Board & Advisors

Chairwoman: Lindsey Pollak

Lindsey is an author, consultant, speaker and recognized expert on next generation career and workplace trends. She has over a decade of experience advising both young professionals and organizations on the changing world of work. She is a Global Spokesperson for LinkedIn and the author of “Getting from College to Career: Your Essential Guide to Succeeding in the Real World.” She has delivered consulting, keynote speeches and seminars for over 100 corporations, universities and conferences. Her advice and opinions have appeared in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Glamour, CNN, NPR and NBC Nightly News, and Forbes recently named her website, LindseyPollak.com, one of the Top 75 Websites for Your Career. @lindseypollak

Vice Chairman: Tom Kerns

Tom retired from his 30 year Wall Street career in 2010 to focus his efforts on enhancing community. He has headed the accounting and operations department for a $20 billion investment management company as well as being a Managing Director for product and business development at a major international bank. Tom currently sits as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of HK Community Fund, Inc, a community-based charity founded by he and his wife, Jeanmarie Hargrave. He is also the Chair of the Board of Directors of umojawa, LLC which is an online tool for community and civic engagement. In addition, Tom sits on the Board of Managers of the local YMCA. Other community projects included co-developing the local girls’ softball program and he also volunteers as a guest lecturer for an Advanced Placement: Economics course at a local high school.

President & Founder: Tammy Tibbetts

Tammy intended to become a journalist, but she turned into a social entrepreneur, as a result of intense volunteering and travels to Liberia when she was 22. When She’s the First launched as a YouTube video in 2009, she was working at Hearst Magazines. As a web editor from 2007 to 2009, she successfully founded three teen websites in the Seventeen network, and most recently, she was the voice of Seventeen on Facebook and Twitter, as the magazine’s first social media editor. She started working for She’s the First full-time in May 2012. Tammy lives and breathes She’s the First, oversees all elements of its sustainability and scaling, and is deeply involved in the U.S. student programming side of the organization. She’s currently training for her first half-marathon, to support the newest She’s the First campaign to sponsor girls’ educations this spring. @tammytibbetts

Director of International Operations: Christen Brandt

Christen runs the international side of She’s the First, from vetting partners and setting up sponsorships to overseeing the penpal program and working on documentaries. In the past few years, she’s held endless conversations with international organizations and delved deep into research to figure out what makes an education program work, allowing her to effectively manage the STF directory of partners and problem-solve issues facing girls’ education. She has thus far visited with our partners in India and Guatemala, and will in 2013 travel to East Africa to visit our five partners located there.

Christen comes from a background of media and magazines; after graduating summa cum laude from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, she moved to NYC to join the staff at Parents magazine. Most recently, she worked for Glamour as a contributing editor, running their Top Ten College Women contest. @cjbrandt

Sloane Davidson

Sloane is founder of TheCausemopolitan.com and Director of Social Media at mcgarrybowen, an award-winning global advertising and digital agency. She has over 12 years of experience in communications, marketing, strategic partnerships and social media. She is a nationally recognized speaker on “social media for social good” and has raised more than $1.5 million for nonprofits. Sloane spent 2009 volunteering for various projects worldwide, including St. Bernard Project in New Orleans and working in microfinance in the field as a Kiva Fellow in the Philippines. In 2012, she visited Starfish One by One, the She’s the First partner program in Guatemala. @sloane

Nicole Goldin

Nicole is a global development and social innovation expert specializing in policy, strategy, research, engagement, communication and partnership. She is the first Director of the Youth Prosperity and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) – in partnership with the International Youth Foundation (IYF). Until December 2012, she served as Senior Advisor for Policy at the U.S. Agency for International Development where she managed policy/strategy creation and engagement processes as well as inter‐agency development initiatives, particularly focused on youth and adolescent girls issues. Nicole has lived, worked, and traveled in over 50 countries across all 7 continents. @NicoleGoldin

Rachel Sklar

Rachel is a writer and social entrepreneur based in New York. She is the co-founder of Change The Ratio, which increases visibility and opportunity for women in tech & new media, and TheLi.st, launching this January with that same mission (supported by the Knight Foundation). A former lawyer who writes about media, politics, culture & technology, she was a founding editor at Mediaite and the Huffington Post. Rachel was named to the Silicon Alley 100 in 2009, 2010 and 2011, FastCompany’s “League of Extraordinary Women,” Forbes’ “Women Changing The World” and has earned numerous honors and awards for her writing. @rachelsklar

Cari Sommer

Cari is a lawyer turned entrepreneur. She is the principal of a boutique communications firm that develops thought leadership and media campaigns for education, technology and professional services firms. Cari is a contributor to Forbes.com and also the Co-Founder of Urban Interns, an angel-funded company that connects growing companies with part-time help and interns. The company was named One of America’s Most Promising Startups in Business Week. From 2006-2009, Cari served as the Chair of the New York Board of Directors of Step Up Women’s Network, a national nonprofit dedicated to connecting and advancing women and girls. @carisommer

Secretary: Stephanie Guzman

Stephanie Guzmán is a junior at The City College of New York (CCNY), where she is studying a double major of political science and public relations. She completed the prestigious Partners for Change Fellowship at the Colin Powell Center at CCNY, where she focused on increasing college access among low-income, first generation New Yorkers. Stephanie is a two-time New York Women in Communications scholarship winner. She indulges in American history and dance, and she aspires to work as a political campaign manager. stephanieguzman@shesthefirst.org

Treasurer: Ezinne Kwubiri

A proud alumna of Howard University, Ezinne received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting in 2004. After graduation, she began working for one of the (then) Big Four accounting firms in Washington, DC. A few years later, realizing that a career change was in order, she followed her heart back to her hometown of New York City where she landed a position as an Audit Manager in Production & Operations with MTV Networks. Ezinne is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. ezinne@shesthefirst.org, @IAmEzi

Advisory Panel

Pro Bono Law Firm: Proskaeur Rose LLC
Office Space: Select Office Suites
Members of Founding Team: Blaire Briody, Rachael Datello, Bridget Nelson Monroe, Emmie Twombly