Former first lady Michelle Obama met in Honolulu this week with eight girls, ages 11-17, to listen to their dreams and concerns and offer advice and support.

The roundtable, held Tuesday afternoon, was moderated by Maya Soetoro-Ng, a faculty specialist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and sister of former President Barack Obama, and Tiffany Drake, executive director of the Girls Opportunity Alliance — an Obama Foundation program that seeks to help adolescent girls around the world achieve their full potential and positive societal change.

Over the course of an hour and a half, two of the girls said in Zoom interviews after the meetings, they felt a warm personal connection with Obama.

“She said, ‘Don’t be afraid to be proud of who you are,’ and made me feel I am worthy as myself and as a Native Hawaiian girl,” said Aubree K-Aloha, 13, a student at Kamehameha Schools.

Aubree, who takes a class offering supplemental academic help, said she was told by other students that “I was in was in there because I was dumb, stupid, ‘because you’re a girl.’”

Obama told her, in this case, “not to take (to heart) what other people say because it’s not true, and I shouldn’t be scared to get out there and really make a difference,” said Aubree, who noted that she learned of the hardships suffered by Native Hawaiians in the criminal justice system when her uncle was incarcerated, and volunteers in local nonprofits promoting justice reform and sustainability.

Allena Villanueva, 17, a Punahou senior, said she told Obama, “I was really worried about whether I’d be going to an Ivy League college or not— it’s that time of year when we’re hearing about admissions.”

Additionally, she felt challenged by “being an indigenous woman in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), which is male-dominated.”

After boys in a middle school robotics class where she was the only girl said she couldn’t build a good robot because of her gender, Allena started an all-girls robotics team that won two championships, and now interns at the Purple Mai‘a Foundation, where she teaches robotics to children whose schools lack resources.

She said Obama told her “it’s good we’re pushing back, there need to be more women and minority groups in science,” and regarding college, she should “go wherever you want to go; Mrs. Obama said she doesn’t look for name-brand schools when hiring her staff. She looks at their personality and accomplishments,” Allena said.

While encouraging their big dreams, Obama acknowledged the pressures they felt and provided welcome perspective, the girls said.

“Mrs. Obama said focus on ourselves first and then (outward in) concentric circles around us, starting with our families at the kitchen table, (where) she used to discuss all her problems with her mom and grandma,” Allena said.

“While we want to tackle a lot of issues, like conservation and stereotypes, she said tackling issues in ourselves and our family is really making big change — maybe we can’t change the whole world, but we can try our best.”

Other students in the group were Alli Silva, Damien Memorial School; Kaiya Leong, Mid-Pacific Institute; Leina‘ala Wong, Kamehameha Schools; Misa Layne, Radford High School; and Raelani Maiava Story Tasaka, Malama Honua Public Charter School.

The girls were nominated to participate by grassroots farming, cultural, environmental, arts and social justice organizations in which they volunteer, Soetoro-Ng said, adding that the GOA has been “building networks all over the world in frontline communities, to think about wraparound programs to help girls feel strong.”

Obama assured the girls their conversations would continue, Drake said.

“She said she wants to stay in touch, that she’ll be here more often and they are now part of her family, which will continue to grow,” Drake said. “Our hope is some of these older girls can serve as mentors.”

Michelle and Barack Obama plan to spend much more time in Hawaii and hope to become active, supportive members of the community, Soetoro-Ng said.

She added she felt the Girls Opportunity Alliance was “very much in keeping with what our mother taught” her brother and herself, saying the late Ann Dunham was “a strong advocate for girls, a pioneer in micro finance for women all over South and Southeast Asia,” and “everywhere she went, she would build that sense of family.”

Listening to Obama, Villanueva said, “made me want to go home to my parents and say, ‘I love you guys. Thank you.’”

“She’s so empowering and inspiring,” K-Aloha said, “ everybody in the room felt more powerful as who they are.”

For more information, visit obama.org/girls opportunityalliance.