A Hopewell resident with roots in Chester has written a leadership training guide and book to help teenage girls make the right choices.
Laymetha Reed Guy is a vocalist, musician, speaker and author. She has been active in church music ministries since she was a young girl. She was a Chester resident from 2005 to 2015 and opened a music studio on Osborne Road called Lady Sings Productions. In 2015 she moved the studio to Hopewell when she and her husband, Linwood Guy, also a musician who plays bass guitar, found a home that was already set up with a music studio. The home allowed them to live and work at one site, eliminating the cost of renting a separate space.
Guy’s musical roots were established as a young girl when she sang in a choir and later learned to play the piano in the Middle Peninsula. As an adult, she saw that small churches in isolated communities needed music directors, so she hit the road filling in the gaps. She has routinely traveled to three or more churches a week, including one two hours away. Linwood travels with her.
Being involved in church as a youngster heavily influenced her music and philosophy on life. Laymetha is a positive thinker even when things are tough.
In 2009 she took early retirement from her job at Phillip Morris to care for her ailing father, who died a year later. The following year, her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and once again, Laymetha became a caregiver. Her mother passed shortly after her diagnosis. As if losing her parents was not enough, Linwood was laid off during that same time period and the couple faced a financial crisis. That is when they found the house in Hopewell.
“I believe God can put things in the right place even when you are at your worst,” Laymetha said. “That’s when God is at His best.”
Teenage pregnancies
Guy had a life history of looking to God for answers to problems. She had been mentored by family members and church leaders. But in some of the churches she attended, she found a void when it came to mentors for teenage girls. As a result, teenage pregnancy was rampant, especially in the small communities where she served.
Laymetha began to see a pattern in teen pregnancies at one church in the Northern Neck. In an 11-year period, nine teenage girls became pregnant out of wedlock. The pastor, parents and church leadership were frustrated by what seemed to be a pattern, but no one knew how to stop the pattern. Laymetha began to investigate. She used her music platform to get to know the girls and their families, influences and feelings of self-worth.
The church was in a small, isolated fishing community. While fishing supported families’ incomes, it also created strong feelings of separation and anxiety. Family unity suffered, unplanned pregnancies became the norm and the cycle repeated from one generation to the next.
Laymetha is all about teaching the gospel and Christian principles, but the message just wasn’t sinking in. She decided that it would take much more than just preaching to be effective. She began to talk to the girls and parents and learn more about how they made their decisions. It really got back to the basics, she said.
They felt they first had to please others to be loved, which indicated that self-worth was missing and plans for the future seemed somewhat irrelevant as the fathers were always out to sea.
As a result of her findings, Laymetha created a leadership training guide for girls age 13 to 15 called Promise Academy. “We put girls together and talk about protecting your body and keeping it sacred,” she said. “The program teaches girls to stand up for themselves and think their way through situations and not react to situations. It prepares them for conversations [where they]may let their guard down, words that flatter and influence decisions that can have negative life-changing consequences.” Typical topics are prom night, coed road trips and college parties.
“We talk about keeping yourself surrounded by positive people and influences to help you succeed after college and become a responsible adult,” Laymetha said. “How what you learn in school translates into real life, like friendships, career choices and finance.”
She authored a book titled “Preserving the Gift” which compares girls to precious jewels, like diamonds. Diamonds are not easy to find and should be cherished. They shine when they are prepared and polished.
“I felt like God gave me the words for this book,” she said. “The chapters just fell into place. I stopped when I felt like it was complete.”
The book is the first for her, but she is working on a follow-up book that will give more detail about the steps to prepare for adulthood. She is using the book as a tool for workshops where leaders can learn how to discuss delicate topics. The workshops have been conducted in churches and through the Mega Mentors program, which brings positive role models together to mentor students in sessions at middle and high schools.
Guy would like to do more workshops in Chesterfield and the surrounding area. She believes the book and discussions can be helpful when discussing sensitive issues.
“I want to equip girls with the tools they need to make good decisions in their lives,” she said, adding “so often parents and teachers want to shy away from these intimate topics.” Laymetha prefers to meet them head-on.
For more information, go online at thepromiseacademyofva.com.
