empowering women and girls

Under An African Sky

It has been too long since I’ve been under an African sky. More than 25 years have passed since last I breathed in this amazing continent. I left her with South Africa still under apartheid, AIDS unheard of and the Mozambican civil war endlessly raging.   Most of us think we know the narrative of […]

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I Give Because I’m Selfish

It’s year end donation time. Honestly, it makes me a bit sad how charitable organizations plead for final year end funds, reminding us to get our last tax deductible gifts in before the financial year ends. About one third of all giving happens in December and over one-fifth happens in the last two days of […]

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Why Should Every American Care About Who Serves on Corporate Boards?

Morra Aarons-Mele, Founder of Women Online, Harvard Business Review blogger and life long advocate of women’s leadership, answers: “Women now hold 15.6% of the board seats of Fortune 1000 companies–but companies with a higher percentage of women on their boards perform better–it’s that simple.” On 12/12/12 people in almost 20 cities will hold lunch events to discuss […]

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Why is the World So Focused on Girls? Malala Day!

The world recently celebrated the first International Day of the Girl. One of the ways we marked this important milestone with our friends at GirlUp and their partners, on a marathon 12 hour twitter chat. Participants joined from all over the world—from Afghanistan to Tanzania, from the United Kingdom to the USA—to share thousands of tweets and links […]

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Why is it International Day of the Girl?

It’s International Day of the Girl because 77.6 million girls worldwide are not enrolled in school. It’s International Day of the Girl because in certain parts of the world, 1 in 7 girls are married before they turn 15. It’s International Day of the Girl because when a country educates 10% more of its girls, […]

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My Interview With Women Deliver: Because Women Really Do

Jill Sheffield, President and Founder of Women Deliver, as a young nurse in Kenya, met a woman who was 25. This woman had 11 pregnancies, and 6 living children. She was desperate to be able to take care of her body and have the health and strength to care for the children she had. It set […]

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Is Social Good Just Noise? Or Are We Really Doing Something?

Social media and technology don’t change the world. A phone doesn’t feed a hungry child. A tweet doesn’t save a mother from dying in childbirth. A Facebook page doesn’t overthrow dictators. And yet I’ve just spent three days immersed in the world’s biggest social good conversation at the Social Good Summit. I left reinforced in […]

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Why Social Good Summit is My Favorite Event of the Year

Three years in to the ground breaking event that is the Social Good Summit, I still pinch myself that I get to be a part of it! A host of conversations with world leaders, companies, nonprofits and representatives from various United Nations agencies opens up the world of the UN to the world via digital […]

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I’m Walking in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in NYC Tonight!

You guys!!! Strut. The Fashionable Mom Show is at Lincoln Center in New York City tonight, and I’m in it! Egads! The theme is real mothers, wearing fabulous outfits styled by Rent the Runway! I went for my fitting on Friday afternoon and they are such a delightful team. Blaire, our show stylist is warm and practical […]

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Bloggers: You WANT To Do This! Join the Social Good Summit in NYC Sept 22-24!

I got to shake Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s hand at last year’s Social Good Summit. I’d like to write that in caps, but I don’t want you to think I’m shouting at you. I still freak out when I think about it. Desmond Tutu people!!! AMAZING. OK, now I’m shouting — but it’s the joyful kind :). […]

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