Monday, April 21, 2025
Lela Watson, 44, is the founder and president of I Am My Sister, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth — particularly young women — through community-based programming and mentorship. Originally from Jamaica, Queens, Watson moved to Glen Cove in 2017, bringing with her a wealth of experience, a deep sense of purpose, and a story that has shaped her organization.
Herald: How did your background shape your journey?
Watson: I was born and raised in New York City — Jamaica, Queens. I’m a graduate of NYU School of Business. So I have lived outside of New York for most of my adult life after college — Maryland, Atlanta, North Carolina — and so I came back to New York in 2016 when my grandmother got sick.
Fate led me to Glen Cove. I had a friend of mine who was like, ‘Oh, it’s a great area, great school system.’ And so I moved out to this area. No family. No real friends. And just started raising my kids. But before then, I had started the organization in North Carolina in 2010, because I wanted to create the support system for others that my grandmother and my family was for me and my sister.
Herald: Your organization is called I Am My Sister. Where did that name come from, and what does it mean to you personally?
Watson: It was really named because of my sister. I needed for her to understand that not only did I understand where she was coming from, with our difficult upbringing, because our mom was abusing substances, we were one in the same — that I was her and she was me.
Where a lot of times you hear, ‘I am my sister’s keeper,’ I didn’t want (that) name … because I felt I was more than her keeper. That’s how I see other young ladies and women… although we have different upbringings and different challenges, we’re still one in the same. We’re just navigating through life a little differently, but we are — we’re still one.
Herald: How did your upbringing influence your mission?
Watson: My mom was a teen mom and she was on drugs. At the time, I didn’t know my dad, and didn’t think I would ever really get to know him. It was hard. We struggled. My sister and I struggled with confidence and self-esteem, because the thought is that the foundation of your confidence and self-love comes from your parents. And when you don’t have that, you question if anybody will truly love you.
I was a family kid — I had my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins that were a lot older, and they gave us everything we needed: love, support, opportunities. But my sister really just wanted a love from my mom that my mom was not capable of giving her. And not that she may not have wanted to — but she wasn’t capable. (Watson’s mother) got into a lot of trouble — gangs and all kinds of things like that.
When I got pregnant with my oldest daughter, I had to make a decision on whether I was going to take the full ride to Yale and leave my daughter with my grandmother while I went to school — or I was going to go to NYU. I chose NYU because I just couldn’t leave my daughter. I wanted to do everything opposite of my mom, and so when I became a teen mom, like my mom was, it was heavy for me because I felt like I failed.
But I had a support system. I went to class. After class I came home. I worked — at times overnight at UPS — got off at four o’clock in the morning, came home, got my daughter ready for school, went to class … and I did that for years.
Herald: What was it like trying to relaunch your organization here in Glen Cove, especially while managing personal struggles?
Watson: Shortly after I got here, my daughter, Sydney, was struggling with the transition. She got in trouble in school … and she attempted to commit suicide. She was 14 years old. It was rough. I was a single mom at the time. My older daughter was in college … and it was just me. That’s when I was introduced to the support system that the Glen Cove school district provided. (It) provided her a bus every day to her therapy program. She was the only kid on that bus, but they provided that bus every day — and it took a weight off of me.
I reached out to a lot of agencies when I was trying to relaunch I Am My Sister here. The only agency that called me back was the Glen Cove Boys & Girls Club. They let me do a visit, and then I did a “Cupcakes and Conversation” program. From there we went to the high school and started a club — just like the ones that had been extremely successful in Maryland and North Carolina.
But then Covid happened, and things shut down. When they returned to school, we tried to restart, but there were no late buses for the kids, and it was hard for them to get home. So we scaled back, and focused on engaging the community first — so they could get to know who we are, what we stand for, and how we fill gaps.
We’re not just for Black girls. The reason why we do so many cultural events is because that’s where the gap is. We are less than 6 percent of the population in Glen Cove — but those kids still need representation. Our programs are for everyone, and our goal is to make sure that diversity isn’t just something people say — it’s something they can see.
