Executive Director, The W. Agency, Inc.
“There’s no glass ceiling if there is no ceiling.”
Elle Harris has donned a host of leadership titles and mentor positions at local nonprofits, civic leagues and churches, but recognition is not what Harris is after. With a deep seated passion for young women and mental health, Harris navigated her way through these organizations to discover and repair lapses in effective care. Harris’ solution: to establish her own company. The W. Agency. helps mental health organizations better their programs and increase the impact they have on community members. Harris also founded the World Wide Women Group, a club dedicated to shaping confident female leaders through specialized trainings and workshops. Reflecting on her need for positive female influences during her childhood, Harris launched The Rebelle Summit to teach young girls that it is never too early to chase their dreams of success.
What would you like readers to know about mental health?
Mental health has been a historically shunned industry, but we are finally at a place where society is beginning to embrace its importance. Therapy is normal, suffering in silence is not.
Define entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is having a solution to a problem the world needs an answer to and being crazy enough to do whatever it takes to ensure that problem is solved.
What is one thing the members of World Wide Women Group have taught you?
The girls I have worked with through the Rebelle Summit have taught me to be brave, fearless and confident. Brave in doing things the world has never seen done before. Fearless in taking unorthodox approaches. Confident in knowing that we are on the right path with the initiatives we create.
Grace Silipigni
Grace Silipigni is an elementary school Spanish immersion teacher based in Virginia Beach and a regular contributor to Coastal Virginia Magazine, covering a wide range of topics such as health and wellness, education and learning, food and drink, happenings and events, travel and getaways and more.
