Real Girls, Real Leadership: 11.30.11

Each day, real girls are being real leaders.  Get inspired by their stories:

• Lexi, 14, was frustrated by the fact that there were no female hockey players in the NHL video games she loved playing.  So, she wrote to the gamemaker, calling the exclusion of female players "unfair to women and girl hockey players around the world."  Because of Lexi, female avatars will be used for the first time in NHL 12.  Even better?  The default avatar is modeled after Lexi!
• Stephanie, a high school senior, is an editor for the yearbook, plays tenor sax in concert band, and lettered in tennis this fall...all while recovering from a brain tumor. 

One Step Closer.

Today, we took an important step forward in the creation of The Center for Girls' Leadership. The Articles of Incorporation were sent off to the Minnesota Secretary of State to be filed!

Now the waiting game begins. Once the Articles are filed, we become an official nonprofit corporation under Minnesota law. So exciting! A special thank you to Gina, Salena and Gregg from UST School of Law for helping us draft our Articles of Incorporation!

In other news, we have an official logo! The lovely Colleen Dolphin of Dolphinography created a wonderful image for us to use:

We just love it! A huge thank you to Colleen for contributing her creativity to The Center for Girls' Leadership!

Happy Tuesday!

The Board.

We have a Board of Directors!  Five amazing friends and colleagues have signed on to help the Center for Girls' Leadership take it's initial steps as an organization.  It's all very exciting.  We will have bios of our board available shortly!  If you are interested in joining the board or want more information about the CGL, contact us at girlsleadershipproject@gmail.com!

Also, stop by our facebook page and 'like' it to get updates on our org!

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In other news, I'm attending the MN Council of Nonprofits Annual Conference this week.  I'm so excited to learn everything I can about the MN nonprofit landscape and best practices.  It won't hurt to do a little networking either!  Another step in making The Center for Girls' Leadership a reality!

Real Girls, Real Leadership: 10.4.11

Each day, real girls are being real leaders.  Get inspired by their stories:

• MaryAnn, 12, and her cousin Sam were honored as heroes for saving the life of a six-year-old girl who nearly drowned in an apartment pool.   MaryAnn only learned to swim a year ago.

• Brianna, 18, kicked the winning field goal for her high school's football team, moments after being crowned homecoming queen.  The kick was her personal best.

Do you have a Real Girls, Real Leadership story to share?  Email us at girlsleadershipproject@gmail.com.

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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