TVbyGIRLS member Hannah Nemer, a sophomore at Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights, also helped produce
"Undercover" and, like Osman, is one of 10 "core girls" who have long-term mentors among the group's leaders.
When Nemer and her sister wore hijabs one day to experience what Muslim girls go through, a woman in the parking lot avoided parking by them, Nemer said.
"You have to make a conscious effort to learn about others if you want to understand them," Nemer said.
Many of the girls said they chose to participate in TVbyGIRLS because of an interest in producing documentaries, but they also made friends while learning how to tell their stories.
They shared common experiences, such as observing and experiencing bullying in school, which is the other feature documentary they will screen a trailer of today. It's called "Behind Bullies" and explores the experience of bullies and those they bully.
Rebecca Richards Bullen, the TVbyGIRLS associate director and a mentor, said she hopes the girls gain life-long skills and lessons as they craft stories.
TVbyGIRLS hopes one day to launch a syndicated TV show run by girls. The group also plans to visit metro-area classrooms to show the documentaries and address challenges girls face.
"We want the girls to be themselves," Bullen said. "It's a lesson many of us can learn."
Bao Ong can be reached at bong@pioneer press.com or 651-228-5435.
If You Go
What: TVbyGIRLS will screen trailers of "Undercover" and "Behind Bullies" to help raise funds for the nonprofit organization. The event also includes a silent auction and dessert reception.
When: 5 to 8 tonight
Where: Intermedia Arts, 2322 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis
Web site: tvbygirls.tv