SOCCER STAR PUTS SHE’S THE FIRST IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT:
Student Lindsay Brown Named a Seventeen Cover Contest Finalist
The tie-dye cupcake bake sale fundraiser that launched a movement for girls’ education worldwide will reach millions of teen girls through the Pretty Amazing Contest, sponsored by Neutrogena
New York (June 07, 2012)–Seventeen, the leading teen magazine reaching 13 million girls, announced on Friday that Lindsay Brown, a rising senior at the University of Notre Dame and a founding member of the campus’s chapter of non-profit She’s the First, is a Top 5 finalist in its Pretty Amazing cover model contest. Her boundless energy and commitment to She’s the First’s cause—funding girls’ education in the developing world, not to mention starting her own empowering soccer program—helped her stand out among applicants. If she wins, she will receive a $20,000 scholarship from Neutrogena Wave for Change and appear on the cover of the October 2012 issue of Seventeen.
This contest means more than a personal achievement for Lindsay—it will also bring momentum to the 2nd Annual She’s the First Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off fundraising campaign, which Lindsay inspired. In September and October, students nationwide will join Lindsay in changing the game for girls’ education by signing up to host bake sales on campus. From November 12-18, their classmates will purchase the eye-catching tie-dye treats. In the process, they’ll sponsor girls at the eight developing world partner schools of She’s the First, located in countries like Nepal, Tanzania, Guatemala, and India, where four out of five girls don’t graduate from high school. Last year’s inaugural Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off raised $22,800 to sponsor 48 girls in just eight days with the participation of 100 teams across the nation.
“With Seventeen’s spotlight on Lindsay and the cupcake fundraising campaign, we expect young men and women here in the U.S. to connect with the mission of She’s the First on a never-before-seen level,” said Tammy Tibbetts, founder and president of She’s the First. “Internationally, the money we raise will enable girls who were condemned to a life of poverty to be the first in their families to graduate high school. This is an inspiring message for teens in the U.S., teaching them empathy along with valuable entrepreneurial, leadership, and social media skills.”
The tie-dye cupcake craze started in Fall 2010, after Lindsay, then a soccer player, and Maddie Fox, the goalkeeper, led the NCAA-winning Notre Dame women’s soccer players in organizing a campus bake sale of special tie-dyed cupcakes. The women raised $900, enough to sponsor three girls at the Kopila Valley School in Surkhet, Nepal. Meanwhile, Lindsay shared the recipe with shesthefirst.org; it quickly went viral among supporters. That summer, Lindsay traveled to Nepal to meet the girls she sponsored, and she formed the first girls’ soccer team in the region, teaching the young athletes confidence on the field and in the classroom.
The winner of the Pretty Amazing contest is chosen through public voting and by a distinguished panel of judges, including actress Emma Roberts, Seventeen editor-in-chief Ann Shoket, and celebrity blogger Jared Eng.
To support Lindsay and She’s the First, vote at seventeen.com/prettyamazing; share her story through social media (watch her impressive finalist video at http://ow.ly/bplpW); sign up on shesthefirst.org/cupcakes to host a tie-dye cupcake fundraiser of your own; or contribute to a girl’s sponsorship at shesthefirst.org/donate.
