The focus is on girls' problems rather than their strengths. The girls with whom Sullivan spoke resisted this model. Based on her interviews and survey, Sullivan advocates a more mutual, two-way relationship for women and adolescent girls, wherein each participant draws out and benefits from the other. In this model, both women and girls thereby contribute and enhance their own strengths and creativity. Women who are muses, rather than mentors in the traditional sense, listen to and respect girls.
Women face many challenges in forging authentic, nurturing relationships with girls.
Sullivan advised women to accept girls for who they are and not focus on molding them into a particular type of person for the future. Finally, women need to make connections across differences of race and class in order to bring together their experiences in a positive way. These findings have changed the way Sullivan conducts her research. She continues to look for methods to value girls' voices and encourage their strengths. Women at the networking breakfast, who were primarily practitioners, found that Sullivan's results resonated with their own experiences.