Laurie Sliva                                         

   Founder
Facilitator & Life-Skills Trainer

Laurie grew up the second oldest in a family of four daughters...talk about dealing with the roller coaster that is the life of teenage girls!  Her mother has spent the last two decades "saving the authentic selves" of her four girls.  Laurie has always been passionate about helping others, and after her personal six-year battle with bulimia and seeing so many women of all ages struggle with negative self-perception, body-image issues, eating issues and some degree of self-loathing -- she wanted to do something about it.  BRIDGES Camp is the culmination of more than 10 years of work, research and experience.  Laurie's mission is to help young women to love themselves, to realize their worth and then to pay-it-forward helping more girls realize the same!

Laurie graduated from the University of Arizona in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Consumer Resources with an emphasis on Adolescent Development and a minor in Psychology.  She wrote her Honors thesis on the design of a prevention program for adolescent girls titled, "B.R.I.D.G.E.S. Building Relationships Involving the Development of Girls' Empowering Selves."  Laurie has more than fifteen years of experience in:

       1.  Facilitating leadership training with middle, high school and college students
       2.  Designing, developing and delivering peer mentoring programs in schools
       3.  Training students in the 'art of mentorship'
       4.  Writing curriculum and designing materials for youth programs
       5.  Creating youth leadership, mentoring activities and training outlines
       6.  Staff development training
       7.  Facilitation training (train-the-trainer)
       8.  Having FUN working with YOUTH talking about what's REAL

Laurie was nominated and selected for The Phoenix Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Award Class of 2009, which recognizes leaders who have made contributions to business, their communities and the quality of life in the Phoenix area.

Laurie resides in Chandler, AZ with her amazingly supportive husband, Ivan, and her two wonderful kiddos:  intelligent, imaginative, energetic six year old son, Jax, and miss mellow, sweet and sassy, two year old daughter, Maci.