Do you ever stay up realllly late, wake up at the crack of dawn, add tons of responsibility onto your shoulders that sometimes weighs you down…but sometimes gives you wings? It’s the lifestyle that I’ve come to know very well this past year. I see the same dedication from my She’s the First, She’s the First*{Campus}, & GIRLS WHO ROCK teammates whenever we gear up for big fundraisers & campaigns. It worked: We sponsored more than 150 girls in 2011!
Why do we work so hard? Well, every once in a while, we see stars twinkle on the social media frontier…aka meaningful YouTube videos created by girls themselves. We are reminded that She’s the First itself started as a YouTube video…and look at it now! I expect the same miraculous growth from these three:
Gabriella created the “It Only Takes a Girl” video for her college admissions application –and it went viral. I emailed her and invited her to guest blog for shesthefirst.org. Here’s what she wrote us:
I am just a girl interested in the health and education of girls and women everywhere. I always have been. But ever since I began applying to colleges (I am a senior in high school), I have really had to take a step back and ask myself a few important questions.
Who am I? What do I want? What am I going to do with my life?
Recently, I realized that what I truly want is for every girl and woman on this planet to have opportunity–the opportunity for good health, a good education, a good job, and a good life.
One scholarship application in particular really challenged me. The instructions were simple: Do something. Something to show us who you are and what you care about. So I made this video.
The movie-making process, from writing the script to uploading the final version onto my website (itonlytakesagirl.org), took me just over a month. I made what felt like a billion cards with the help of my sister Sierra (15) out of poster board and Sharpie. My other sister, Celeste (14), helped me a lot with the filming, and my mom, Jessica, assisted me with setting up and running the website. Almost 50 girls and women, most of which are students, parents, and even a grandparent of my high school, are featured in my video.
I posted the link to my movie on Facebook so my friends and family could see it. But a few people shared it, and their friends shared it, and theirs, and so on, and after only a week, I had gotten over 100,000 views on YouTube! It has been truly humbling and inspiring to see how far and fast it has spread. The internet is truly a powerful thing. But I am just so grateful that my message–and the message of every girl around the globe–is getting out there.
Juie is a 13-year-old in London who found us on Twitter! She made this video:
@shesthefirst Aw Your Welcome I Love She’s the First and when I heard what it was about, I Instantly loved it. Thank You xo
And then there are videos from girls like Grace, a student we sponsor in Tanzania, via AfricAid. Grace emailed us two weeks ago and asked:
i would like to have you views about my digital story. Also i would like to know arethere any other girls in USA who have the same ideas like mine? and if theyare there what are they doing to make sure that they are succeed?
So there you have it. A girl from Lousiana, London, Tanzania. Each so unique, yet their dreams so universal. They live extremely far away from each other, yet share common ground on YouTube.
On the days when we’re navigating through our busy work & volunteer lives, videos like these really do glimmer like stars, and we know we’re going down the right path–for girls’ education.
What do you think after watching these videos? Team She’s the First & I hope you will join us to double the number of girls we can sponsor together in 2012!
