My background is in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on Positive Psychology, which is a branch of psychology focused on the character strengths and behaviors that allow individuals to build a life of meaning and purpose. What became impossible to ignore, both in the research and in real life, is that adolescence is such a pivotal time for girls. It's a time when many outside forces start shaping how they see themselves, what they believe is possible, and what opportunities they'll actually have access to. I always asked myself what would happen if girls, at that stage of life, were given the tools and support they needed to lead? That question became the foundation for Global Girls G.L.O.W., an organization that serves girls in over 30 countries to help them find their voices, confidence, and power.

There have been many, as you can imagine. Last fall, I was in Kenya attending one of our summits and I met a young woman named Neema. She grew up in deep poverty, with a father who subjected the family to domestic violence. She told me she used to wonder how she could change herself into the "boy my father always wanted" because she had been told, over and over, that her life mattered less. With the guidance of mentors and her peers, she eventually found her voice. She connected to a community that believed in her and she became a leader who now shares her story openly to advocate for other girls. That's why this work exists and that's why I will never stop doing it.

Girls often connect deeply with peers who share similar experiences, especially when those moments of vulnerability happen within their own communities. When one girl speaks up about her challenges, it can create an immediate sense of understanding and belonging. That's the power of peer connection within the GLOW Club model. It builds confidence, fosters leadership, and shows participants that their voices matter. At the same time, this growth is guided and strengthened by trusted adult mentors: women from the community who provide consistency, perspective, and support. Together, this dynamic creates a powerful, layered model where girls are lifting one another up while also being supported by mentors who help them navigate challenges and stay grounded. The result is lasting impact, where leadership is both nurtured and sustained over time.

Nearly one in four countries have reported growing backlash against women's rights. Global funding cuts have devastated critical services in some of the world's most underserved communities. Most countries are not on track to achieve gender equality, and in many places progress is reversing. The barriers that alarm me most are the ones that compound: violence in the home that interrupts education, early marriage that ends a girl's future before it begins, and the deep psychological damage of being told repeatedly that you are worth less because you are female. What Global Girls G.L.O.W. does is create a counterforce to all of that: a community, a skill set, and a belief system that tells girls the opposite is true. Sometimes that community is the difference between a girl who survives and a girl who leads.

I spent years in research and I have a deep belief that good intentions without evidence are not enough. More than that, I think the girls and communities we serve deserve accountability. If we're asking families and community leaders to trust us with something as precious as their daughters' development, we owe them proof that it's working. Our outcome evaluations consistently show that girls experience real, measurable growth in confidence and positive future outlook. Critically, they show improvement in girls' lives and progress in their communities beyond the program itself. That last part is what encourages me most. We're not measuring a temporary lift in mood. We're measuring whether girls become the kind of leaders who change the world around them. And they do.

They've taught me to completely rethink what strength looks like. The girls I work with (many of whom are navigating circumstances that would level most adults) lead in ways that are quiet and relentless and deeply communal. They don't announce their resilience. They just keep going. They show up for each other without being asked. They advocate in rooms that were never designed to include them. What they've given me is a much more honest understanding of courage: it's not the absence of fear. It's continuing to move toward the light even when you can barely see it. I carry that understanding into everything I do.

The transformation is real, and it's visible. I've seen mothers watch their daughters stand up and speak in community meetings and quietly decide that their daughter will not be married off at fifteen. I've seen boys in the same communities begin to rethink what they've been told about gender simply because the girls around them are showing them something different. The data supports all of it: educated, empowered girls drive down poverty rates, reduce child mortality, strengthen local economies. You invest in one girl's confidence and leadership, she influences all those around her, and the multiplier effect that results is stunningly transformative for the community. The ripple doesn't stop.

I'd tell her that not being able to see the path yet doesn't mean the path isn't there. It means you get to build it. And you don't have to build it alone. Some of the most extraordinary leaders I've ever met, women who now stand in front of the United Nations, who run organizations, who have changed laws, started exactly where you are. They had nothing but a conviction that things could be different and a refusal to accept that they couldn't. Courage isn't the absence of fear, but the strength to act in spite of it. Don't wait until you feel ready, because that feeling rarely comes before the leap. Muster your courage and make the leap. Find your people: your GLOW Club, your community, your tribe, because leadership was never meant to be a solo act.

Meaningful progress would look like a world where girls no longer need programs like ours just to survive: where the systems around them, the schools, the governments, the families, the cultural norms, are built to support them from the start. We're not there yet. My vision for Global Girls G.L.O.W. over the next decade is to continue deepening our reach and our evidence base: connecting more girls to the leadership development they deserve, expanding our U.N. advocacy, and demonstrating, beyond any doubt, that investing in adolescent girls is the highest return investment any society can make. I intend to spend the rest of my life building it.