A Moment with Mérida (pt. 1)
Your questions about all things Project Fearless, answered!
We get asked a load of questions about Project Fearless, so we thought we’d share our founder Mérida’s thoughts on topics that come up regularly. First up in this blog series, we’re taking a closer look at the essence of Project Fearless and why Mérida chose Amsterdam as its home. These mini-interviews with Mérida took place towards the end of 2019!
Q: How would you describe Project Fearless to someone who has no idea what it is?
A: Project Fearless is a space where you can be yourself – whether it’s your best self or your worst self! It’s a space where you can find out what it means to be a leader in your own right, define your own terms for success and meet other girls who are in that same space of discovery.
We run after school programs designed to get girls creating impact through sharing meaningful, practical experiences. We wanted to take the best things out of team sports, and what does everybody love about being in a team sport? It’s not the winning or the losing, it’s the sharing of the behind-the-scenes laughs and everything that it takes to make a team work.
Project Fearless is a place where you can be yourself and try new things without the pressures of “Am I doing this right?” or “Am I going to get a grade?”, “Am I standing up straight enough?” or “Am I the skinniest one in the dance room?” We’re not about all that - we’re just doing this for fun.
Q: What’s the thinking behind being a space for girls rather than a co-ed space?
A: I’ve had a lot of questions about this and I can see the pros and cons of each. For me, it was never boys who were mean to me when I was growing up, it was always girls. That’s what drove me to make Project Fearless a space for girls, because the ‘safe space’ for me when I was younger would have had to have been a co-ed program. I wanted to change that for younger generations.
I see the challenge as being to try to switch up the harmful paradigm that’s so often seen as normal, where girls are mean to girls. So, to do that I wanted to tackle the issue head on. I wanted to create a space to show girls that you can be yourself and support your other weird and wonderful girlfriends. Or that you might be popular or unpopular at school, but here at Project Fearless you’re just another girl that’s a truly valued part of our supportive, inclusive, judgement-free zone.
We’re not anti-men, we’re not anti-boy. I just think that giving girls a space where they can be themselves on their own terms has huge benefits. I also spoke to teachers before I started Project Fearless, and one of my teacher friends said to me “Well, you know the girls love the Makers Space at my school but the boys take over the table, so even though the girls might have the right answer, the boys won’t listen because the boys feel very comfortable in that space.”
So, at Project Fearless we wanted to give those girls a space where they all felt like they had a voice.
Actually, in the Gratitude Circle we held in one of our recent Mind & Movement Lab sessions, two girls said “I’m really glad there are no boys here.” That was really interesting, because we’d never actually talked about that at all.
We’ll never, ever say “You’re better than a boy,” because I don’t believe in those types of comparisons. I’ll never tell anybody that they’re better than somebody else. That’s not what we’re trying to achieve here!
Q: What made Amsterdam a special place to launch Project Fearless?
A: When I moved here, I personally felt that anything was possible from an entrepreneurial standpoint. People supported crazy ideas, they supported one-off artists, they supported bakers*, so I felt very safe going out on a limb with founding Project Fearless.
I also felt that the Netherlands does have a significant gender divide. I was really surprised by that; in the States you expect it, but here I really didn’t. When I moved here and was still getting uncomfortable comments at work and guys were still saying things that I wasn’t comfortable with, I was like “Wait, hold on. It’s here too?”
I also felt that this city was right for Project Fearless because there are so many expats and internationals from around the world, as well as refugee families settling here. It’s a vibrant little melting pot where we can really bring a lot of cultures and backgrounds and communities and thought processes together, and be all the stronger for it.
*side note from the Fearless team - Mérida’s cupcakes are legendary!
Q: What’s your stance on running courses in English and/or Dutch?
A: So, our courses are fluid through both languages and I think that’s amazing - I’m really, really proud of that. I think what that does is make a lot of people feel really comfortable. So, if you’re an English girl who’s just moved here and you haven't had time to learn Dutch yet, you still feel safe.
Equally, if you're a Dutch girl who goes to an all-Dutch school, from an all-Dutch community, who hasn't had much practice speaking English, you feel safe as well and you can practise your English and practise your Dutch.
No matter how big Project Fearless grows, that's what feels right to our mission. Our team is international, this city is international and I respect that we are in a Dutch-speaking country, but I also respect that we want to welcome everybody.
Whether they’re a refugee or an expat, everyone deserves to feel comfortable in their own space. It's also a great way to bring girls from all backgrounds together, and that’s what Project Fearless is about.
Have you got a question you’d like to ask Mérida and the Project Fearless team? Send us a message right here!
Written by Project Fearless copywriter, Abi Malins.