Speaker talks to teens on self-esteem

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - A nationally known motivational speaker who wrote a book on helping teenage girls build their self-esteem spoke in Springfield on Tuesday.

Robin Reed shared her ideas with 12 and 13-year-olds at the Springfield Boys and Girls club. The main message: “don't follow the crowd and give in to peer pressure.”

“Everybody was like picking on this little girl there and she couldn't dance and everything, and then I started making fun of her and then I thought to when I was back in the fifth grade and how people used to make fun of me and then I stopped and I kind of felt bad about it,” said Destiny Montalvo, a 13-year-old from Springfield.

Robin Reed calls her program happiness through choice. And the kids agreed following the crowd is no way to develop character.