Here at Handshake, we believe that opening pathways for women to realize their full potential is essential to bring about positive change in the world. We have partners and clients that feel the same way and this year, we’re excited to embark on a collaborative campaign with several of them that represents one of our strongest efforts yet to advance the interests of women and girls globally – The Future of the Girl.
The Future of the Girl is a campaign championed by Caterpillar Foundation, Glamour and The Girl Project that launches today, on the International Day of the Girl. The idea behind the campaign is to give girls an opportunity to connect with strong, influential, women leaders who can share their advice and support to help girls on their journey to realize their full potential. The Caterpillar Foundation brings to the campaign its extensive experience investing in girls around the world as part of its mission to alleviate poverty, while Glamour shares its experience championing the rights and voices of girls and women through both its magazine and philanthropic endeavor, The Girl Project.
The campaign kicks off today with a rally in New York City attended by hundreds of girls, as well as influential role models including Caterpillar Foundation President Michele Sullivan, Glamour Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive, model Ashley Graham, and actresses Yara Shahidi, America Ferrera and Frieda Pinto. Girls will get the chance to ask questions of these role models and hear about how they’ve overcome challenges to achieve success in their careers, education, relationships, and other key aspects of life.
But the campaign doesn’t stop there – it will be followed by weeks of social media activity on Facebook and Twitter to further the conversation between girls and women. Using the hashtag #AskLikeAGirl, girls will be encouraged to ask questions of these and other female role models, who will choose several of the questions to answer directly online. Girls – and others – around the world can join in on the conversation by following along with #AskLikeAGirl.
All of this inspiring activity will culminate with Glamour’s Women of the Year awards in November, where girls and women will once again come together in person to celebrate what they have learned from each other.
We encourage you to share this opportunity to get involved with the girls and women in your life and follow along with the campaign as it unfolds over the coming weeks to learn more about and get inspired by girls’ and women’s beliefs about what it takes to succeed and change the world for a better future of the girl.