Editor-in-chief Bob Safian wrote a hand-written note! Thank you, @RSafian.
We have some news that will rock your Twitterverse this morning…She’s the First was named to Fast Company‘s League of Extraordinary Women! I am sure you realize that what She’s the First is today is more than I ever initially dreamed it would or could be…and that’s because of YOU, our donors and key players on our volunteer team. Among them, Christen Brandt, Director of International Operations; Cynthia Hellen, co-founder of our GIRLS WHO ROCK fundraiser; our first-ever Chairwoman Karen Karpowich and Board Directors; the founders and directors of our partner schools (my true heroes)…and countless others.
This high-profile recognition of She’s the First pushes me, our first full-time employee as of this May, to work even harder to be worthy of keeping company with Hilary Clinton, Oprah, and First Lady Michelle Obama…and especially the woman who created the Girl Effect, Maria Eitel of Nike, seen on the cover of Fast Company. (Read the bottom of this post to see why this brings us full circle!).
Our listing among Fast Company‘s “Heroic Projects” proves a bunch of ordinary people, including myself, can join forces and together make an impact that is truly extraordinary. Now let’s show what more our Millennial social media muscles can do!
- Tweet: We can make this issue dedicated to women leaders and girls’ global welfare the best-selling, most-shared story package of the YEAR. Fast Company and editor Bob Safian have asked us to tweet with hashtag #ImWithTheLeague. You, yes YOU, are with the League if you support She’s the First! So get tweeting, because this is what we do best!
The @AAHUganda girls in print!
- Take Action: You will notice that the photo on page 87 of Fast Company is of girls from our partner school in Uganda, the Arlington Academy of Hope. I ask that you contribute to a summer fundraising campaign to sponsor girls at AAH, right here on the From NYC to AAH page started by our teammate Carla Blumenthal. She and her roommates, Taylor and Allison, are taking a self-funded trip to the school on July 20 and want to sponsor 20 girls along the way!
I’m enthralled looking ahead to the future of She’s the First! But I couldn’t help but look back to the past: I dug up the very first time I ever put She’s the First in writing, to Christen Brandt in a Facebook message, dated May 13, 2009, when I was 23-years-old. Christen, thank you for not being overwhelmed. 
At the MCF Academy we’re building in Liberia, I want to launch a program that teaches everything you described should be stressed. I had the idea of creating a campaign – so it could be applied globally, like the Girl Effect (thegirleffect.org) – called She’s the First. Fitting to launch in Liberia, since it’s the nation of Africa’s first female president. I outlined the mission of it below, if you’re interested in learning more…now I’m just figuring out how to create a video PSA that could virally get the awareness out there…I want to put a dream team of young people (like you!) together to create this…
..oh my gosh, just got an idea!! I’m going to flesh it out then can we talk soon? i would love to include you in this…and other NYWICI girls I’ve met recently who speak to the same goals/beliefs. Where are you living now? p.s. I’ve never been to DC and would love to visit you there this summer on a weekend!
ok, here’s the She’s the First thoughts (I bought shesthefirst.org too!) hope this isn’t too overwhelming!
Mission:
Empower girls from third world and underserved communities to break cultural and economic barriers. Give them the skills, awareness, and education to realize a dream, even if it has never been done before in their family or world history. Inspire girls to give back to younger “sisters,” so that as the first to achieve something, they also are not the last.
