ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — At the Dressing Room in north St. Louis County sisterhood is always in fashion.
"As soon as we get in here we can literally talk about anything," 22-year-old Kristen Young explained.
There, you won't find the latest styles. Instead of dresses and shoes, the Dressing Room prefers to display kindness and responsibility.
"I'm quite old fashioned, we're set on the rules of accountability, respect, character," Shernetta Bouier-Blue said.
Bouier-Blue opened the Dressing Room as a meeting place for her organization Divine Daughters, which she said helps young women of color succeed both externally and internally and encourages them to break through stereotypes.
"Because what do we do with brokenness we dress it up. Handbags, cars, degrees. And when we come in here this is where undress to address getting back up," she said.
And this is a woman who knows what it's like to almost come apart at the seams.
Before she graduated high school, Shernetta was a teen mom times two. She was still a kid and had two kids.
"In my home, we never concentrated on emotional health and so I was looking for love in all the wrong places," she said.
Shernetta started to focus on her goals not her obstacles. Getting her nursing degree was one step and Divine Daughters was another.
"I realized that the only reason that I was able to change was because I needed someone consistently listening. So I started Divine Daughters," she explained.
Every morning, Shernetta does a video call with 36 girls. It's to help prepare for the day which she says starts with making the bed.
"If you don't have time to do something as quick as making a bed which takes maybe one minute - that means you weren't prepared for the day," she said.
And after school at the Dressing Room, she harnesses positive thinking by showcasing affirmations all over the walls. Like one that said, "throw kindness around like confetti."
"We're only accountable for how we treat others," she said.
The affirmations are not just words for these young ladies. They're words to live by.
"I'm learning how to manage my mistakes now, instead of avoiding them," Young said.
"Without failure there's no success which means you're going to go through some things to be able to succeed," 24-year-old Robyn Robinson said.
Every day, Miss B as they call her, is trying to help young women to open the window to their potential.
"I just thank her for that because it's not easy talking about what you're going through," Robinson said with tears in her eyes.
Shernetta Bouier-Blue and Divine Daughters are helping to make sure that character and respect never goes out of style.
To learn more about Divine Daughters, click here
