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Andrea Johnston and Gloria Steinem began Original collaborators included girls and women students, teachers and mothers from the ages of 9-71 who met in Andrea's living room during the summer of 1994. The YWCA of the USA and the Third Wave Foundation piloted the program in 1995. Our founding supporters include the Ms. Foundation for Women, UNICEF, Marlo Thomas and Alice Walker.Girls Speak Out Worldwide in 1994 to bring girls ages 7 and up together in positive workshops that explore their connections, history, research, strengths and strategies to celebrate their lives and overcome challenges. Andrea Johnston  Andrea was instrumental in creating a public forum for girls in the UN General Assembly as part of her mission to expand the places where girls belong. She is a co-founder with Gloria Steinem of Girls Speak Out, an advocacy organization working with girls and their supporters on five continents, whose latest project is a national initiative for orphaned and HIV/AIDS affected girls ages 7 and up in Kenya in collaboration with KENWA, WOFAK, and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Andrea is an expert on bringing people together in small and large groups no matter where or how they live; and in helping girls and women especially find common ground among themselves, and to celebrate their strengths. She promotes each girl's positive development and resilience, and travels internationally to help inspire people to be their true selves and connect them with friendly individuals and organizations. Andrea's book, Girls Speak Out: Finding Your True Self, is in its second edition and has sold over 90,000 copies. A 30-year veteran of public and private school teaching on both USA coasts, Andrea's groundbreaking articles on sexual harassment in public schools in Sonoma County, California, were among the first to highlight how girls and their mothers are using Title IX protections to level the playing field inside and outside the classroom. Andrea convened and helped organize the First National Girls Conference at UNICEF House in New York in 1997, which produced the Girls' Global Plan of Action on Girls' Rights, Media and Violence. She has organized and keynoted presentations in venues that range from the General Assembly of the United Nations, CNN Center and public housing meeting rooms in 20 states. Girls Speak Out is a recipient of a Soros Foundation/Open Society Award, and Andrea was recently honored as one of Fiji's Women of the Year. Andrea is currently writing an online column for and about girls and women at www.feminist.com. Gloria Steinem  Gloria Steinem is one of the most influential writers, lecturers, editors, and activists of our time. She travels worldwide as a lecturer and feminist organizer, and is a frequent media spokeswoman on issues of equality. She is particularly interested in the shared origins of sex and race caste systems; gender roles and child abuse as the roots of violence; non-violent conflict resolution; the cultures of indigenous peoples; and organizing across national boundaries for peace and justice.In 1972, Ms. Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine, and remained one of its editors for fifteen years. She continues to serve as a consulting editor for Ms., and was instrumental in the magazine's recent move to join forces with the nonprofit Feminist Majority Foundation. She was the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women, a national multi-racial, multi-issue fund that supports grassroots projects to empower women and girls, and also a founder of its Take Our Daughters to Work® Day, a first national day devoted to girls that has now become an institution here and in other countries. Parenting magazine selected her for its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 for her work in promoting girls' self-esteem, and Biography magazine listed her as one of the 25 most influential women in America. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She now lives in New York City, and is currently at work on Road to the Heart: America As if Everyone Mattered, a book about her more than thirty years on the road as a feminist organizer. Logo, Website and Animation Information Girls Speak Out Logo: Catherine Deeter, children's book illustrator and artist at www.catherinedeeter.com Original Website Design: Artistry of Amelia Bellows at amelia@ameliabellows.com Website Upgrades: Talents of Janeen Jang, www.eightize.com Animation Design: Vision of G. Melissa Graziano at GMGraziano@ucla.edu G. Melissa Graziano has been enchanted with animation filmmaking since fourth grade. After years of drawing and writing on her own, she attended Central Connecticut State University where she majored in Media Art and minored in Creative Writing. While there, she participated in a year-long study abroad at the University of Central Lancashire, where she studied Animation exclusively and met her fiance. After graduating from CCSU, she is currently attending the University of California at Los Angeles, working towards her MFA in Animation. Melissa has always been interested in not only telling stories, but using those stories to change people's perspectives on often sensitive subjects. Storytelling is how we learn, and it is particularly important when educating children to tell them stories that will give them a sense of compassion, creativity, and self-empowerment. She believes that animation filmmaking is the best medium to tell such stories because of its unlimited creative potential.  |
| I know girls can do the same things as boys do. Trina, 9, China |
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Chair: Milly Lee Children's Book Author and Activist Our Advisory BoardTreasurer: Martha Baker Founder of Equity in Education and Employment. Board Member Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee Misrak Elias Former UNICEF Representative to Jordan and South Africa Yualhia Hernandez GSO Program Alumna, Attorney and Children's Advocate Andrea Johnston Jane Anya Odong Founder Kiberan Women for Peace and Fairness, Girls Speak Out Kenya Liz Abzug Founder of the Bella Abzug Leadership Insitute (BALI) Alisa Amupolo GSO Program Alumna, Namibia Sandra L. Bloom, MD Founder of the Sanctuary program model Jane Fonda Founder and Chair of the Georgia Campaig for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP) GSO program participants Kamala Harris District Attorney, San Francisco, California USA Gloria Steinem Cindy K. Tew Founder of Darkness to Light Marlo Thomas Guadalupe Valdés Bonnie Katz Professor of Education, Stanford University Our Supporters & Collaborators Abigail Disney Alameda County California Library/Write to Read Project Amelia Rising American Association of University Women American Museum of Natural History Anonymous AYCAH Sierra Leone Bella Abzug Leadership Insititute Carol Hart, producer and director Center for Anti-Violent Education Center for Human Development Clarissa Pinkola Estés Colleen and John Place Janice Sandbank, Superintendent of Schools, Brewster, NY Joseph Mirro, Jr., M.D, Chief Medical Officer, St. Jude's Children Research Hospital Equality Now Feminist.com Fiji Women's Rights Organization Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP) Girl Scouts of the USA Girls After-School Academy (GASA) Girls Incorporated Girl Ventures Global Kids Inc Initiation des Femmes au Development (IFED) Congo International Educators and Research Network (iEARN) Judy Glassman Keker & Van Nest LLP Law Offices, San Francisco MAdeA Ms Foundation for Women Nimmi Solomon Nitchen-Fan (Native American Family Network) Planned Parenthood of New York City Princeton Center for Leadership Training SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation) Sarah Hinojosa Stephen Lewis Foundation Third Wave Foundation UN Focal Point for Women UNESCO UNICEF Victoria Wendel Women's Sports Foundation YWCA of the USA YWCA Toronto |