COVERGIRL Celebrates Trailblazing Women #GirlsCan
COVERGIRL is celebrating the second year of its #GirlsCan program, a movement with a mission to empower young women to overcome barriers, break boundaries and be the next generation to rock the world. At a time when girls are preparing to go back to school and they, along with their mothers and fathers, are thinking about the future, COVERGIRL aims to inspire more women and girls to strive to make strides in areas where women are currently underrepresented, from technology and engineering, to media and sports, to entrepreneurship and beyond. To kick off the second year of the movement, COVERGIRL – which committed $5MM over five years to the cause – is sharing first-year results and also launching a video content series produced by journalist and documentarian Soledad O'Brien.
The content series features powerful stories of four women who have faced challenges, forged ahead and defied the odds to achieve their dreams, setting an example for many other women to follow. The pioneering women featured in the series include:
- COVERGIRL Becky G, an inspiring young Latina rap star, who has broken through on the charts in a male-dominated industry
- Geena Rocero, a transgender woman who has not only graced the cover of top magazines and ads for fashion brands, but is also an entrepreneur with her own production company
- Tina Garnanez, a former female military veteran coping with PTSD, who fought for years in the military, where women make up just 15% of the population
- Rochelle Ballantyne, college student, and currently the closest female in the United States to achieving the chess title of “Master” —there are only 50 female masters out of 846 in the US!
The series is available to view on the COVERGIRL YouTube channel at covergirl.com/GirlsCan.
“Women today are out there breaking barriers and setting records in all sectors of their lives but are still facing challenges that many people wouldn’t expect in the new millennium,” said Soledad O’ Brien. “We are so excited to work with COVERGIRL and share our series on how these courageous women are changing society. Their struggles are all real and relatable while their stories are inspiring.”
COVERGIRL has always believed that women CAN change the world and wants to harness the power and possibility of girls everywhere for boundary-breaking change, whether at school, at work, or in entrepreneurial pursuits. In the first year of #GirlsCan, as part of the $5 million-over-five-years donation, COVERGIRL collaborated with two non-profit partners to help impact change including Girls Who Code, and Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation. Through this programming, COVERGIRL:
- Helped Girls Who Code get closer to achieving their goal of closing the gender gap in computer science; helping fund 500 new Clubs programs for the 2015-2016 academic year. By the end of 2015, Girls Who Code programs will have taught computer science to 10,000 girls in over 34 states.
- Challenged Girls Who Code Clubs participants to design a mobile app that would empower women and girls to express themselves and celebrate their unique beauty. After working on their apps for one month, a panel of judges reviewed the submissions based on creativity/originality and the ability to communicate the concept clearly. Six winners were chosen including: Nithya Krishnamurthy, Kelly Zhong, Sonya Ganeshram, Sarayu Malireddy, Gabby Nathan and Giselle Gulik.
- Granted thirty-six scholarships over the next 2 years to young women in their pursuit to higher education to create high impact change for women in the future through the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation. Has helped over 1,000 girls take part in PowHERful summit events.
- Encouraged awareness of #GirlsCan and continued to impact change through a special retail promotion where purchase of a specially-marked mascara benefited two additional non-profit organizations, Step Up and Dress for Success
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