This dream has a name.

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This dream of mine finally has a name.  The Center for Girls' Leadership.   Inspiring girls today to lead tomorrow.  I'm just so excited!  What do you think of the name?!

I spent last week attending Leadership Academy in Ohio where I participated in the Facilitator-in-Training program.  I was able to observe other facilitators and I learned so much about my own facilitating style in the process.  Leadership is all about self-development but it's a process.

As for the next steps, I need to finish my strategic plan, budget, and draft the mission and vision statements before October.  Time to go make it happen!  

What is your dream?  What are you doing to make it happen?

Weekend Reading: 9.10.11

Here are a couple articles to add to your weekend reading list:


Leading Muslim Girls Onto the Field:  "Coach Fartun Osman, a rare female professional basketball player in her homeland, has made it her life mission to develop the athletic and leadership skills of Muslim girls, who she says often are overlooked by traditional sports teams because of cultural differences."


Teen Mom Stayed In School:  "Pregnant and frightened at age 15, Bayza Weeks was told that her school, DeLaSalle High, believed in her. She did the rest."


Ladies That Know How to Lead:"These women leave a path of success, leadership and new methodologies behind as they continue to grow rather than destruction, devastation and questions of what is to come."


Power Dressing: "It’s really impossible to come up with a formula for successful political style. It’s all about the wider political, cultural and personal context."


Millenial Women:  "Young adult women are working diligently to chart their own course forward professionally and personally, and their experiences chronicle the under-reported human costs stemming from failed policies and the lack of opportunity. Professional goals, personal plans and the momentum for advancement have either been placed on hold or are at-risk of stalling completely – Millennial women know America can do better."

Sunday Inspiration: 9.4.11

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Weekend Reading: 9.2.11

Here are a couple of articles to add to your weekend reading list:

JCP pulls "Too Pretty To Do Homework" shirt from shelves.

New research says you can spot a future bully by age 1: "There was clearly a subset of babies, as young as age one, whose birthday-party bullying was corroborated by their mothers' reports of anger and aggression - suggesting a general disposition in these children."

Dealing with Teachers: "You have the power to put yourself in a positive light, regardless of how boring or unfair or bad tempered you believe your teacher to be."

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Girls and the Digital Age

Check out this Today Show video on girls and the digital age.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Moving Forward.

This project is quickly becoming a reality. Six years ago, I wrote in a journal that my dream job would someday be to run a place that develops young leaders. Fast forward five years and I'm a lost law student who has slowly realized being a practicing attorney might not be my calling. A couple months ago, I pulled out that old journal looking for a quote and found my dream staring at me. Since then, like any good dream, it has been constantly in the back of my mind.

About a month ago, I decided to take the leap and commit. I am starting my own nonprofit focused on developing leadership skills in young girls in Minnesota. We are moving forward!

And I am so blessed from the start. One of my classes, Law of Nonprofit Organizations, has chosen my project to take on as a "client." This means I'll have legal assistance and another point of view as I draft the legal documents that will become the structure of my dream. The legal help will start in October so before then I have my work cut out for me. I need board members (3), $800, the start of a budget, and a real vision of what this organization is going to be.

I have my work cut out for me!

Weekend Reading: 7.22.11

Here's a couple articles to add to your weekend reading list:

American girls sweep first-place in the Google Science Fair: "This is just a reminder that women are fully capable of doing same or better quality work than men can."

A long way to go after the Women's World Cup: "Although participation in sports has become a given for women and girls in our country, the freedom to sweat doesn't universally apply, and in countries where females are otherwise held back politically and socially, sports tend to be on the list of closed doors."

A list of the Top Ten Topical Leadership Books

Feminism and Introverted Girls: "Feminism does and should train women to speak and communicate, in large and small groups, and everything in between...introverts, including shy introverts, often make terrific public speakers."

Happy weekend!!