Gossip Teen

Lourdes Leon accompanied her mother, Madonna in New York City to the 2nd Annual Bent on Learning Benefit. The event was sponsored by chic designers Alice + Olivia and had a performance by Ghost of the Saber Toothed Tiger (Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl’s band.)

Bent on Learning is an organization that provides yoga and meditation instruction to children in grades K – 12 to help with concentration, self esteem and overall health in New York City.

Lourdes really has a great sense of style. Love her look.

[images: Andres Otero/WENN.com]

Jordin Sparks takes being a role model seriously. The American Idol season 6 winner has recently posed for the ‘Drink Milk for a Change’ campaign, focusing on getting teens to make better choices for a healthy alternative to soda. Next up: the singer is part of “America’s Biggest Sleepover” project from BeingGirl.com to foster self-esteem in adolescent and teen girls all over the country.

Tell us about your decision to do Being Girl.

They asked me about it a while ago and I needed to see what was all about first. I saw BeingGirl, logged on, and thought, “This is so cool.” It’s an internet community for girls, by girls. The thing is a girl can log on from New York and talk to someone in Seattle about her issues- boy problems, puberty, whatever she is going through. Sometimes your friends aren’t always there when you need them. I just thought it was the greatest thing. I saw “Sleepover” and I love sleepovers – I was really excited to be a part of that as well. For every girl that registers $1 is being donated to the foundation called Protecting Futures. It’s a foundation that’s all about keeping girls in school. They hit me with a 1-2-3 punch.

Sparks truly takes it to heart her responsibility to all the girls who look up to her.

Go to BeingGirl.com to sign up for the sleepover on November 7th. Get your friends together that night and see an exclusive performance from the ‘Battlefield’ singer. Girl Power!

[image: Apega/WENN.com]

Having anything short of a perfect body in Hollywood is truly the last taboo. Actress Raven-Symone is speaking out to young girls to help them with their body issues. She is hosting a self-esteem workshop with 100 girls ages 11 and 12 in Cape May NJ, sponsored by Dove. Her philosophy for handling people critical of her is simple: don’t let it get under your skin.

“People come up to me and have certain words for me, but you know what I do? I say, ‘I’m healthy, I exercise, I believe in myself, and I think I’m beautiful,’ ” she says. “You just have to learn how to transform the pressures into something that doesn’t soak into you on a personal level. You see it, you breathe past it, you don’t let it sink into your self-esteem.”

And to enforce her positive mantra, if something’s got her down, Raven has a simple technique. “At the end of the day I’ll call my best friend and yell and scream and get it out,” she says. “And the next morning, it’s out of my system.”

She also calls her mom – who does what all great moms do – her mom builds her up and gives her a confidence boost. A great positive story about someone giving back and helping others.