Through keynote addresses, individual and group life coaching, and writing, AYA’s mission is to empower and equip youth and young adults to use their adversity as the bridge to their personal success.
To re-remind youth and young adults that adversity is an opportunity to grow, to heal, to become and to discover, and most certainly, to build. Charles Swindoll said, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it,” AYA is most interested the power of the response to life’s happenings.
It is through the conviction of “So What Now?” that AYA was founded.
After traveling to Ghana in March 2010, Mia connected with her true life’s calling. There, in Ghana, she learned of the tribes and the Adinkra symbols chosen to represent parts of the culture. AYA is a West African symbol that represents endurance and resourcefulness. It is a fern that can grown in difficult places and can outlast much difficulty. Mia connected with this symbol and used it as an acronym that later morphed into the company’s name– “Adversity Yields Audacity.”
“I feel a deep responsibility and urgency to share my narrative. Yes, even the deep and personal parts of it, so that young people get to hear stories that resonate with their own and hear that each of us has pain and each of us has the power to soar above our obstacles and use our adversity to build bridges,” Mia shared.
In 2012, the company was officially launched and legalized in New York State. Since then, the company has partnered with over 10 middle and high schools, 12 city programs, and coached over 100 youth and young adults in over 5 states.
In 2017, AYA reached over 10 countries as the founder journeyed throughout Europe learning, listening, and documenting stories from young people who have beat the odds and reaching for their personal success narrative.