Pinky Promise is an organization founded by Heather Lindsay, a graduate of Michigan State University and a preacher. According to her blog, Pinky Promise was founded in January 2012 for women to “promise to honor God with your body and your life.”
Coleman, the founder of IU’s chapter of Pinky Promise, said she brought the group to the IU campus for personal reasons.
“When I came here, I was just a little discouraged because I felt like I couldn’t grow in my relationship with God here by myself,” she said. “My freshman year I could just kind of see myself lowering my standards, kind of compromising and trying to fit in. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to live a life that’s not pleasing to God.”
Coleman said she had been thinking about bringing Pinky Promise to campus since last year, but did not know what she had to do to get it here. Then Adhanom came to her about creating an organization for women on campus.
“One day, I had approached her and was like, ‘Oh, I think we should start an organization for like women that is, like, a positive thing we can do together on Fridays and Saturday nights so that it can take them away from all the other stuff that goes on at IU,’” Adhanom said.
Coleman said that since then, she and Adhanom have been seeking out advisors and doing paperwork to bring Pinky Promise on campus. Both women talked to Lindsay Echols, senior assistant director for Multicultural Fraternities and Sororities for Student Life and Learning, who was interested in helping.
Echols is now on the constitution, a document that breaks down the organization. Coleman and Adhanom also reached out to Kimberly Jenkins, a Groups Scholars Program advisor who is interested in being an advisor for Pinky Promise.
“I’ve had meetings with the both of them several times,” Coleman said. “Normally they just want to follow up with me, see what I’ve been doing, see what events I want to do, kind of let me know the direction to go or who to talk to for whatever I need.”
On Oct. 24, Coleman and Adhanom said they held a call-out meeting for Pinky Promise in Bridgwaters Lounge of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center with almost 60 attendees. They said the meeting was about what Pinky Promise is and the goals for IU’s chapter.
“I just really want it to be a sisterhood. I want people to rely on each other. I want people to call each other when they’re in trouble or in need of help and to be able to grow together to please God in their lives and their everyday decisions,” Adhanom said.
Senior Audrey Moore, a member of Pinky Promise, also said she feels like the organization is necessary to keep students from shying away from God.
“The culture here is focused on drinking, partying and sex, and college students typically shift away from church and attending church,” Moore said. “They may have grew up from a church background, but when they came here, looked around and saw that nobody else was doing what they may have wanted to do or may have been raised to do, they go the other way.”
Coleman said Pinky Promise meetings won’t start until next semester. The group is thinking about having meetings once a month, but hasn’t set a date for the first official meeting.
Coleman and Adhanom also said Pinky Promise members can get together outside of the meetings for social events, community service and mentoring.
As of now, Adhanom and Coleman use an email list to keep in touch with the women who are interested. Adhanom and Coleman also created an Instagram account for IU’s chapter of Pinky Promise.
“I want Pinky Promise to grow as large as it can possibly be, and like we said, not just (in) the black community but other communities,” Coleman said.
