Adwoa Aboah's Platform "Gurls Talk" Battles Silence

Adwoa Aboah poses at a fashion event

Adwoa is a British model, feminist, and walking success story. Before all this, however, she fell into a dark time in her life. She suffered from mental health issues and turned to drug abuse. In 2015, she attempted to overdose and take her own life. Soon after she began her recovery process, she shared her story of struggle and strife in a video interview. After the vulnerable interview aired, she noticed the power of her voice. She claimed to have revealed more than she might have wanted to, but it helped her process the events. She found that speaking out about how she really felt had a mutual benefits. It helped her to feel heard and others related to her message. She experienced firsthand the petty standard society upholds to keep women silent on serious issues such as mental health and drug abuse. Fed up with the judgment she experienced as a survivor, she created "Gurls Talk.




Later in 2015, Adwoa launched Gurls Talk, a safe place for girls to talk openly. As the mission statement declares, "no subject is off-limits-- we talk about our experiences of mental health, body image, sexuality, self-care and so much more". The site empowers women "to be honest, to question the world around us... [and to] challenge stereotypes". This platform connects women around the world to discuss what really matters in the lives of women today. Although Adwoa and the Gurls Talk team established the site, most of the content is led by what the audience wants to hear and is sometimes created by the audience.

An art piece tittled "Help Each Other Grow"

 submitted by Kathleen Brown

Gurls Talk has many resources for women in the form of articles, blogs, podcasts, and advice columns, all of which are both Adwoa and fan-submitted. In the Gurls tab, you can find blogs written about a range of topics. Some of my favorites are "Ending the Orgasm Gap Starts with You", "Audition Tips with Aimee Lou Wood", and "Just Because I Have a Preference for Girls Doesn't Mean I'm Not Bisexual". The best way to hear the voice of Adwoa herself if to tune into her podcasts. She invites a variety of guests and talks about pivotal subjects such as "Sex and Love", "Representation", and "Addiction". Other resources include the Advise tab. It contains hotline numbers for many different purposes such as suicide prevention, emotional support, anxiety service, and others.


In the Submissions tab, anyone can submit to Gurls Talk in the form of visual or literary art. The site houses a community of creative and intelligent minds capable of expressing themselves through multiple mediums. Because the site is open to submissions, it challenges perspective-- showing both the differences and commonalities among its audience. The fan submission gallery is, in my opinion, the best part of the site. Unlike the Gurls Talk tab, this is where you can find pictures of painted murals, poems, digital art, and other artistic expressions. It's incredibly inspiring to scroll through.

One of the "Gurls" performes their slam poetry at the NY event

Adwoa, with the help of her outreach Gurls Talk, hosts events in LA, NewYork, and London. Details can be found in the Events tab. In an interview, she is asked if she noticed any difference between girls in each location. She claimed that no matter where she went, the issues were the same. The same desire to be heard and excepted was present at every event. The manner of which these voices were presented may have been different, but that was all that differed. Feminist expression was at the center of these events. At one of her events in NewYork, she hosted a slam poetry reading. She claimed that the people present were so involved in the experience that they were standing on chairs. Hearing their work and their voices reciting their poetry inspired Adwoa. This continuous cycle of inspiration and freedom of expression is what Adwoa Aboah had aspired for Gurls Talk to become, and it has far exceeded her expectations.