Tag Archives: Victoria Mahand

People often get excited about New Year's because it represents a fresh start and a new beginning. It’s the time of year where vision boards, resolutions, and goal setting are in full motion. We reflect on what has happened over the past year, identify what needs improvement, and see where we can start fresh for the coming year. We here at One Circle Foundation are no different. The idea of a clean slate and the chance to start anew is very inspiring and... Read More

One Circle Foundation (OCF) has the honor of partnering with incredible women leaders who are ushering in lasting, positive change and making history in their communities from Des Moines, IA to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  OCF has its own history of strong, intelligent, charismatic, and deeply caring women in leadership. These women have been developing and sharing circle programs to ensure that youth and teens get the opportunity to have healthy relationships with themselves and others in safe circle spaces with adults who are properly trained and equipped to be effective facilitators.  We celebrate these women who show up daily to walk the talk, do the work, and make history.

I went through Girls Circle Facilitator Training in 2017, and had the privilege of being trained by the wonderful Victoria Mahand. I remember going up to her after the training and asking her, “How do I do, what you do?” I was referring to her charismatic, inclusive, effective facilitation style. What she did next was model what a facilitator does. She didn’t give advice, she told me, “Danielle, go out and do.” So, that’s what I did for 5 years. I ran circles and grew our program within our community. However, I struggled those first few years with

“Hell Yeah”, Black History Month Still Matters…. Black History Month affords us the chance to challenge what we learned in history, dig deeper, and find out the actual events of the past that were not taught in schools or portrayed in media. The media tends to showcase the negatives of the Black community, such as poverty, drugs, incarceration, lack of education, etc. These portrayals paint a biased and unfair stereotype in our minds.