Meet the Author
Gina Yrjänä
Join Gina as she shares a heart-centered narrative of resilience, moving from Kinshasa to Canada. Discover how she transformed her athletic passion into a literary beacon for young women through her work and the WriteHER Scholarship.
nine of ten
Be inspired by Gina's journey as an author and speaker. Your support of 'nine of ten' helps us empower young writers through the WriteHER Scholarship. Join the community.
nine of ten at Amazon and all major bookstores. Release: June 9, 2026
The Journey from Kinshasa
We invite you to journey along between two worlds. From the bustling streets of Kinshasa to the quiet country life in Canada. Gina’s story traces the fragile threads of belonging, loss, and identity. As she navigates adoption, race, and the ache of cultural grief, hockey becomes both refuge and battleground. When a life-altering injury shatters her plans, she is forced to confront the deeper questions of who she is and where she truly belongs. This memoir is a raw, heart-centered reflection on resilience, faith in God, and the courage it takes to rewrite your own story.
Introducing our 2026 WriteHER Scholarship Recipient:
Gina Yrjänä✨
Every year, we look for a young woman whose voice carries both the weight of her lived experience and the spark of what she’s ready to create next.
A voice that is still forming, still finding its edges, but unmistakably hers. A voice that deserves to be witnessed, supported, and amplified.
This year, that voice belongs to Gina Yrjänä. @gina.yrjana
Gina’s story begins in the in-between. Between worlds, between identities, between the longing to belong and the ache of not knowing where “home” truly is. Adopted into a life that felt both familiar and foreign, she grew up holding questions most adults struggle to answer.
And then she found hockey.🏒
The rink became her refuge—cold, sharp, honest. A place where she could move faster than her thoughts, carve her own path, and rewrite the narrative of who she was allowed to be.
Until everything changed. When a devastating injury pulled her off the ice, Gina was forced to face the parts of herself she’d tucked beneath the surface. What followed was not just recovery, it was reckoning. Identity. Grief. Resilience. The inner work required when the world you built outside begins to crumble.
Her forthcoming debut book, Nine Out of Ten, is raw, honest, and profoundly human. It is a story of belonging. Of loss. Of reclaiming the pieces of yourself you were once convinced you had to hide.
And it is exactly why the WriteHER Scholarship exists. To champion girls, female-identifying youth and young women who are ready to turn their lived experience into literature. To give them access, mentorship, editing, design, and a global platform to tell their truth. To close the dream gap, one brave voice at a time.
Gina, welcome to the family. We are honoured to walk beside you as you bring this powerful story into the world. Your voice matters. Your story matters. And the world is ready for what you’re about to write. 🖤✨
Gina will also be the keynote speaker at the annual DreamHER Brunch May 31 2026
nine of ten
Belonging
Gina Yrjänä’s journey took years navigating the intersections of race, cultural bereavement, and the intense discipline of competitive hockey. Her book nine of ten is her reclamation of that history—a poignant exploration of faith and identity in the wake of loss. Gina weaves a story to remind us that home isn't always a destination we find, but one we build through the courage to share our own truths.
