Founder's Profile

Elleanor Jean Hendley is an Emmy Award-winning former television news journalist and public school teacher with extensive management and leadership experience in education, youth development, and community affairs. She is also the founder and CEO of EJ Hendley Consultants, LLC, a company that specializes in youth development and education. The signature program is Girls Achieve, a school day series of life skills workshops for adolescent girls.

For more than twenty years Ms. Hendley worked at the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she held numerous positions during her television career. She was the Eyewitness News education reporter, producer/host of a weekend primetime magazine show broadcast for ten years, and the Director of Public Affairs.

In 1985, while working fulltime at the television journalist, Ms. Hendley founded Teenshop, Inc., a volunteer weekend program for 'girls with goals'® that has been nationally recognized for its innovative series of workshops, field trips, community service projects, and college tours that encourage academic excellence and promote abstinence. Teenshop has five chapters... four in Philadelphia and one in Los Angeles, and ALL graduates attend college or pursue other postsecondary goals.

Ms. Hendley has been honored with many awards from community groups, local governments, and with a Congressional Citation for outstanding community service and excellence in broadcasting. For her work with Teenshop, she received the coveted 'Take the Lead' Award from the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Pennsylvania, as a woman 'whose leadership in philanthropy builds strong people and communities.'

Ms. Hendley is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the Forum of Executive Women, a founding member of the Philadelphia chapter of Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Delaware Valley Links, and a charter member of the suburban Philadelphia branch of the National Association of University Women. In her leisure time, Ms. Hendley is a world traveler, jazz piano student, avid doll collector, and accomplished seamstress.

Email: founder@teenshop.org
Founder's column: COLORS

A school day program to empower adolescent girls