Girl Talk Foundation, Inc.

Being a radio personality for Power 98 FM, “JD: The Diva with the Dirt,” Davis would go into the community and schools and talk to children about what they wanted to be when they grew up.

In 2003, one of these regular visits into a local middle school would be the beginning of something she never imagined.

Davis, 44, said after doing a normal speaking engagement at the school, several of the students stayed behind and started opening up about what was going on with them at home, in their locker rooms and bathrooms. Seeing the children wanting to open up, she proposed to have an informal “rap session” where they could take their discussions a little deeper.

It was approved by the radio station and they began to pull together counselors and promote it on the radio. They were expecting 50-60 girls at the African-American Cultural Center that first day and they were surprised when 200 showed up. It was standing room only.

Davis thought she had “done her good deed for the year” but the next day the station began to receive phone calls and emails wanting to know when the next event was going to be held. Over the last eight years, Girl Talk Foundation, Inc., has grown from a semi-monthly gathering of 11 to 16-year-old girls throughout the Charlotte metro area to a full-time nonprofit organization.