10 Highlights from the Girls With Impact Summer 2020 Graduation
Last weekend, we celebrated the accomplishments of our Summer NextGen Social Impact and Innovation Academy graduates with an inspiring Zoom graduation. The event was attended by over 200 guests, including our graduates and their families and friends and coaches as we all came together to honor their incredible achievements during our 10-week Academy. The power of our digital classes allowed girls in four countries and 13 states to come together as they collectively delivered around 16,000 projects and activities and participated in over 1,000 hours of class time!
Jennifer Openshaw, CEO and Founder of Girls With Impact said, “This is all about teaching the next generation to lead from the top. Girls with Impact gives them the tools, the confidence and the knowhow to do that.” She added, “We focus on entrepreneurship to help girls move up the ladder.”
During the presentation, some of our graduates had the opportunity to pitch their ideas ‘shark style’ to attendee where they shared their ideas, business model, and goals for the future. This included Naila Gomez who shared her presentation for her company Sisters United with its mission to ensure that all Black and Brown young people are seen and heard while Selene Morrow, Founder and CEO of De Arte shared more about her intentions to sell her artwork to raise money for cancer awareness research and treatment funding. Additionally, we heard from Anisha Shashidar of Bee-f-fs and Lauren Liu of #Learn. The presentations were thoughtful, impactful, and well-researched—demonstrating the many facets of what they learned throughout the program.
Judy Zhu, formerly of Amazon, L’Oreal and Uber, also spoke at the graduation where she discussed her prolific career, which led to founding Money Girls. She spoke about leadership and being a CEO where she noted, “You are a leader when you see something that you think can be better.”
During the course of our NextGen Social Impact and Innovation Academy, our girls learned many facets of developing a business, such as how to develop a business model canvas, the power of goal setting, establishing finances, creating vision statements and much more. Through this impactful online program, they also developed entrepreneurship skills, including how to present and package their ideas and truly stand out. Below, we’re sharing some of the key highlights from our Summer 2020 session, plus information on how you can join us in the Fall!
Girls with Impact Summer 2020 Graduation highlights:
Girls learned how to investigate (and ignite!) their passions.
Girls learned about how to turn a passion into an idea and finally into a venture idea. This led to developing a business plan, prototype and presentations.
Students learned how to express themselves and create their vision statements, including both their why and how they will achieve these goals in their prospective businesses.
Girls conducted SWOT analysis where they learned how to distinct the marketplace
Girls also learned how to analyze the competition and better understand what other brands in the marketplace are doing.
Girls learned to innovate. The projects and ideas they created were fresh, innovative and fun!
They utilized marketing strategies and techniques to make their impact by understanding the importance (and use) of various marketing channels. This included a discussion on social media marketing, email blasts, word of mouth and more.
They also learned how to develop a meaningful marketing plan, including how to organize outreach and what each tier would look like.
Girls also learned very important budgeting skills, including how to create a financial summary and how to create a projected revenue and expenses outcome.
Girls also learned how to speak with purpose and confidence as they delivered their presentations and pitches.
Throughout our NextGen Social Impact and Innovation Academy, our girls learned the skills that they will need to make an impact in the world. They developed tech skills, experienced a boost in confidence, increased their cash management skills, and felt 100% more empowered! And this is just the beginning for our graduates. They will have additional opportunities for further coaching, the ability to work with a mentor, the chance to participate in our Girls With Impact Ambassador program or join us for one of our Future Ready workshops.
We are so excited for our girls and all of the opportunities that await them!
Interested in joining Girls With Impact for our next session on September 14th or checking out our workshops? Discover more about our programming and workshops!