These 3 Girls are Presidential in our Eyes: Leaders Present In Many Forms
We are in the heart of an exciting election year. And if you’re a first-time voter, we have you covered with everything you need to know about voting.
While we are actively analyzing the current Presidential candidates, we also wanted to share a list of some amazing Girls With Impact grads who have impacted their communities (and beyond!) by creating companies from their passions and personal missions related to diversity, inclusion, helping those who are dealing with and affected by deportation, and helping those with disabilities.
Read on for more about these 3 leaders who are presidential in our eyes for the work they have done, and for what we are excited to see them achieve:
Girls With Impact Who are Leaders:
Jody Bell
Jody was a part of the first Girls With Impact Academy program where she created A Case of Deportation in response to what was happening at her school in Greenwich, and the larger community, as a whole.
“My friends were dealing with teenage stress and the stress in worrying whether their parents would be detained,” said Jody.
Affected by this, Jody took action by creating A Case of Deportation, an online resource for youth by youth to help immigrant children and teenagers learn how to prepare for the possible deportations of parents or guardians.
“With Girls with Impact, I was able to take issue and apply the business skills I learned to create my business,” she said during her recent appearance on The Gen Z Project.
Jody then went on to receive $20,000 in college scholarships and was accepted into an honors business program. She was also featured in the press on AP News, The Washington Post, and New York Times.
Currently in college, Jody is a firm believer in entrepreneurship for GenZ and future generations. “Entrepreneurship is impactful. I think entrepreneurship is a key to solving problems so many GenZers care about.” She also noted that the program helped her to be more confident, understand business and put her on a different and stronger path - combining her love of policy with entrepreneurship.
Kristen St. Louis:
Kristen is the creator of Mirror Me Diversity, a website that provides youth and those who care about youth the opportunity to have access to diverse books.
Kristen focused on creating a business based on what she knew, which was books. And while she is a lifelong lover of books, she also realized that none of the characters looked like her. She said, “I could see from a young age that there was a limited amount of books featuring people of color, especially in my school curriculum and on my reading lists.” She added, “Diverse books and diverse readers are for everyone.
Through her company, she is on a mission to provide diverse books to classrooms across the country, as she is doing her part to create an inclusive written world for youth by exposing them to diverse characters and storylines. This is an incredible response to the call for diversity and inclusion that GenZ is demanding right now as seen in important issues like Black Lives Matter.
This includes the ability to purchase books through her website or donate where books can reach those who might not be able to obtain them. Her business venture has opened her eyes to the power and possibility of entrepreneurship.
She added, “Entrepreneurship gives you the tools to create the future you want to see.” “It enabled me to bring my idea to reality and provided a way to make change tangible.
Kristen has since been featured on CNN and is currently applying for college.
Anika Mistry
Anika Mistry is the creator of Dead Mine VR, a virtual reality aid that teaches individuals with developmental disabilities, such as down's syndrome or autism social-emotional skills, which is an ability to react an emotion in a social setting and react appropriately.”
Typically, these individuals are dependent on others or require a behavioral specialist that is a very expensive resource that many don’t have access to or can’t afford.
In response to this, Anika teamed up with the University of Santa Cruz to make a video-based aid that is effective, affordable, and accessible so that anyone with a developmental disability can experience a realistic interface.
Her incredible aid was developed during her time at Girls With Impact. She added, “After Girls with Impact my confidence rose. It showed me that I have the ability to take something and make it possible. Programs like this show us we can make change.”
In speaking about support, she noted, “We need more teachers and other generations to believe in us. We are the future and we are capable of this.”