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GirlTREK SOS Steering Committee and How To Lend Your Voice
GirlTREK’s Sacred Society of Sisters (SOS)
Steering Committee FAQ Help Guide
GirlTREK’s SOS Steering Committee
GirlTREK’s Sacred Society of Sisters (SOS) Steering Committee is a trusted tribe of dedicated GirlTREK members representing different generations, geographic communities, backgrounds, and years within the movement.
SOS is a small but powerful circle created to guide, protect, listen, and help move the movement forward.
The SOS does not govern GirlTREK. Instead, it serves as a sacred compass: helping GirlTREK honor where we have been, respond to where we are, and boldly protect where we are going.
Q: What does SOS stand for?
A: Sacred Society of Sisters.
SOS represents a trusted circle of members who help protect GirlTREK’s mission, honor our legacy, listen to members, and guide the movement forward.
Q: Why was the SOS Steering Committee created?
A: GirlTREK is a member-led movement built by Black women and strengthened by the wisdom, lived experience, leadership, and participation of its members.
SOS was created to ensure that member voices remain at the center of GirlTREK’s future.
The committee provides a trusted space where members can:
- Share wisdom and lived experience by elevating member voices.
- Identify emerging needs and opportunities.
- Offer guidance on select GirlTREK initiatives.
- Help identify roadblocks and possible solutions.
- Keep GirlTREK connected to the realities of the women and communities we serve.
- Help protect the mission and legacy of the movement.
Q: Is SOS a governing body?
A: No.
SOS is a steering committee, not a governing body.
Its role is to guide with wisdom, alignment, clarity, and accountability. SOS members offer recommendations and perspective while GirlTREK leadership remains responsible for organizational decisions.
Q: What does it mean to be a member of SOS?
A: Serving on SOS is a sisterhood of service and vision.
Members are invited to bring their full selves: their wisdom, honesty, lived experience, perspective, vision, and love for GirlTREK.
SOS members may be invited to:
- Provide confidential guidance on select initiatives.
- Participate in member input gatherings.
- Share community-rooted perspectives.
- Reflect on emerging member needs.
- Offer recommendations to help clear pathways forward.
- Participate in focus groups, listening sessions, or other strategic conversations.
- Share what they are hearing and experiencing in their communities.
Q: What is the time commitment?
A: SOS is intentionally designed to be a light lift.
The current strategy calls for approximately:
- 3 - 4 virtual convenings per year, generally 60–90 minutes each, depending on the initiative.
- Occasional check-ins for quick input, reflection, or troubleshooting.
- No formal reports or heavy preparation requirements.
- Show up with wisdom, honesty, vision, and heart.
Q: How does SOS input actually influence GirlTREK?
A: GirlTREK is committed to ensuring that SOS wisdom does not simply live in a conversation. It has a pathway to action.
The Torchbearer Protocol provides that pathway.
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Sacred Briefing: After an SOS engagement, key themes, insights, and recommendations are summarized.
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Integration: GirlTREK leadership reviews the guidance and identifies recommendations that can inform strategy, programming, communications, or other organizational decisions.
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Transparency: GirlTREK shares appropriate updates with SOS about how their guidance was considered or used.
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Learning Loop: This process helps GirlTREK continually refine how member wisdom is gathered, honored, and translated into action.
Q: What is the Living Wisdom Library?
A: The Living Wisdom Library is an internal archive designed to preserve SOS reflections, insights, and summaries.
It allows GirlTREK leadership to revisit member wisdom over time and use it to inform:
- Strategy
- Programming
- Member experience
- Storytelling
- Organizational learning
- Future initiatives
The wisdom shared by SOS members should remain active beyond a single meeting.
Q: How does the SOS Underground Crew fit into the work?
A: The SOS Steering Committee Crew inside the Underground App serves as a real-time listening and learning hub.
Members can share:
- What they are hearing during crew walks.
- What they are observing in their communities.
- Member needs and barriers.
- Ideas and opportunities.
- Emerging patterns.
- Moments of inspiration.
- Reflections about the member experience.
The space also creates an opportunity for SOS members to engage one another in collective sense-making.
Together, these conversations can help surface themes and insights that inform how GirlTREK shows up, responds, and continues learning.
Q: What kinds of topics might SOS be asked to weigh in on?
A: SOS may be invited to provide input on select initiatives, experiences, communications, programs, membership moments, or strategic questions.
For example, the SOS has been asked to help shape the vision for GirlTREK’s Membership Meeting by considering questions such as:
- What do members need right now?
- What story does the public need to understand about GirlTREK?
- What feels missing, confusing, or disconnected?
- Where are members experiencing joy, momentum, or impact?
- How can GirlTREK create experiences rooted in care, belonging, movement, and connection?
Q: What does SOS want GirlTREK to remember?
A: The wisdom gathered from SOS members has consistently emphasized several important themes:
- Care matters.
- Belonging matters.
- Joy matters.
- Rest matters.
- Mental and emotional wellness matter.
- Every sister deserves to see herself in the movement.
Q: Who serves on the SOS Steering Committee?
A: The committee represents a range of:
- Generations
- Geographic communities
- Backgrounds
- GirlTREK experiences
- Years of involvement
- Leadership and lived experiences
This diversity is intentional. The strength of SOS comes from bringing different perspectives into the same sacred circle.
Q: What is the difference between SOS, WOW and LOVE?
A: GirlTREK has envisioned several ways members can lend their wisdom, voices and experience to the movement:
SOS: Sacred Society of Sisters
Steering Committee: A trusted circle that helps protect GirlTREK’s mission, honor its legacy, listen to members, and guide the movement forward.
WOW: Women of Wisdom
Advisory Board: A circle of visionary sisters offering wisdom, insight, and strategic guidance to help shape GirlTREK’s path.
LOVE: Leaders Offering Vision & Experience
Member Input Tribe: A potential year-round circle of members who lend their voices, lived experiences, and perspectives through listening sessions, focus groups, and member feedback opportunities.
In short: SOS protects. WOW advises. LOVE speaks.
Q: Can I serve on SOS?
A: SOS is a selected steering committee, so membership is not an open enrollment opportunity.
However, GirlTREK is committed to creating multiple pathways for members to lend their voices and wisdom.
Want to lend your voice to the future of this movement? Members interested in future steering committees, advisory boards, listening sessions, focus groups, or other opportunities can complete the Member Input Interest Form when opportunities are available.
Q: What makes SOS different from simply completing a survey?
A: Surveys capture important individual perspectives.
SOS creates an opportunity for members to engage in deeper collective sense-making.
The committee allows members to:
- Hear different perspectives.
- Explore emerging themes together.
- Ask deeper questions.
- Connect lived experience to strategy.
- Help identify practical solutions.
- Continue conversations over time.
SOS is not simply about collecting feedback.
It is about creating a trusted relationship between member wisdom and organizational direction.
Q: What is expected of SOS members?
A: SOS members are encouraged to:
- Show up prepared to listen and contribute.
- Speak honestly and respectfully.
- Bring their lived experience.
- Keep confidential conversations confidential.
- Center the mission and the broader movement.
- Consider perspectives beyond their own.
- Offer constructive recommendations.
- Help create a space where other sisters feel safe sharing their truth.
Q: What should SOS members NOT expect?
A: SOS is not intended to:
- Manage GirlTREK staff.
- Replace organizational leadership.
- Govern the organization.
- Make operational decisions.
- Represent every member’s opinion.
- Serve as a formal complaint or customer support channel.
SOS is a trusted space for wisdom, guidance, reflection, and strategic member insight.
Q: What does GirlTREK hope to build through SOS?
A: SOS is part of a larger vision for a movement that listens deeply and leads collectively.
The ultimate goal is to build a movement where member voices remain connected to the decisions, stories, experiences, and strategies shaping GirlTREK’s future.
Q: Why does this matter?
A: GirlTREK has always been more than a walking organization.
It is a movement built by Black women, powered by collective wisdom, and strengthened every time a sister chooses to walk, lead, organize, care, and speak up for her community.
SOS helps protect that legacy. It reminds us that the future of GirlTREK cannot simply be built for members. It must continue to be built with them.
Learn More about GirlTREK's Steering Committee:
GirlTREK’s SOS Steering Committee SOS protects. WOW advises. LOVE speaks. This is what a member-led movement looks like.
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