93. She's the First: A Mission to Ensure Every Girl is Educated, Respected, and Heard - Tammy Tibbets & Christen Brandt | Otter.ai

93. She's the First: A Mission to Ensure Every Girl is Educated, Respected, and Heard - Tammy Tibbets & Christen Brandt

Julie Confer48min

Intro

00:00

Hi, I'm Sofia, I'm Becky's daughter, and I'm Vivian. I'm Jon's daughter. Welcome to the we are for good podcast. It's women of impact week presented by virtuous. It's day one. We're glad you're here.

Intro

00:15

Hey, I'm john. And I'm Becky. And this is the we are for good podcast. nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world. We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising. So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

Jonathan McCoy

00:48

So let's get started.

Becky Endicott

00:50

Hi, Becky. Hi, john. Okay, we are like grinning ear to ear. You can hear the smile in my voice. I mean, I want to be really clear that every time we turn the button on to start recording, we love everyone who's on our podcasts. But there are some days that you just get the butterflies in your stomach because you are so utterly excited about the people you're talking to and the conversation you're about to have. And so before I introduce our people, I want to tell you what kind of people they are. Yesterday, they were on Drew Barrymore. Today they're on the we're for good podcast, we talk about what Drew Barrymore called them on the Drew Barrymore show. Yes, philanthropic royalty is

Becky Endicott

01:34

another reason I'm not name dropping Drew Barrymore to say that we are in the same league. The point is that I am saying that Tammy Tibbets, and Kristen Brandt see the little people, they go big time yesterday, and they are here for the little people today. And we are so here for it. So folks, if you have tuned in today, hold on to your seats, because we are about to have the most epic conversation about education and about creating a world where every girl can choose her future, as founders of she's the first Christian and Tammy, they are fighting for that world where every girl can choose her future. So for the past decade, they've just worked with all these local organizations around the world for all people of all ages of all backgrounds, from college students and celebrities, and you know, they just have a couple people who support their work like, you know, Michelle Obama, United Nations cvf. They have more than 200 campus chapters globally. They live in Brooklyn, but they are citizens of the world, because it's not just women within their own community that they are helping to serve. I mean, they are looking at women around the world, meeting them in the spaces that they're at. And they're finding a way to bridge that gap to education in literally changing futures. So I I'm not going to go into a ton on Tami and Kristen, because they're so amazing. And I want to pass them the mic, but I'm just going to give one little nugget on each. And it's the nuggets I love the most about them, which is Tammy was voted most shy in our high school yearbook and felt the the pressure of perfectionism for too long. And yet here she is worldwide advocate like coming into her own and and still being true to herself. So I love that about you, Tammy. And Kristen is like grassroots queen. And so she has supported efforts for all these grassroots organization in 12 countries supporting more than 12,000 girls junkie, imagine the ripple doing something with 12,000 girls. Becky's gonna stop because she wants Kristen and Tammy to talk. Thanks for being here. Can you tell we're excited? Can you just come with us everywhere? Can you? Can you be artificial height people. We're so excited that you're here. I think it would be just awesome for everybody to just if we could start with Tammy, I'll kick it to you first, if you can just give us a little bit of background about yourself and how you sort of fell into this journey right now. Oh, thank you for the lovely introduction.

Tammy Tibbetts

04:03

I am from New Jersey originally. And as you noted, I grew up being very shy, but also very loved. My parents always supported my sister and I to choose our own future. So it comes full circle with she's the first mission. For me after being voted most shy in high school. When I went off to college at the College of New Jersey, I knew I was going to be the first in my family to do so. And I chose journalism as my major because I found that it was so powerful words are powerful. And I wanted to report and write stories that would amplify the voices of women and girls and the amazing work that they were doing all over the world. So my original dream was to be a magazine editor. This is back in 2000, the early 2000s. So print magazines were flourishing on the newsstands. And I thought it was so exciting that

Tammy Tibbetts

05:00

women could or girls could pick up that magazine and you'd reach millions of them. So I began my career at Hearst magazines, and specifically with 17. And I became the first social media editor of 17, which was a thrilling job putting Josh in direct contact with our readers. And it was around that time that this idea for she's the first came to me as a social media campaign in 2009. And I posted to my own Facebook page, I have this idea Would anyone like to help launch it so that we could raise awareness about how many millions of girls around the world are out of school. And then that's where Kristin re enters the story. And we reconnected Okay, Kristen, handing the mic over to you. Give us your background and, and connect up to where Tammy left off.

Christen Brandt

05:54

Yeah, so I grew up, my mom had me very young, she was 19, when she had me. So I grew up with my grandparents and all of my aunts and surrounded by women, and really strong women who I really looked up to.

Christen Brandt

06:10

But kind of within that structure, there were also a lot of men who came through who were abusive in one way or another. And so I grew up with this kind of fierce idea of what it meant to be a strong woman to be surrounded by women. And also the ways that this systems of power work against them in really personal intimate ways. And so this was something that I was always really passionate about was that girls are awesome, and girls can do anything.

Christen Brandt

06:43

And so when I went to college, I also went for journalism to be a magazine editor. This is where Tammy and I won this same scholarship. But similar to Tammy, it was really important to me to talk about the issues that girls and women were facing, and to be a voice for change within the world. And that's why I was so drawn to the world of magazine journalism, because you have the space to really go deep into the issues that are impacting girls and women and to talk directly to them. And so as I was in college, I was doing more and more research on poverty alleviation and the ways that women are most affected and most impacted by poverty. And this was around the time many of your listeners will remember 2009 was the year of Half the Sky, it was the year of the girl effect. It was when we were we were seeing all of these longitudinal studies about how girls education is the key to poverty alleviation to really kind of changing the world. And so it just clicked for me that this made sense. And this is something that I wanted to talk about. So when I saw him his post on Facebook, I immediately responded with, I'm sure is a rant if we look back and read it today about the state of the world and girls in the world. And I was the only one who messaged her. So my number one tip, if you want to become a co founder is either one raises your hand, ideally be the only one because you'll automatically get it.

Tammy Tibbetts

08:13

To be fair, we didn't realize we were starting a nonprofit. It was just a YouTube campaign. But how lucky are we that you know, we're such a perfect match for each other as leaders, we complement each other's strengths. And it's been a wild ride the past 11 years.

Jonathan McCoy

08:29

I'm just so taken aback. I love talking to founders because you're the ridiculous idealist in your head that this can be better when no, literally nobody else messages. I love Kristen that that sets you apart. Because y'all are two that are crazy enough to say we can actually do something, you know, here in our free time on our free time, just so in the problems that nobody else is tackling head on like that. So I just you know, how did you organize what was next I would love to kind of hear the iteration of becoming a nonprofit of getting a focus mission around that what happened next, I'm just so like on the edge of my seat.

Tammy Tibbetts

09:04

Well, for the first few years, it was just hosting a series of fundraisers, we did all sorts of things from cupcake bake sales to benefit concerts, the programming really started to take shape. When we began working for she's the first full time and that was in 2012. So I came in as the first employee then went into fundraising full time, which brought in the funds that Christen could quickly join as chief programs officer. And that's when our relationships with local grassroots organizations started to get much deeper because in the beginning, it was really just fundraise money, cut checks, disperse those funds.

Tammy Tibbetts

09:47

And then in the last several years, our work has evolved so much more into a model of really strengthening the ecosystems around girls, which includes

Jonathan McCoy

10:00

grassroots women lead organizations because they are the ones that are best positioned to meet the needs of girls in their community. So that's one big part of our work. And then the second big part is advancing advocacy for girls rights through our various media initiatives and our campus community, which still thrives to this day. That was also kind of part of the early days of she's the first we had a lot of high school and college students who got involved. So our organization has always had this, this DNA of social media and youth energy, while the two of us have gotten older. It used to be like, oh, millennial founded organization, sparkly, and now it's like Gen Z is taken over, which is so fun. And you saw some of their if you watched the Drew Barrymore show clip, we were surprised by the three young women that they had got gotten videos from, and they really are, they are the ones that we are shifting power to in the movement, because, you know, that we do this work with and for them,

Becky Endicott

11:06

The thing that I just love so much is is you've done the thing that I think is such a secret sauce, in philanthropy, which is you bypass boomers, you bypass Gen to bypass millennial, I think you bypass Gen Z. Because I agree with you, if you can start really young when when girls, even young people are starting to just say, Who am I who? What am I going to be? How am I plugging into this world? What is my future look like? If you can drop a pin into? Have you ever thought about how you can empower someone? Have you thought about how weak I mean, I just think that going into that specific target audience, is the way that you can impact the world. That is how you shift because you get a mindset shift in someone at such a young age that can create ripples for decades. And I just think that that is really, really smart. And I want to just go into, by the way, I love I don't know if anybody caught the strengthening ecosystems around girls like that is one of the most powerful phrases I've ever seen. And I felt like we heard a lot a little of that we talked with Courtney Bullard with the pearl house and she runs a home and a school for girls in Ghana. And this is I mean, a lot of these themes are very prevalent. So a lot of our listeners will be hearing that. But I want to get into the program side of what you're doing. And how are you all working to make sure that every woman is educated, that she is respected and that she is heard. And PS, you all wrote those three items. And I think that they are so it, they are amazing. And that is the way that you empower someone is to give them education, to give them respect. And to give them a voice of God, Becky, there's so many I have so many different threads that I want to call on.

Christen Brandt

12:54

What I want to start with is the generational point about who you work with and how that creates impact. Because I think one of our sneaky advantages was that we built she's the first with a background of journalists. And so we have always built into the DNA of this organization, a curiosity and a willingness to ask questions and to not make assumptions. And so what that has meant is that, even though we're we're working and we are impacting girls, the feedback loop from girls is what has directed. She's the first, every single day. And the feedback from our partners is what has directed. She's the first every single day. And so it creates this, this cycle of making sure that what we do is actually working because we're hearing directly from girls, and we know that they have the answers. Girls are the ones who understand the challenges that they're facing girls are the ones who understand what they need, and so infrequently, the world's asked them. So I think that that is is a really important point about kind of where we're working and how we're working. But the logistics of that, and what that looks like Timmy mentioned, we have these two pillars, we have strengthening ecosystems. And we have girl led advocacy. And on the strengthening ecosystem side, we have three main initiatives. So we have a girl led incubator where we're training youth leaders who are running their own organizations in their communities,

Christen Brandt

14:25

which is so cool. So we've got our partner coalition, which consists of 12 organizations and 11 countries who are collectively working with about 10,000 girls each and every year. And then we've got our girls first network, which is this larger network of grassroots primarily women led organizations. And with all of these organizations, we're working with a mix of flexible funding, with training on girl centered programming and principles and networking and building out resources. So that

Christen Brandt

15:00

You know, it's, it's really important to us that it isn't one organization or even 10 organizations that are improving in our work for girls. But when we're learning about what works, and especially the methodologies, and the philosophies and the tools that organizations can use that really, really work and make a difference, that we can distribute those across a much, much larger network, and that girls first network has about 250 organizations in it all around the world, who can then use an access all of these resources for free. And that second pillar of girl led advocacy. That's where we work with our own girls Advisory Council to to see what are the issues that girls really want to talk about. We work with our partner coalition, and we work with the girls within that coalition to determine what are the advocacy issues that really matter. And we have a campus chapter program. So if you are a student anywhere in the world, you can sign up for that campus community, and access all of these tools to advocate for girls and women in your local and your global community. So at large, I guess we're really looking at you, for so long, we've talked about girls education, and we focus on the individual girl. But it is not the individual girl who is broken. It is the systems around her. And the systems around her, you know, the ones who are closest are these women led organizations so we can work with them, to strengthen her support network to strengthen the community systems around her. And we can work with girls and with organizations on the advocacy to change how the world sees girls.

Jonathan McCoy

16:38

Okay, deep breath as a girl, dad got three girls, upstairs homeschooling, and I'm just thinking, thank you, for one for not addressing the wrong problem, but addressing the right problems and coming at it with curiosity, with humility, with organization and mobilization. I'm just sitting here of like, you folks know how to create a movement, you know, how to build rapport, how to build friends, and then activate because you don't have, you're admitting I don't have all the answers where other people have the answers, the girl at the end of the chain that's getting served right here is has the answer within her. And that is deeply moving and deeply. just such an awesome that that is an evolved level of thinking absolutely an evolved level of thinking, and I'm just so grateful for the way you just broke that down. And I love that you have literally written the book on this. And we didn't say that in the intro. But the contents of this book, like you literally give somebody the playbook of like, hey, I want to make a difference. It may not be in this space, it may be in another space that's calling my heart. But you take us from how do I land on that to how do I like do it? And how do I live it out? And let's just be clear to who's on your fan club list. Amanda Gorman, the person who stole the inauguration. And our Poet Laureate, that is amazing. My 10 year olds, new hero, yeah, baby, even she came alongside and said how much this book matters and how incredible it is. So I just want to give you guys an incredible high five for this conversation you've started. So that's the longest t app to say. Tell us about your book. Like I love that you walk us through these steps. But can I give our listeners a little bit of this? And we'd love to get it in their hands?

Jonathan McCoy

18:18

No, thank you for those kind words. And as you said, Jonathan, you know, people ask how can I make a difference? And the truth is, we don't have that answer for you. That answer is within you. And you've got to go on a journey to discover it. What we can do is lead you and we can give you the tools to figure out the answer. So in our book, you learn how to create the world you want to live in. And the first part of the book is really practical. We guide you through identifying your North Star, the issue area that you're most passionate about, we help you assess all of your resources. And that's way more than just time and money. And then we help you figure out how to match that with the needs in the world in your community, so that you can boil it down to specific commitments that ultimately become part of your impact plan. And that way, you don't need to feel so scattered and so overwhelmed when confronted with everything that's wrong in the world, because you can keep your head down and look at what you're doing to make it right. And that should be really gratifying for you. So we hope that this book gives people the encouragement and the support that they need to reach their full potential as a Changemaker.

Becky Endicott

19:38

We talk a lot on this show about the power of one and not, you know, in thinking about how you can impact one and what a difference that makes. And the thing that I love so much about your book is, you know, I think a lot of people are just feeling so overwhelmed by life. Right now. We've been in you know, this quarantine for a year.

Becky Endicott

19:59

Seeing the effects of it that are so much further reaching than we ever anticipated they would be in for people who are looking for purpose. And they're looking for meaning I love the challenge of just saying, What is your one thing? What is the one thing that you can do, here's how you can pour into it and create a movement for it. And I'll tell you how good this book is when I walked in Julia's giving me and I want to give you, Julie, if you want to jump in here, I mean, she's giving us the cliff notes version chapter one, blah, blah, blah, blah, these are the best points. And then in chapter two, I love blah, blah, blah. And so it's that good. And it's that directive and clear and it's in, it just allows you to have incredible path to create an impact in the space, that's the most important to you.

Julie Confer

20:43

Please picture me reading this, this weekend, I'm waiting to get my tires rotated. And I'm like, in my car ride feeling so inspired. And they're like "Ma'am pull into bay 2." It is so practical. And as a 25 year old, I feel like I'm in a very formative part of my life. And trying to figure out, I've always been very passionate about tons of missions, but they're, you guys help so much of finding your true north star and how to figure out how you want to serve throughout your life. And I've been annoying my friends with how much I've been telling them to read the book and that you guys were coming on. So if you are a young professional, it is just a great opportunity and reflective book that's very actionable, and just helps you feel like you can make a difference in the corner of your world. So that's my plug.

Becky Endicott

21:33

Thank you. I just, uh, you know, one of the things that's surprising me about this conversation that I didn't expect is if anyone is tuning in, to, you know, hear this founder story and to talk about how you can create a world that you want to live in, I really think there's some incredible tenets to storytelling here. And in starting, you know, like, as you all have, in this very humble space to say that I don't have all the answers. I think that's a very practical application. For a lot of nonprofits. We don't want to say that we have all the answers, but we want to be able to represent the ideas and the thoughts and the values of the people who are supporting us. So I really think this is a beautiful thing that you have done to give a microphone and pass it around, and lift up those common threads and let that drive your mission. And I really think that people anywhere in the world, wherever you are, whatever your mission is, there's a way to digitally give someone a microphone by simply just asking the questions. And I think your point, it's very well taken that girls are not frequently asked their opinion. They're not asked what they're feeling. And just as an empath that really resonates with me because I want you know, our core value number one core value is that everyone matters in our company. And if you can have that as a true north, maybe that's perhaps Archer north, and the community is everything, then it's it's a really powerful tool for you. So that's something that I would really encourage everyone is just to start simply asking and passing that microphone around. I want to go into

Becky Endicott

23:07

just how we can walk listeners through these feelings and applying their their unique skills. Because I think compassion fatigue, feeling paralyzed and overwhelmed. And even maybe feeling shame for not doing enough are things that we could all be feeling. So can you walk our listeners through how to work through those feelings, apply their unique skill sets and passions to create their impact,

Jonathan McCoy

23:27

and not just our listeners, walk us through it. So yeah, I've got,

Becky Endicott

23:31

again, if I have popcorn, I'm like nervously eating it right now. Yes.

Christen Brandt

23:36

So let's start with Julie, you mentioned that one of the things that has been hard for you is deciding where to focus, because there's so many options. When it comes to creating change and wanting to see a better world. It's so easy to get lost somewhere. Where do I possibly start? And how can I as one person, possibly create change. And that's where we really encourage people to focus on this one, this one focus area of a North Star. You know, and usually that's informed by your own personal experiences, what really moves you and trust that other people are going to follow their northstars too. And honestly, I think I find this to be the hardest part, which is trusting that if you go after the change that you most want to see that is most personal to you. And we allow others and give them the tools to do the same. But that is going to result in the kind of worlds we all want to live in. And so when you know one of the things that often comes up is people will say, for example minus R is animal welfare. And I'm really like it lights me up. I'm so passionate about it. I volunteer on the weekends. But then I feel guilty because there are so many issues facing humans. And I feel like I need to be doing that too. And this is One of the number one pieces of pieces of advice that we give out is you have to trust that if you go after your star, others will do the same. And we're all going to end up in a better in a better space. And recognizing that each of us has our own individual skills, and our own individual talents that we bring to the table. And so if I were to go and work in in, for example, animal welfare, I would never be as effective as I am, when I'm working toward this better world for girls, because I don't have the experience. I'm not naturally the like walk on the floor with a dog kind of human. It's just like, that's just not where I'm at. You know me, so I'm not going to be as good at that. But if I focus in the area that I really care about, I can be good at it, I can be great at it. And that's really important.

Jonathan McCoy

25:51

Hey, friends, women of impact week is presented by virtuous and they just happened to be one of our favorite companies. You know, we believe everyone matters. And we believe the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you see an activate donors at every level. And our friends at virtuous created a fundraising platform to help you do just that. virtuous is the only responsive fundraising platform designed to help nonprofit teams build better donor relationships and increase impact with confidence. Plus, their number one core value is team and family. So this week, we're excited to highlight a few of the phenomenal women and clients within their family.

Speaker 1

26:24

Hi, my name is Inga, and I'm the head of individual giving at the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. Our organizational mission is to enable every girl and young woman to delve up with their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world. With 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 152 countries, we are fortunate to work with supporters across the globe. Girl guiding and Girl Scouting is much more than campfires. Virtual has been a big step forward in improving our fundraising and communications. We're still in the process of discovery of the wide range of opportunities and abilities Virgil's has that will help us to achieve our fundraising ambition. One thing I can say for sure, my team is much more happier than we were 12 months ago, thanks to our database.

Jonathan McCoy

27:12

It's such great permission, you know, and it's not like people need permission, but they you need permission to say what is what is your calling? What do you feel moved by? Because it's the service is going to show up so much more authentic and pure, you know?

Unknown Speaker

27:24

Yeah,

Christen Brandt

27:25

I'm permission to say no, having you know, having that area that you're focused on gives you the space to say, you know, I can't do everything. I'm only one person. And so I am going to trust that there are others who are going to tackle kind of these other things going on. And I'm going to spend time focusing on this one issue area and the many issues that intersect it.

Jonathan McCoy

27:51

Well, I know you talk about getting some advisors around you if you're organizing a nonprofit, or if you're organizing your movement, how has that played into your Israel, I know one of the ways we're connected to you all is through our marvelous friend Susan MacPherson who's just name

Becky Endicott

28:05

dropping one of our people. And we're never

Jonathan McCoy

28:07

gonna not talk about Susan, because she came on and like changed our life in that hour that we get to spend with her. And I know that you know, she has been involved in you all his work, but you're also surrounded by just such incredible people that buy in and believe your mission. So would you kind of talk about building that team of people and, and what that's mean for y'all personally. Yeah, so

Tammy Tibbetts

28:25

we are indeed, members of the Susan MacPherson fan club. I'll even run for president of that fan club. And we're so lucky that we had the opportunity to meet Susan, in Brooklyn, in the early days of she's the first. But you need to personally know all of the impact advisors and mentors in your life. And social media affords us this opportunity to kind of tap into the brains of and podcasts and Ted Talks, to tap into the brains of some of the most brilliant thought leaders on the issues that you care about. So you can curate feeds and newsletter lists that in this sea of media that it's so easy to like get drowned out by all of the the crises that are going on and the less important things that are on the news, celebrity gossip and whatnot. Like it's, it's easy to miss the messages that are important to you. So we suggest identifying who are these role models that you have in the issue areas you care about, and how can you separate them out from all the rest of the noise? And how can you make their voices really present in your life so that when you're looking to become more knowledgeable about an issue or you're looking for inspiration on how to troubleshoot challenges, you can turn to them and even over time message them sometimes you can strike up personal relationships and actually get to know them. But you don't always have to. So that's tip number one. And then of course, look around you in your community, maybe you're not in a major metropolitan area, maybe it feels like there aren't any Susan Macpherson's around you. But they're definitely maybe not with the same profile as Susan. But if you're interested in, I don't know, literacy, maybe there's a librarian who, you know, you're you get along with and turns out, she's doing all these cool activist things. And she can be your guide to help you figure out what the landscape is like, for a particular issue in your local context.

Jonathan McCoy

30:38

I'm sorry, but I love this advice. I love tip one. And tip two, because I just think that especially in the entrepreneur space, I can just hear all these different messages of all these different people telling you strategies and goals and all these things. And I've had to take this Counsel of just, you can't listen to everybody, but who are the people that you resonate with, you feel like your values are aligned, and try to just have this kind of smaller cadre of people and really lean fully into them. And I don't know any of them personally, either. It is my email list. And it's the podcast or listened to, or whatever it may be. But such wonderful advice, and I feel boosted that you may not have the Rolodex, which is such an old analogy of the most influential people, but these days, you can listen to just about anybody, you can get access to just about anybody through the power of this.

Tammy Tibbetts

31:24

Yeah, oh, and I should add on, just make sure as you're putting that impact advisory board together, make sure everyone doesn't look the same, you really do want to make sure you have diversity of thought and identity in that group.

Becky Endicott

31:36

I just look at you to and you're so kind and reserved in humble in your approach, and but yet, you're doing such big and huge things to help advance the world and for good, and I wonder who inspires you? There are so many answers to this question. I think

Christen Brandt

31:55

we are really lucky that when we got started, we started with a group of local organizations who have some of the most incredible feminist activists in the world, frankly, we're working to create change in their local communities with four girls. And these are the people who when, you know, when I'm running into an issue, these are the people that I go to, for advice and for support and for ideas. You know, and I'm also super lucky that my work life in life is Tammy to inspiration and motivations me as well. I think, like in anything you can find inspiration from from so many different sources. But what I what I really strive for in these people who who kind of keep me going, is looking to looking to the people who exemplify who I want to be, who my ideal version of myself is who have those qualities. And that's who I'm most turned to for for inspiration. Good luck topic, Matt. Tammy.

Tammy Tibbetts

33:04

Can I just say plus one, I think we agree with Kristen, it's less of the world famous historic icons, although although, of course, those are our heroes too. And we, we look around us that the girls and the graduates that we had the privilege of working alongside the leaders of our partner organizations are our board members, our board chair, Tara Abrams, is a phenomenal role model in the philanthropy space and everything she does advancing these issues for girls on top of having a really robust personal life as a mom of three and it's great to see fellow advocates who are giving everything they have to this issue, but not letting themselves burn out. Because it is really important that you have personal relationships with your family and your friends who can fuel you and give you at the end of the day. The the happiness and the energy to show up at work when not every day is being on the Drew Barrymore show there are hard days and you need to make sure that outside of your work, you do have those people who are just there to kind of see you as as you not just as the co founder of an organization

Jonathan McCoy

34:30

as I want to bring up your my inspiration in the background slowly. That'd be great. Okay, you know, cuz I appreciate that you guys have listened to this show and just means so much to us. We ask everybody about a story of philanthropy that has moved you and I'm sitting here thinking just like the calculation of how many hundreds of 1000s of millions of people, the programs that y'all have been involved in have touched and the ripples that will go on for generations, regardless if you quit today. So I don't Know how you're gonna pick but this is your fair warning because I want to hear a story. Or maybe it's just a moment of philanthropy that's moves you that you think will stick with you

Christen Brandt

35:08

one of the one of the things that we do every year is that we're part of Project for Awesome.

Unknown Speaker

35:17

Have you

Becky Endicott

35:19

loving the same?

Christen Brandt

35:22

Okay,

Christen Brandt

35:22

so it's a YouTube weekend event held by Hank and john green, the brothers john green, the author, and this incredible thing where they, they fundraise like crazy, there is a ton of money, and then they do a live stream consistently, over like 48 hours. And all of these YouTube creators can submit a video. And then during this weekend, people vote on these videos, and whichever nonprofit has the most votes. So all the videos are for a different nonprofit. And whoever has the most votes, the top 10 of them get a ton of money via the fundraising that the authors and the community had done. And what I love about this is, I mean, first of all, that she's the first is one,

Jonathan McCoy

36:09

girl, y'all.

Christen Brandt

36:14

I think it's just such an incredible example of you don't need money to create change, or to create a difference. They have created this this platform, this experience in this community that is based entirely on you know, you are a group of people who have skills in creating engaging videos and communicating well, let's pull all those resources together and create an event that this year raise $2 million, that then gets divided among a whole bunch of organizations. And I love that because it is just it is the ethics of shoes. The first it is there's the book impact. It's this idea that there's always something that you uniquely can do. And it's just a matter of finding it.

Jonathan McCoy

36:58

I mean, you get to touch it again.

Tammy Tibbetts

37:02

There are so many of these moments from the last 11 years. So I'm going to cheat. And I'm just going to tell you about the most recent one. This happened yesterday. She's the first got an email in our Infobox from a major global corporation, saying that they want to send us $25,000. And we were like whoa, like, how did they hear about us like this is awesome. And then the next day, I got an email from one of our front row members, actually, she's part of our monthly giving community, she's in her 20s. She said, Oh, I work for this company. And they asked employees to nominate nonprofits, so you might be getting an email from them about a grant. And I was just it was yet another proof point that as Kristen said, you don't need to be you know, super wealthy, you could just be that employee who takes the time to raise their voice and say, I love this organization, and look like it's leading to really significant meaningful grant for us. So I think that the short of it is, is that Kristen and I are very moved. While we have lots of sparkly stories, we could tell you about huge brands and very lovely people who truly care it it is that every day individual who is able to creatively make videos for she's the first or just evangelize the mission everywhere they go. And it really does lead to these dream opportunities.

Christen Brandt

38:39

Do you know that's actually how she's the first got started, is that back in the days when we were just hosting fundraisers. There was a volunteer who worked with us who after an event, shared a cab with someone she didn't know. And they got to talking. The volunteer told her all about this organization. She's the first that she loves. The person she was sharing a cab with happened to be really close to a local philanthropist who she then connected us to because of that conversation. And long story short, he ended up being that first check that allowed Tammy to leave her job to go full time. So those moments of talking about what matters to you talking about the organizations that matter to you can literally change the trajectory of, of organizational history.

Julie Confer

39:27

Okay, well and tying it back to your book. I think it's so helpful that people can have this guidebook because I think I'm the person that's very easily I will see a video and I want to give you all my money no matter the cause just because I get very moved easily.

Unknown Speaker

39:41

We love Yes.

Julie Confer

39:43

I'm like a nonprofits dream. But your book is so helpful in narrowing down what causes you are most passionate about so then you can find your she's the first your St. Jude Research Hospital, you can find your causes that you then want to become a fan of and add Keep for so tying it back to the book, if you're trying to figure out who you're she's the first is definitely get the book and it helps you kind of narrow down where you want to invest your time, your energy, your knowledge and your money. You know, I

Becky Endicott

40:13

gotta bring this full circle back to what we talked about early on. I mean, that story, right? There is the underpinning to me of what you're doing. Because when you said early on, we want to give women and people a voice to talk about this issue. And when you let the voice go, ripple, ripple, ripple, ripple ripple. And the way that you can empower someone to speak up and say something that makes someone pause that makes them listen, because they understand this is fundamentally different than talking about the weather, or who won the NBA game or whatever it is, because you're talking about it, your tone, your leaned in this, your passion shines through in there. And that is a different conversation. So the advocacy piece, to me, that is so critical. And the cornerstone, one of the cornerstones of your company, is the thing that activated you. And to me, if you step back and think about one voice talking to another voice, I mean, it's it's the wholesome version of telephone that you used to play. Like, in school, I mean, one person telling another person telling another person, and how incredible that a man is the one that helped fund that gift to bring Tammy on, I think that is also an incredible part of the story because men are just as much an important part of moving this narrative moving this conversation along. So that was an incredible story. Thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, he

Tammy Tibbetts

41:43

has three daughters too. Not that you should have to have daughters to care as a man. But it is definitely a trend and many of our male donors, daughters, sisters, everyone has a mother. So patriarchy holds everyone back. So we do need everyone to be stepping, Hey,

Becky Endicott

41:58

I just want to know what if I'm going to a feeling question because I have to. What does it feel like to you? When you get to take the Diane Von Furstenberg and the Drew Barrymore is out of this conversation? When you get to sit down with a girl somewhere in the world? Talk to her hear her voice? What is that feeling like for you and Kristen will start with you.

Christen Brandt

42:22

It's pure energy. And that is where I draw my motivation, my energy to do work. That is my most productive moments happen after conversations with girls. Because they know they identify the issues, they identify the possible solutions.

Unknown Speaker

42:39

And they

Christen Brandt

42:41

see what is possible in the world. And whenever I get to borrow that, it It sets me on my path for the next month. What about

Unknown Speaker

42:49

you, Tammy?

Unknown Speaker

42:50

Yeah, well,

Tammy Tibbetts

42:51

I'm gonna reference the Drew Barrymore segment again, so you have to put it in the show notes. But as Kristen and I were watching this on TV yesterday, there were those three girls I mentioned earlier, who were ended up being part of the segment, and we had no idea. And it brought Kristen and I nearly to tears to see these young women, these girls we know, be on national television. So I think it's an Oh, well, okay, we're not we're running out of time, we're just gonna have to tease this and say you need to buy impact to read the story. And she's the first girl met Michelle Obama. And we, we were witness to that. That was like life highlights. It wasn't like they

Becky Endicott

43:33

got to meet Michelle Obama, it's that they were able to open a door to allow someone else to meet Michelle Obama, you guys are the greatest human.

Christen Brandt

43:42

You know, not only did she meet Michelle Obama, she made Michelle Obama late for her meeting with everyone else, because Michelle was so wrapped up in her story. And when we finally got the chance to meet Michelle Obama, what she said to us was, Ellie is incredible.

Unknown Speaker

43:57

Those were the words.

Christen Brandt

43:59

Like I to see the to see the impact the girls and and now these young women can and are having on the world is the greatest compliment. The greatest witness has some of the work that we've been doing.

Jonathan McCoy

44:17

Okay, I don't know how y'all are gonna narrow this, but we ask everybody there one good thing. And that could be just a secret to your success or just something that's implementable today that would apply to everybody. What do you think that is? Tim? You want to go first?

Jonathan McCoy

44:30

Sure. So I think one good thing you can do today is if you are on social media, go and update your bio and mention the cause that you champion, whether you're a volunteer or a board member, make that part of your public identity.

Jonathan McCoy

44:46

Okay? This is huge, and it's going to piggyback on a conversation that we'll be dropping soon in the podcast but we should all be lifting our voices for the for this one thing you know that you coach and teach but I love that because We all have those 20 characters or whatever it is, that can link you know, and that is such a powerful thing. Okay, Kristen,

Christen Brandt

45:07

one good thing is a mantra for your for your everyday. And it's one of our favorites. And it is that no one can do everything. But everyone can do something.

Becky Endicott

45:17

They're so simple yet so profoundly wise. I'm

Jonathan McCoy

45:20

like, y'all live these things you live this out, you know, and that is, I think something I will take from this going forward is that, you know, I called y'all ridiculous idealists because you're like, of course, we're gonna go change the way that women are educated and have access to resources in the whole world. And you're doing that. But it takes just somebody showing up and doing what they can do through the way that they can do it. And that's unique to them. And if we all did that, what a What a wonderful place we would live in. Okay, you guys have got y'all put together this incredible challenge in March. And I want to give some space to just talk about this. It's would you kind of share about the mentorship program challenge that you're running right now and how people can get involved with you. Oh,

Jonathan McCoy

45:59

sure. So this month, we have a campaign called mentors make it happen. And it honors the importance of feminist mentorship in a girl's life. So we are inviting you to go on, she's the first.org slash mentors make it happen. And you can read some stories of mentors who are part of she's the first partner network and share that. Or you can also use one of our templates and honor your mentor. You can put her photo in there and tell a story and celebrate her in the spirit of inspiring people to learn about she's the first and if they're able to invest in these programs and interventions that we know keep girls in school and on track to reach their dreams. And and that is the power of mentorship.

Becky Endicott

46:44

I just want to thank you two incredible women as a journalism major also in college and storyteller. And on behalf of the Giulia and Sofia's Those are my two daughters. They're six and 10 what you were doing to lift them up and I see that as like a metaphor for all of the girls in the world that you are lifting up and empowering in such a gentle but strong way is such a gift and it's a gift to have you on this podcast. Thanks for sharing your heart with that.

Unknown Speaker

47:15

Thank you so much for having me

Jonathan McCoy

47:16

point everybody to where people can find she's the first on social media and y'all personally if people want to get people are gonna want to connect with you guys. So let's just get this all out there.

Christen Brandt

47:25

So we are at she's the first on all social media platforms. You can find me at CJ Brent, Tammy at Timmy Tim. And we're using the hashtag impact book to talk about the book.

Becky Endicott

47:36

Thank you ladies for being such a light. We adore you.

Tammy Tibbetts

47:39

Thank you. This was fun.

Jonathan McCoy

47:42

Thanks so much for listening to today's conversation. We hope you're as inspired as we were by Tammy and Christine's challenge to fight for a world where every girl can choose your own future. We all have a part of life. You hear it in our voices I hope but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more of your mission than ever before. That's my love for you to join our good community. It's our own social network. It's like an after party for every episode and a place to meet new friends find inspiration and help when you feel stuck. Sign up but we're for good calm slash Hello. One more thing if you love what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating interview? It means the world to us and Your support helps more people find this community. Thanks so much friends. Our production hero is the president of the she's the first fanclub Julie Confer it's true and our theme song is sunray by Remy boys boom go rock this week do gooders

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