Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Tabitha D. James Has Spent a Decade Building a Leadership Movement for Rural Young Women in South Carolina

In rural South Carolina, opportunity can be separated by miles instead of merit. For the past ten years, Tabitha D. James has been making sure geography never decides what a young woman is capable of becoming.

James, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., is the founder of the SHE Is Me Mentoring Program, a South Carolina based nonprofit that serves young women throughout the state’s Pee Dee and Grand Strand regions. This year, the organization celebrates ten years of mentorship, leadership development, scholarship, and service.

She built it on a straightforward belief: when young women are surrounded by intentional mentorship, meaningful opportunities, and a community that believes in them, there is no limit to what they can accomplish. In communities where talent is everywhere but access is not always equal, SHE Is Me was created to help close that gap through leadership development, financial literacy, career exploration, college and workforce readiness, community service, and life skills programming.

A decade in, the results are measurable. To date, 97 percent of SHE Is Me alumnae have pursued education or career pathways beyond high school. Graduates have enrolled at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Predominantly White Institutions, and technical and trade schools. Others have entered the workforce or joined the United States military. The through line is not a single destination but a group of young women prepared to thrive wherever their paths lead.

Leadership is one of the program’s defining outcomes. Former participants have gone on to serve as student government leaders, campus ambassadors, orientation leaders, scholarship recipients, business owners, educators, healthcare professionals, and community advocates. The program has also helped cultivate future members of the Divine Nine, with alumnae represented across three of the four historically Black sororities. Today, SHE Is Me graduates wear the pink and green of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the crimson and cream of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the royal blue and white of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

That spirit of collaboration extends across Black greekdom. Over its ten year history, SHE Is Me has been supported by members of all nine historically Black Greek Letter Organizations, from South Carolina and across the country, through financial contributions, volunteer service, mentorship, professional expertise, and in kind support. Each organization carries its own history and identity, and their shared commitment to uplifting communities has strengthened the work.

For James, the awards and programs matter, but they are not what she celebrates most.

“The meetings, awards, programs, and recognition all matter,” she says. “But what matters most are the relationships. Years later, our young ladies still call, still visit, still ask for advice, and still know they have a community cheering them on. That is the impact I treasure most.”

That philosophy has shaped SHE Is Me into an intergenerational community where current participants, alumnae, volunteers, parents, and community partners stay connected through shared purpose. For James, her membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha has strengthened her belief that service matters most when it creates opportunities that continue long after the work is done, reinforcing the sorority’s emphasis on scholarship, sisterhood, and service.

Beyond SHE Is Me, James is a nationally recognized strategist, speaker, and nonprofit consultant who helps organizations strengthen their impact through strategy, storytelling, and community engagement. She currently serves as the Chartering President of the Alpha Delta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in Dillon County, where she helped establish the county’s first graduate chapter of the sorority.

She views the ten year milestone not as a finish line, but as a foundation for the next decade.

“There is still so much work to do,” she says. “Every young lady deserves someone who believes in her before she fully believes in herself. If we can continue creating those opportunities, then the next ten years will be even more impactful than the first.”

To learn more about SHE Is Me and its work with young women across rural South Carolina, visit sheismeacademy.org/tenyear.