Ayda remembers hating school, because she knew what was waiting for her there. She was teased about her weight starting in elementary school. Later, kids she thought were her friends told her the boy she liked thought she was ugly. She came home from track practice in tears.
"I need to change. Why is this happening?"
At ZGiRLS, she learned something that sounded simple and turned out to be everything: you don't need anyone else to tell you you're worth it.
"Just be yourself. If people don't like you for who you are, that's their loss."
It didn't happen overnight. But little by little, she stopped asking other people for the answer.
"Every morning I tell myself I'm amazing. I don't need someone to tell me I'm amazing, because I know deep down I am."
Today Ayda is on ZGiRLS' Youth Advisory Board, where she says she found the sweetest people she's ever met. And one of the girls who used to tease her? They go to the same high school now. Ayda stood her ground. These days, that girl is the one saying hi.
"That's not going to stop me from loving school, or from being myself."
The ZGiRLS tool she reached for: Her self-worth isn't determined by anyone else, and she says so out loud every morning.
From Ayda, to the girls coming up behind her:
"You're important and you matter. You don't need anyone to tell you otherwise."