http://blog.girltank.org/

girltanker Spotlight: Noreen Bautista

Mon, 20 May 2013 04:50:11 -0400

Check out this guest blog post by Noreen Bautista of Jacinto & Lirio! Her venture transforms a Filipino weed into high eco-fashion.

It’s very insane for someone fresh out of college to plunge in the world and build a social enterprise startup. But that’s what we did!

That’s the story behind Jacinto & Lirio.

It really all started as a college thesis. My co-founders and I were taking up an entrepreneurship class that required us to come up with an actual business. We thought of the idea of using Philippine indigenous materials, because our country has so much abundant natural resources, but the potential hasn’t been fully tapped yet. That idea led us to travel to the province of Laguna, a 3-hour drive from the south of Manila. That was where we met community livelihoods working on the water hyacinth plant. We found out that it was one of the most invasive aquatic plant pests in our country, to the point that it hastened many devastating floods, especially in the surrounding towns of Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines. Because of its over-proliferation, the government and private sector came up with programs to control the growth, and some of those programs involved livelihood projects that turned the water hyacinth stalks into woven products.

But what really caught our eye was a community-based innovation that made the stalks of the plant look like leather. You see, we were not the ones who invented the water hyacinth leather material. But it was local artists who thought of a way how to use the plant’s stalks in an innovative manner. We instantly fell in love with the concept and saw the potential for it in the fashion market because of its sleek and shiny look, its versatility for color, and the genuine innovativeness that it had.

Since then, we’ve been working hard to create a brand that will really tell the stories of the innovative talent and materials here in the Philippines, and are making sure we build a business that creates real value for all!

Find out more about Noreen’s venture and invest in her vision: http://girltank.org/campaigns/filipino-innovative-technique-makes-beautiful-and-eco-friendly-handbags/

girltanker Spotlight: Laurin Hodge

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:57:48 -0400

Check out this guest blog post by Laurin Hodge of Mission Launch & The Returning Citizens Project! Her venture turns former inmates into entrepreneurs and innovators.

I totally never planned to be this person; yet, I did not pick prison, prison picked me.

As a result of living the incarceration life cycle (pre-trial, trial, post-trial, incarceration and re-entry) with my Mother, I fully understand: (1) people do not go to prison, families do and (2) the time to plan for re-entry is before you go to prison.

From the moment prison was on my family’s radar we began preparing for what life would be like in August 2011 – the month my mother would come home from prison. Over the course of the last 2 years we discovered that three things are critical: (1) resources (2) technology and (3) an opportunity.

I’m Laurin and I live and work in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region.

Running between two cities – Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD – I have piloted 2 unique efforts to address the gaps in the 3 critical areas I mentioned above. The GirlTank platform is providing an amazing opportunity to raise the $50,000 I need to seed my efforts. With proof that my theory works we can go on to reach millions of returning citizens, their families, their neighbors and the economies they contribute to and rely on.

Having an “us versus them” mindset when looking at prison re-entry is not only socially unsafe but it is economically costly. Every week more than 10,000 people re-enter society after some form of correctional supervision and I believe we, all of us, can do better to help citizens return.

So I’m committed to building web and mobile technology that makes finding supportive communities and managing life after prison with greater autonomy possible. Likewise, I’ve built a solution for motivated returning citizens who are willing to commit to the path of entrepreneurship as a means to create their own opportunity – since nearly 70% of women and men won’t get a job after prison.

The more we shine the light on the fact that 1-in-33 Americans are or will be incarcerated the faster we can work to help lift our returning citizens up to rejoin the core of society in a safe and sustainable way.

Find out more about Laurin’s venture and invest in her vision: http://girltank.org/campaigns/locked-up-but-not-locked-out-former-inmates-are-our-next-big-innovators/

girltanker Spotlight: Karima Grant

Fri, 10 May 2013 01:05:00 -0400

Check out this guest blog post by Karima Grant of ImagiNation Afrika! Her venture uses play to churn out Africa’s next batch of creative and radical leaders.

Friends!

SO excited to be joining the Girltank global family and having the opportunity to connect with you, fellow changemakers and dream-believers!

In advance, thank you for taking the time this month, to get to know me, my team and explore the powerful possibilities we are building (with your help) for viable creative change for African girls and boys.

The past month has been an exciting one! We have just finished our ‘In The Footsteps of ICT Girls’ program and exhibition and have just received the Senegal Country Award for Excellence in Educational Entrepreneurship from the UK NGO Teach A Man To Fish.

As we journey with the young people in our program toward the June launching of our exhibition ‘Next Stop: Brooklyn/Dakar’, I look forward to sharing with you our challenges and successes.

Until soonest, keep imagining!

Find out more about Karima’s venture and invest in her vision: http://girltank.org/campaigns/first-childrens-museum-in-all-of-sub-saharan-africa/

girltanker Spoglight: Faiza Hajji

Wed, 08 May 2013 02:43:00 -0400

Check out this guest blog post by girltanker Faiza Hajji! Her projects IFASSEN and Dar al Amal aim to jumpstart a green economy in Morocco.

Don’t tell me one single woman can’t change the world. If I had thought so, nothing would, indeed, have changed. But I never stopped believing that I could do something, with my own means, to improve the situation of my region of origins.

Picture this : an isolated Moroccan region and city, Berkane, where plastic bags follow the wind’s breaths and fly among people, cars and donkeys. When you live the city you are struck by the emptiness of its countryside…at first sight! Since, when you have a closer look, you notice that it is far away from being empty. You go on and meet so many people, shepherds, children, men… The time is like frozen : nothing moves, everybody waits. For what? A taxi to go to the city, a bus to go to school, or a little sun to warm up after a cold morning. Just waiting outside because nothing happens at home.

Actually you don’t really see women outside. They take care of the kids and of the house, cooking, cleaning up, weaving… When you come to know them, you realize their life has nothing to do with yours. You were the lucky one : born in Berkane in a family where girl’s education and independence was fundamental. Most of rural women in Eastern Morocco can’t read nor write. They barely went to school.

That’s when I got an idea : teach them how to weave alpha, a local plant, together with recycled plastic bags. Once graduated, I created the Association du Docteur Fatiha (ADF), from the name of my deceased mom, to empower women and fight for environmental protection. We gather rural women in cooperatives: they become a group which is trained and receives literacy courses. To provide them with the raw materials they need (i.e. plastic bags), ADF establishes collecting spots in the city and organizes awareness-raising campaigns in schools of the region. In that way, two issues are addressed in a raw, which creates a sound virtuous circle. This is for what I’ve been doing since 2008.

Today, it’s time for the association to step up. I want to build an innovative center, dedicated to promoting a local and green economy. It will be a place where hope is possible. For all those graduated and dynamic young people who can’t find a job and change country to try building a better future for themselves. For all those impoverished young people who have ambition but no means to envision a different future from their parents’. For every man and woman willing to contribute to the improvement of their life and their environment, or willing to act for their community.

For all those great people who need a little help to kick off their project or take charge of their own future, I want to build this place.

Find out more about Faiza’s venture and invest in her vision: http://girltank.org/campaigns/an-awesome-way-to-re-take-a-polluted-city-in-morocco/

girltanker Spotlight: Celeste North

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:29:00 -0400

Check out this guest blog post by girltanker Celeste North! Her venture NuFlick promotes Latin-American culture with an innovative video-on-demand platform.

I’ve always liked movies. For me, they are one of the best ways for someone to express feelings, ideas or to share what they consider important. But film is the most collective of all arts, thus it requires a lot of money. Painting, making music, other types of art you can do on your own, filmmaking requires a community to create and to share.

Before NuFlick I was a filmmaker, and I had a group of people that believed in the importance of creating our films but we lacked a space to reach our audience. Self-distributing wasn’t as easy as it is now and traditional distribution channels continue to be very expensive and closed to many indie artists.

Out of this frustration NuFlick was born, with the mission to enable independent filmmakers to publish and distribute their work to a public eager to discover and share films with different points of view to what was regularly catch at the cineplex. We’ve been focusing mostly in Latin America, where production is strongly tied to government grants and distribution is a bigger problem than producing.

So far we have over a hundred films published and everyday we strive to grow and become a megaphone for incredible artists that lack a stage. You can help us in achieving this mission, join us in disrupting the Latin America Film Industry.

Find out more about Celeste’s venture and invest in her vision: http://girltank.org/campaigns/cool-online-streaming-platform-for-indie-latin-filmmakers/

Our Crowdfunding Platform Launches Today!

Wed, 01 May 2013 04:43:46 -0400

Women and girls with big dreams for social change! Check out the first eight in our brand new crowdfunding class!

Our Crowdfunding Platform Launch - Only 6 Days Left!

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:16:50 -0400

We won!

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 07:40:00 -0400

We are the winners of the Women in the World “Mothers of Invention” Award sponsored by Newsweek/The Daily Beast & Toyota! Woo-hoo!

L'Oreal USA: Empowering Girls to Become S.T.E.M. Changemakers

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:47:00 -0500

from the desk of girltank Cofounder, Sejal Hathi:

I believe that all girls are a powerful movement: a brilliant and unstoppable force that can solve even the world’s most intractable challenges, if only they are granted the tools and opportunity. For five years, I have worked to empower this movement, by founding two organizations, Girls Helping Girls and now girltank, to equip girls globally with the training, mentorship, and support networks to create sustainable social change. We have partnered with thousands of young women, from 104 countries, working to sculpt a better world. And the tenacity and enterprise of these budding changemakers never cease to inspire me. Yet too often, from Brooklyn to Accra, these same young women struggle to translate their intent to action. They advance promising ideas, but critically lack the technical training and support to build out their own visions.

I am a young woman social entrepreneur, and I am worried. I am worried because I see thousands of girls fearing to engage creatively with technology, and technology is the language of social innovation. I am worried because I have heard my suitemate frequently report being the only girl in her advanced math classes, and this isolation often overwhelms her. I am worried because I know, the future of our world lies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.); but this world will look haplessly bleak, if girls are not vigorously supported to master the tools of its design.

The reasons for this situation are crisply clear: Today’s innovators in the realms of technology, business, science, enterprise—in the public as well as the private sector— are overwhelmingly men. We live within a global culture that has institutionalized and apotheosized the male innovator, while rarely recognizing the female. Though girls are just as brilliant, capable, visionary as boys, when faced with few role models, even those girls who dream of designing the future, like my suitemate, can feel isolated and unsure.

This is why now more than ever it is vital that girls intrigued by S.T.E.M. be supported, encouraged, and celebrated—that we rebrand S.T.E.M. as a woman’s field, too, and demonstrate that every girl has the power to be the next Marissa Mayer, Sheryl Sandberg, or Jane Goodall. With the launch of its For Girls in Science initiative, L’Oréal USA is leading just this charge. In www.forgirlsinscience.org, L’Oréal USA has created a vibrant new platform for inspiring and empowering girls to pursue careers in S.T.E.M. Featuring everything from videos of women scientists on the job and facts on famous women in S.T.E.M., to a career personality quiz, career opportunities in S.T.E.M. fields, and summer and weekend camps, the website serves up science, technology, engineering and math in a way that is engaging, interactive, and cool. The platform beautifully gathers all the S.T.E.M. resources, support, role models for girls in one, central location, and I am thrilled to partner with L’Oréal to highlight and share it with and for girls.

In celebration of its launch, L’Oréal USA’s For Girls In Science program has organized a “Why S.T.E.M is Cool” video contest for students aged 13 to 18, to produce and upload their most original, engaging, funny or compelling videos expressing why S.T.E.M is cool. Students can submit their video in one of four categories: science, technology, engineering or mathematics, and become eligible to win one of several prizes once they do. The contest is a fun way for girls everywhere to learn more about S.T.E.M. fields and join the movement to change the gender ratio in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

With L’Oreal’s vision and the efforts of thousands of girls themselves, it seems the world is finally wakening to the power and potential of girls in S.T.E.M. The days of my worrying, at last, seem numbered.

And the winners are...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 09:31:23 -0400

Thank you again for your support during the 10,000 Names in 100 Days campaign. We said we’d reward a few of you for taking the time out to nominate. And now, we are proud to announce the winners!

When you submitted your stories or nominated someone, your name was tagged with a number in our big, comprehensive list. To select our prizewinners, we randomly picked numbers via the website randomizer.org (you can check: the numbers that get selected are certainly random!). We matched those numbers to our big list, and voila: here are our prizewinners!

Jen O’Neal and Jeff Manheimer from San Francisco, California. Jen is a true social entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Tripping, a travel site that encourages cultural exchange and also offers scholarships to students who can’t afford to travel. And Jeff works with her.

Amalia Garzon from Bogota, Colombia, works with Dance4Peace (founded by Sara Potler, who is another of our nominees!), which fuses physical and arts education to promote global peace.

Susan Pavlin from Atlanta, Georgia, founded Global Growers, an organization which helps local farmers get their produce into big kitchens and offers support and assistance to community farms.

Saba Gul is the Founder and Executive Director of Bliss in Pakistan, which offers education to girls who would normally have to give up school in order to work. With a curriculum of both business and life skills, the girls learn how to create their own small businesses while continuing their education and continuing to support their families.

The prizes are winding their way to these cool folks now, so let’s give them a big (virtual) round of applause!

And although the campaign officially ended on the 15^th of May, we still want to hear from you! Continue to share stories about the work you do and how you’re changing the world with us at 10000names@girltank.org.

Reason #4: Why You Should Nominate a Changemaker Today

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:11:00 -0400

Reason #5: Why You Should Nominate a Changemaker Today

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:09:00 -0400

Reason #6: Why You Should Nominate a Changemaker Today

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:50:53 -0400

Reason #7: Why You Should Nominate a Changemaker Today

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:49:56 -0400

3 Nepalese Adventure Sisters: Lucky, Dicky and Nicky

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:22:53 -0400

Inspiring sisters Lucky, Dicky and Nicky run 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, which provides women guides and assistants for women trekkers through the Himalayas. They also run the nonprofit, Empowering Women of Nepal. Through it, they train disadvantaged local women (and men) to become guides.

Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN), the non-profit arm of 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, was founded to “help foster the growth of independent, self-sufficient, decision-making women, by encouraging self-empowerment.” Based in Pokhara, EWN’s training programs provide women (and men) educational, employment, and entrepreneurial opportunities in the trekking industry, and have expanded to include the development of sustainable tourism in western Nepal as well as a home for children rescued from child labor along the Annapurna Trekking Circuit.

To date, EWN has trained 2075 women and young people as guides in Pokhara and the Karnali region. In May of 2011, EWN’s efforts garnered international attention when four EWN graduates became the first-ever Nepalese women to summit Annapurna IV.

And here are a sample of some of the awards and recognition they’ve won:

Ashoka Fellowship in 2004 for social entrepreneurism
First Prize for Sustainable Tourism Development from Association Les Sommets du Tourisme in 2007
Nike Game Changer recognition in 2008
The Global Sports Forum Barcelona’s Gold Trophy

Website: http://www.3sistersadventure.com/

Indie Filmmaker Sara Liza Baumann Tells Stories that Change Lives

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:22:48 -0400

Sara Liza Baumann combines her love for film, media and the arts with sound research, to tackle world issues that matter most. Right now, she’s curious about how people around the world cope with terminal illnesses. What healing methods do people living with AIDS in South Africa, cancer in Budapest or chronic diseases in Vietnam use?

In her own words:

“It was a wonderful winter morning, two days before Christmas in Northern Michigan. Families were gathering, cookies were in the oven, and holiday cheer was in the air. The fresh snowflakes that everyone had been eagerly awaiting finally fell to dust the rooftops before Christmas Eve. It was a perfect day.

Wanting to get out of the house for some last minute Christmas shopping, I set out to Suttons Bay with my stepmother and sister-in-law to sift through vintage items at a new consignment shop, Chestnuts, in the warehouse district.

Within moments we were trying on vintage dresses and hats under fairy lights, surrounded by 1960’s floral printed furniture, magical mirrors from the ‘20’s and dusty old records. It was an enchanting place, filled with memories left behind for a new owner to pick up and give a good home. It was that morning that I met Rocky.

Rocky approached me, a beautiful tall and slender Native American woman. We talked fabrics, and shared our love and passion for vintage clothes; instantly there was a connection. She began to open up to me about how these clothes have brought her friend back to life. Of course, I was immediately intrigued and how these clothes could be so powerful. I started exploring, listening and watching exactly how these clothes brought pure, innocent joy back to a woman named Martina, who has been battling pancreatic cancer.

I spent the next few weeks getting to know Martina, her family and her friends. They all shared interesting perspectives on Martina, her amazing personality and strength, and how modeling has been an outlet that has given her strength and a creative outlet to take her mind off her illness.

I documented Martina’s story in a matter of a few short days. I thought that it was such an important story and if it brought me this much encouragement, I was sure that others would be moved by the lives of these women who came together for hope and life. It is a beautiful story of how courage, friendship, vintage clothes and point-and-shoot cameras can sometimes be the best medicine.

There are more stories to be told, and other cultures to consider. After completing this short pilot documentary about Marina and her way of coping with cancer, I was left wondering about how others around the world are coping with terminal illnesses. What are individuals doing to cope with AIDS in South Africa? What about cancer in Budapest, chronic pain in South America, and chronic diseases in Vietnam? I will be researching and filming stories from different corners of the world to share stories of individuals living in countries of different development states, sharing their creative perspectives of dealing with chronic pain and illness. By bringing in different perspectives, the film will explore coping and healing methods in different cultures, exploring values, religion, disease burdens, family, art, history and a number of other ways that people in different societies express themselves and cope with illness realities. The pilot documentary for Martina is being used to start a non-profit modeling agency and art therapy center in Northern Michigan.”

Website: www.saralizabaumann.com

Jos Dirkx Kicks Balls!

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:22:42 -0400

Jos Dirkx runs Girls and Football SA. Her goal: To give a voice to female football players in South Africa and grant them a chance to share their passion, along with the hardships they have encountered as female athletes, with their communities.

Jos was born in Rio de Janeiro and has since been traveling the world with her parents and brother. She has lived in Brazil, Bangladesh, Spain, Senegal, The Netherlands, Canada, Norway and currently resides in South Africa. Her passion for social justice and gender equality has propelled her participation in projects, debates, fundraising and campaigning for increased public awareness of women’s rights.

She founded Girls and Football SA to encourage girls in South Africa to play futbol as a way to promote body awareness, increase self-esteem and raise awareness of the importance of sport for women.

And so far Girls and Football SA is doing a great job! Check out its accolades in just two years:

Girls and Football SA was selected as a winner in the 2012 Girl Effect Challenge.
Girls and Football SA won “Best Documentary” at the Festival du TV et Cinema in Beirut, Lebanon, which represents the second biggest film festival in the Middle East region.
Girls and Football SA received the “Best Research Paper” award at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence for Sports Science and Development Conference.
The National Committee for International Co-Operation and Sustainable Development, together with Ashoka Changemakers and Nike, awarded Girls and Football SA first prize in the Sport and Business Plan Challenge.

Website: http://www.girlsandfootballsa.com/

Reason #8: Why You Should Nominate a Changemaker Today

Mon, 07 May 2012 09:06:41 -0400

MTV Voices Featured Nominee: Cat Jaffee Lives with Nomadic Beekeepers

Mon, 07 May 2012 07:33:00 -0400

She quit her job, packed her bags and moved to Kars, Turkey to live with nomadic beekeepers. Check out her inspiring story here:

http://voices.mtv.co.uk/2012/05/inspired-beeing/

MTV Voices Featured Nominee: Tehrene Firman Speaks Out on the Pressure to Be Thin

Mon, 07 May 2012 07:32:00 -0400

Tehrene, who founded the online magazine Love Twenty, talks about the pressure women put on each other to look a certain way in her MTV Voices blog.

http://voices.mtv.co.uk/2012/04/body-wars/