5 Questions with Hills Road Alumni Author Kim McCabe

...is that every girl grows up expecting guidance as she matures and knowing of a Girls Journeying Together group near to where she lives.
Hills Road student Rosie asked Kim 5 questions...

Q1). When were you at Hills Road and what did you study?
I was at Hills Road in 1982-4 to study A level economics, physics and double maths.

Q2). What are your fondest memories of your time at Hills Road?
Mostly it was the new friendships and that feeling of having more freedom.  Hours spent hanging out and heated debates in the smoking hut; I didn’t smoke but at that time all the people who interested me did.  Weekly lunchtime Alexei Sayle video-watching-society which was organised by our economics teacher.  Learning things that weren’t going to be examined like car maintenance and how to make cement and build a wall.

Q3). How did you get from being a sixth form student at Hills Road to becoming a successful author and company founder/director?
By following my heart.  Really.  I made a lot of decisions that didn’t look like they’d be the best for my career, but they were right for me at the time.  I’m attaching an article that I wrote for Aeva magazine which gives the story:

Click here to read more about Kim's journey...

Q4).  What is it you're striving to achieve through your book and company, and what is it that inspired you?
What inspired me was holding my baby girl in my arms and remembering my own difficulties growing up.
Through Rites for Girls I want to make girls’ lives happier, safer and better supported. 
We support preteen and teen girls in Girls Journeying Together groups meeting monthly preparing for puberty, guiding through adolescence and creating a group experience where girls don’t need to change anything about themselves in order to fit in; and at the same time supporting their mothers.  We also train women across the world to run these groups.
In my book ‘From Daughter to Woman’ I want to give parents more tools to parent their girls safely through their teens.

Q5: If you could give any advice to teenagers today, what would it be?
Find mentors.  Be a mentor.