The belief Judge Glenda Hatchett’s father instilled in her that led to her historic success: ‘I still believe him’

Judge Glenda Hatchett is gearing up to release a new children’s book, “Goal Girls,” to guide readers to dream big.

Before the Honorable Glenda Hatchett became a legendary and award-winning legal presence on television screens and in Georgia courtrooms, she was a young girl growing up in the Deep South with big dreams and a father who made sure she believed they were possible.

“For as long as I can remember, my father always said to me that I could be anything in the world that I wanted to be, and I believed him, particularly at a time when the world didn’t expect very much of a little colored girl growing up in the Deep South,” the Atlanta native told theGrio during an interview just days before Women’s History Month started.

She added, “I believed him as a child, and although he has long passed away, I still believe him.”

That belief her father instilled in her, she said, would go on to shape the trajectory of her life.

Hatchett, who currently practices law at Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys and leads Hatchett Consulting Group, is a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and Emory University School of Law, where she was an Earl Warren Scholar. She made history in 1991 as the first African American chief presiding judge of Georgia’s Fulton County Juvenile Court, earning national recognition for her work in youth reform and alternative sentencing, before later becoming a household name as the star of the syndicated courtroom show “Judge Hatchett,” which ran from 2000 to 2008.

From 2014 to 2022, she also founded and ran The Hatchett Firm, a national law practice handling cases including wrongful death, catastrophic injury, medical malpractice and product liability. Throughout her career, she has received numerous honors, including the Roscoe Pound Award for outstanding work in criminal justice and the NAACP’s Thurgood Marshall Award.

Now, she’s hoping to pass that same sense of possibility on to the next generation. On April 7, the 74-year-old television icon and longtime youth advocate will release “Goal Girls,” a children’s alphabet book created to encourage young girls to dream boldly about their futures. There’s official merch available at the “Goal Girls” Shop, including apparel like t-shirts and denim jackets, as well as accessories like knit hats, baseball caps, and engravable jewelry. 

While the book is new to upcoming readers, it’s been in the works for years. 

“It was in a file in my computer for some 15 years,” she said. “I pulled it out recently because of the times that we’re in now. I think that the timing is really perfect for this now.”

The author said the book is rooted in a simple but powerful premise: encouraging children, particularly young girls, to imagine what they could become.

“The premise of the book is very simple,” she explained. “It starts off by saying, ‘So the next time someone tells you can’t because you’re a girl, you tell them you can.’” 

Written for children ages three to eight, the book follows four young girls—a Black child, a Hispanic child, a white child, and an Asian child—as they move through the alphabet, imagining themselves in different careers. Some are traditional, like a doctor or a judge, while others challenge expectations, like a president.

At the end of the book, Hatchett invites young readers to participate in the dreaming themselves.

“The last page of the book has little scissors, and I’m encouraging parents to let the children either draw or write their dreams and to post it on the ceiling,” she explained. “Because I wanted to be the first thing they see every morning when they wake up, and the last thing they see every evening before they go to bed.” 

The idea, she said, is to start those conversations early.

“Research says that the earlier that children understand and start talking about the dreams, the better it is,” the judge said.

And as many adults can attest, those early ambitions rarely stay the same.

“I was going to be a pediatrician when I was in elementary school,” Hatchett recalled with a laugh. “I had two younger brothers, and then that blood thing when they were getting hurt. I’m like, This is not for met. And even you know, when I was going to go away to college, I thought I was going to be an aeronautical engineer. I was going to go to MIT. I mean, how different my life ended up being.”

Instead, Hatchett became one of the most recognizable figures in American law and television. But she says the point of encouraging children to dream isn’t about locking them into one path.

“It doesn’t have to be set in stone,” she explained. “But at least you should be thinking about it and knowing the key is knowing that you aren’t limited.”

Hatchett hopes “Goal Girls” will spark those conversations not just for children, but for the adults helping guide them.

“The real purpose of this book is for children, but also for parents, for teachers, for mentors to have these conversations with our children about really thinking about dreaming boldly,” she expressed.

For Hatchett, that encouragement from the adults in a child’s life is crucial. It’s also why she pushes back strongly on the idea that today’s younger generations are somehow “lost.”

“I get really irritated when people who say that,” she said. “How dare people label that generation as a lost generation?”

To Hatchett, writing off young people ignores the responsibility adults have in helping shape and guide them.

“If they’re lost, then what was our responsibility for them getting lost?” she asked. 

“Goal Girls” is currently available for presale through March 31, with proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.