Saving Our Daughters (SOD), a 501c-3 organization founded with the mission to support adolescent girls of color in overcoming social barriers such as bullying, dating violence, and low self-esteem, works to integrate our mission into dynamic programming for participants. Co-founded by actress Keke Palmer, SOD utilizes celebrity role models as mentors to educate girls beyond the limitations of the traditional classroom.
(SOD) took on a deeper meaning in 2009, when the Founders Debbie and Curtis Benjamin’s youngest daughter, Iliss Marie, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. In 2011, she sadly lost her battle to cancer at 12 years old. Since 2014, the engine of Curtis and Debbie’s work is fueled by the devastating loss of their daughter. In 2014, while on Broadway, acclaimed actress, singer, Keke, invited underprivileged girls, from the Bronx and Queens NY to the Broadway musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Palmer was the first African American actress to play Cinderella on Broadway.
This opportunity for the girls to watch their first Broadway musical with Keke in the leading role as the iconic Cinderella, was such an awesome experience that launched into an amazing program! Saving
Our Cinderellas. The main program under (SOD) reaches out to girls from multicultural backgrounds in an effort to encourage them within the arts to help deter negative effects of low-self-esteem and self-
identity.
Saving Our Daughters’ main responsibility is to introduce the participants to national opportunities in the arts, including integrating programming with film, television and theater. As the board trustees and Ambassadors include seasoned actresses, Naturi Naughton, Tiffany Boone and Grace Byers who have been with (SOD) close to a decade.