ZGiRLS Foundation Builds Girls’ Confidence through Mentorship and Mental Skills

ZGiRLS Foundation is tackling a quiet but serious crisis in adolescent development: the steep drop in girls’ confidence that begins around age 11. This nonprofit is dedicated to equipping girls—particularly those ages 11 to 14—with the mental tools they need to thrive. By teaching skills like self-advocacy, resilience, and growth mindset, ZGiRLS helps girls rewrite the narratives they’ve internalized about perfection, self-doubt, and silence. The organization pairs participants with professional female athlete mentors who understand what it means to struggle with confidence and emerge stronger. It’s a bold and timely approach, backed by research and lived experience.

At Kars4Kids, we were proud to support ZGiRLS Foundation with a small grant to help make this kind of programming accessible to all girls, regardless of income. ZGiRLS stood out to us for its unwavering commitment to building strength from the inside out—meeting girls where they are and giving them tools they can use right away. We spoke with ZGiRLS Foundation Executive Director Jilyne Jarvis, a former U.S. Ski Team athlete and seven-time NCAA All-American, to learn more about how this work is helping girls rise.

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about the girls who participate in your programs. Why do they need ZGiRLS and how do they find you? Are they referred to you by their teachers or parents?

Jilyne Jarvis: The girls who come to ZGiRLS are bright, capable, thoughtful girls — and many of them don’t see that in themselves yet. Most are between 11 and 14, which is a really tender window where confidence often starts to drop. They’re navigating friendships, social media, changing bodies, academic pressure, and a growing inner critic that tells them they’re “not enough.”

Families typically find us through parents, schools, coaches, therapists, and word of mouth. Many parents are looking for support beyond academics — tools that help their daughters trust themselves, speak up, and handle challenges. Teachers and counselors also refer girls to us when they notice students shrinking, doubting themselves, or struggling with resilience. ZGiRLS meets girls right where they are and gives them language and tools they can actually use in real life.

Kars4Kids: ZGiRLS offers 4-week online programs. What are the advantages of online programming? Do you ever have any in-person meet-ups?

Jilyne Jarvis: Online programming allows us to reach girls wherever they are, regardless of geography, transportation, or family schedules. It creates access. Girls can log in from their bedroom or kitchen table…spaces where they already feel comfortable. That matters.

It also allows us to bring in incredible female athlete mentors from all over the country who otherwise wouldn’t be able to show up weekly in person. While our core programs are online, we do offer in-person experiences through partnerships, camps, and special events. Moving forward, we’re also expanding into hybrid and community-based models so ZGiRLS can be implemented in schools, sports teams, and youth organizations.

Kars4Kids: Why do girls, in particular, have a problem with self-confidence, and voices in their heads that tell them they are inadequate? Why don’t girls believe in themselves and why is this still a problem in our day and age with decades of work invested in eliminating bias against women?

Jilyne Jarvis: Girls receive constant messaging (subtle and overt) about who they’re supposed to be, how they should look, how they should behave, and how much space they’re allowed to take up. Research shows that around age 14, girls’ confidence drops by about 30%, while boys’ confidence stays the same. That gap doesn’t close on its own, it carries into adulthood.

Even with decades of progress, girls are still rewarded for being agreeable, quiet, and perfect. Failure is often framed as something to avoid rather than learn from. At ZGiRLS, we teach girls that confidence is a skill you build. When girls learn how to manage self-talk, take brave steps, and advocate for themselves, everything changes.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us how you came to create ZGiRLS Foundation? What’s your story?

Jilyne Jarvis: I’m a former U.S. Ski Team athlete and seven-time NCAA All-American, and on paper, I looked confident. But internally, I struggled deeply with self-worth, pressure, and fear of failure. No one ever taught me how to work with my mind. All I knew was how to push harder.

After retiring from sport, I realized that the mental skills I learned the hard way were the exact skills girls needed much earlier in life. ZGiRLS was born from that realization. I didn’t want girls to wait until burnout or breakdown to learn how to trust themselves. I wanted to give them the tools before the confidence gap takes hold.

Kars4Kids: Why use female athletes as mentors? What unique characteristics do they bring to the table?

Jilyne Jarvis: Female athletes are living proof that confidence is built, not given. They understand pressure, failure, resilience, and perseverance in a very real way. They’ve missed the shot, lost the race, been cut from the team and kept going anyway.

When girls hear athletes talk honestly about self-doubt and setbacks, it clicks. These mentors normalize struggle and model courage. They make confidence feel attainable.

Kars4Kids: How many athletes participate in your programs? Has it been difficult to find athlete mentors for the girls?

Jilyne Jarvis: We’ve partnered with over 50 professional, Olympic, and collegiate athletes across sports. Interestingly, it’s not difficult to find mentors because women athletes are often eager to give back and elevate those coming after them. Many wish they’d had something like ZGiRLS when they were younger.

What matters most isn’t fame, but authenticity. We look for athletes who are willing to be honest, present, and engaged with the girls.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of the ZGiRLS Confidence Program?

Jilyne Jarvis: Our core program is a 4-week experience focused on practical, evidence-based confidence skills. Each week covers a key topic: growth mindset, self-worth, resilience through challenges, and self-advocacy.

Girls participate in live sessions, journaling, and interactive exercises. Everything is designed to be tangible and usable:  tools they can apply the very next day at school, in sports, or with friends.

Kars4Kids: How do you know that your programming works? Any success stories to share?

Jilyne Jarvis: We measure confidence growth before and after each program, and we consistently see significant increases. But the real proof comes from the girls themselves:

One girl, Selena, came into the ZGiRLS program with very low confidence – a score of just 1.9 out of 5. Her mom shared before the program: “My daughter is really struggling with her self-image and worth. I am doing everything I can to help, but times are really hard right now… She is an amazing girl with the best heart and a great softball player, she just doesn’t see how amazing she is.”

By the end of the program, Selena’s confidence score soared to 4.0 — a 110% improvement!

Selena’s score reflects a real change in how she sees herself. That confidence follows her into school, onto the softball field, and into everyday choices that shape who she becomes.

Kars4Kids: There’s a fee for the ZGiRLS Confidence Program. What about girls from low-income homes? Are scholarships available?

Jilyne Jarvis: Over 85% of our participants receive financial scholarships and pay nothing to be in the program. We never want cost to be a barrier to building confidence. So, that is made possible by inviting those that can pay to do so and by accepting donations and grants to fund the program.

Community support makes it possible for us to offer ZGiRLS free or low-cost to families who need it most.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the ZGiRLS Foundation?

Jilyne Jarvis: We’re entering a really exciting chapter. In addition to our core programs, we’re launching a train-the-trainer model that allows ZGiRLS to be taught inside after school programs, sports teams, and youth organizations.

Our goal is to reach 10,000 girls by bringing these skills directly into the spaces where girls already gather. We’re focused on scale with integrity, data, and real impact.