Helping Teen Girls Shine Through

Kristina Coia

Kristina Coia

After Kristina Coia published her first novel, Falcon’s Prey, last spring, she went on a lecture tour to middle schools near her home in New Jersey. She quickly realized that her talks would be much better if she included a positive message to help girls relate to the book’s main character, Princess Ana, who learns about her own strengths throughout the novel. As a result, Shine Through, Kristina’s program to help girls improve their self-esteem, was born. Kristina, 15, has so far given about a dozen interactive presentations, and she’s now writing a workbook/diary so girls “can learn how to shine through whenever,” she says. Teen Voices spoke to Kristina on the phone about Shine Through, her books, and how girls can feel better about themselves.

Teen Voices: Why is it important to you to help young girls with low self-esteem and peer pressure issues?
Kristina Coia: I think it’s important for everyone to do their part. It wasn’t like I woke up one morning and said “I’m going to go help girls today,” but I know that in my novels, there are girls who have low self-esteem pulling through.

TV: Are you working with girls only? Do you think boys have similar problems?
Kristina: When I do Shine Throughs at schools, I ask the principal if they’re OK with me just speaking to the girls. Guys, too, have problems figuring out who they are—we all do at any age. But when I give the Shine Throughs to just girls, they tend to be more responsive and more open than when it’s guys and girls.

TV: Why have you chosen to focus on grades five through eight and not high school?
Kristina: When I wrote Falcon’s Prey, and even writing Lymeria, it was really about getting me through middle school. When I had a big test coming up, I’d go home and I would write that the character in my book had to slay a dragon. When she succeeds in the book, I felt like maybe I could succeed. I thought that since my writing is aimed at fifth through eighth grade that maybe Shine Through could help with that age group as well. Also, when you get into high school, you’re maybe more aware of who you are or you’re more aware that you’re not being yourself. When you’re in middle school, you’re really discovering what clique maybe you’re a part of or what cliques you don’t want to be a part of. You’re really developing who you are.

TV: What are the stages of the program? How did you come up with them?
Kristina: I didn’t come up with these as stages at first. I kind of apply a lot of Shine Through on ways I helped myself feel going through middle school. When I first discovered that I needed to Shine Through, and then I sort of experimented with different things that I thought I might or might not like while learning about myself, I experimented with ways to learn about who I really am. And then eventually I’m definitely trying to find a way to Shine Through. So really it was applied to my life and what I observed going on in middle school.

TV: What does it look like when you give your talk? Is it interactive?
Kristina: Yeah, it’s really interactive. It’s really a PowerPoint presentation but I take a lot of opinions. I make sure that everyone is participating. I do a lot of wacky things to try and make people talk with me. Like I put on a purple wig and throw soccer balls at people to wake them up. So yeah, it is very interactive. There are three stages. The first one is Discovery. The second one is Experimentation. The third one is Shine Through. Shine Through as a stage came from me saying “Well, at this point in my life I’m happy with who I am. I know who I am. I’m going to keep growing and changing. But as of right now, I’m who I want to be.”

TV: What are some ways that the character, Ana, improves her self-esteem in the book Falcon’s Prey?
Kristina: The first example at the beginning of the book is that she has to run away to a forest and basically she has to escape, just her and her brothers, over mountains to a kingdom nearby. She’s really never been out of the comfort of her own powers before and she has to learn how to trust herself to really survive. When the scene first opens, she is crying and thinking “Oh poor me,” and then… I’m not going to tell you what...but something kind of tragic happens, and she has to really come into her own and be strong and learn who she is and learn how to trust herself.

TV: How does the whole obsession with celebrities in our society affect the self-esteem of girls today?
Kristina: Celebrities are definitely seen as idols in society today. The media especially is a big influence on the way a lot of us look at our lives. A lot of people see, I don’t know, Reese Witherspoon, and they bring a picture of her into their hairdressers and say “Make my hair look like that.” That can be a negative or a positive influence. I do have to say for Hollywood’s sake that you also have people like Angelina Jolie who is a wonderful role model who does wonderful things. So it all depends on who you pick to be your role model and how extremely you follow their message, whatever it may be.

TV: Do you think that if the world had more positive influences, girls wouldn’t suffer as much from peer pressure?
Kristina: I definitely think the world needs more positive role models. I do think there are a lot right now, but the more the merrier! I definitely think that if you can pick a role model who is a good influence and you can admire them more than idolize them, then you’ll accept yourself more. There is a difference between idolization and admiration. I think if you can admire someone and [someday] want to become as good an influence as they are, then that you won’t take on as many negative influences in your life.

Visit Kristina’s website at www.ariaarts.net to learn more about Shine Through.