PINK was a girls’ conference designed for pre-teens and teens. Its focus was self-esteem. Its purpose was to encourage young girls in the importance of a proper self-image – the image as God sees them.
According to the New York University Child Study Center, girls’ self-esteem peaks when they are about nine years old, then takes a nosedive. The study goes on to say that eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression are the most common mental health problems in girls. By age 15, girls are twice as likely to become depressed than boys. Among 5th-12th graders, 47% said they wanted to lose weight because of magazine pictures.
Romans 12:1-2 tells us to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
That is exactly what PINK worked to do – help girls learn to see themselves and their bodies as wonderful works of God, to be treasured and kept holy. Through teachings, scripture memory, interactive group activities, and music, girls learned ways to resist the temptation to compare themselves to other people and pictures in magazines, as well as and how to be more in-tuned with “perception versus reality” in this image-conscious, media-driven world.
The PINK conferences were lead by multiple keynote speakers, including singer/speaker Emille Victoria, a former member of the Christian Latin girl-group Chica, and the co-founder of the conference.