News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 17, 2018

November marks the second anniversary of Blessons, a non-profit helping women rewrite their stories

CHICAGO — Khit Masoud knows a thing or two about rewriting stories. From a "domestic abuse victim and cancer patient" to a "non-profit founder and cancer survivor,” she's rewritten her own, countless times. As the founder of Blessons, a Chicago non-profit, Masoud has spent the last two years helping other women rewrite theirs, too. “Turning your wounds into wisdom is so powerful,” says Masoud. “My passion is helping women because of the adversities I have gone through in my life.”

Masoud’s own struggles are what motivated her to establish the nonprofit organization Blessons, now celebrating its second anniversary by being named one of the charity partners in the BOA Chicago Marathon of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. “It’s rare for an organization as young as ours to get a coveted position as a BOA charity partner,” says Masoud. “It will bring much needed funds to grow our program so we can help more women.”

Blessons has five guaranteed race entries available until November 29th for athletes who’d like to bypass the lottery process to run the 2019 BOA Chicago marathon. Click here for more information.

Blessons supports all women through educational advancement, workshops and mentoring to provide a holistic approach to female excellence. For nontraditional, female students over the age of 25, Blessons also offers bi-yearly scholarships. These recipients, much like Masoud, are continuing their education despite all hardships. “Once you’re over 25, you don’t have these resources available to help you go back to school,” Masoud says. “If you’re under a 2.0 [GPA] you can’t even apply for scholarships. What makes our program and charity different is that I do not have a GPA requirement because I believe you should not have to pay for your past.”

Within two years, Masoud’s organization has provided six scholarships, more than thirty-two free workshops for women and in upcoming years hopes to keep increasing those numbers. Because of Blessons’ scholarships, women have been able to attend trade, vocational, technical schools and colleges, and re-enroll in classes, and even start their own businesses, each having the opportunity to rewrite their story for the better. As for Masoud, her goal is to have so many applicants that she must write for a grant for more money. “What better business for me than to have a business where every day I’m helping people. It’s very humbling,” says Masoud.

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Blessons is a nonprofit organization that empowers all women to help further their education through scholarships and continue their success through mentorship, self-love and self-care. By helping women view blessings from challenging life lessons as ‘blessons’, the charity provides a safe community to women who have endured hardships such as cancer, mental illness, forced marriages, physical or emotionally abusive relationships, and those who are first-generation immigrants, in advancing themselves economically. Since 2016, Blessons has sought to help women who would like to further their education and dreams, showing that it is never too late to succeed. Advancing women, advances the world. For more information about Blessons and ways to help, please visit www.blessons.org.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Tori Joray

Director of Media Relations

(331) 442-2444

tori.joray@loop.colum.edu