Hello Smart Girls!

I’m so excited to show you what I’ve been up to for the past few months! Some of you know that a year ago, I began training with the fabulous Martha Beck to become a life coach so I could take my work with teen girls and young women to a whole new level. Today, almost one year to the day from when my training began, I’m happy to announce that I’m a certified Martha Beck Life Coach and I’ve just launched a new website and a bunch of special life coaching packages just for teens!

I’ve also written a brand new ebook, What Smart Girls Know: 10 Truths to Discovering You, which I’m offering for FREE to people who sign up for my new newsletter over at debbiereber.com. This book is a passion project I’ve had in my mind for years, but never published with a traditional publisher. I’m thrilled to be able to make it available to you now…gotta love technology!

Oh, and if you’re interested in life coaching, here some of the one-on-one coaching offerings I’ve put together specifically for teens and 20-somethings. You can get all the details on my new Coaching Page:

SELF-DISCOVERY 101

In a world where teens are bombarded with mixed, and often harmful, media messages, face ongoing pressure to be a “perfect good girl,” and are stuck somewhere between their big dreams and their current reality, it can be challenging to figure out what sparks their passion, let alone where they want it to take them in their lives. This eight-session one-on-one coaching program is aimed helping girls tune into what makes them uniquely them, identify their values and passions, understand the limiting beliefs that get in their way, and build a personal toolbox for moving forward in life in an authentic, purposeful, and powerful way. For motivated teen girls ages 13 – 19.

SIX-WEEK STRESS BUSTER

Today’s overscheduled, overprogrammed teens are dealing with unprecedented stress levels in their quest to be and do it all. This six-week one-on-one coaching program offers motivated teen girls ages 13-19 simple strategies for juggling it all, managing their stress, and creating more balance in their lives.

THE GOAL GETTER

Today’s teens are big dreamers, and as a collective, they’ve been told their whole life that they can do and be anything they can imagine. But many are missing the concrete strategies and skills they need to shift from imagine to action. This six-week one-on-one coaching program helps motivated teen girls ages 13-19 working toward a specific goal or goals imagine the possibilities, tackle fear and procrastination, create a foolproof plan of action, and set achievable goals.

ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE

For the busy teen juggling schoolwork, extracurriculars, and other obligations, a little organization can go a long way. This six-week one-on-one coaching program helps teens ages 13-19 understand the benefits of organizing all different aspects of their lives and give them solid organizational strategies and tools that will help them prioritize, save time, reduce the chaos in their life, and ultimately create a less-stressed life!

SENIOR YEAR SEND-OFF

Senior year of high school is an exciting, interesting, and often challenging time as big transitions are looming and teens find themselves at the intersection of their familiar high school existence and the unknown of what comes next. This six-week one-on-one coaching program helps motivated, college-bound high school senior girls hone in on their personal values, discover their voice, learn how to tackle fear, and create a strong foundation for personal self-care.

PROJECT YOU

Project You is a twelve-week coaching program for 20-somethings who are feeling stuck, trapped, and limited by their current reality. This intensive program helps 20-somethings hone in on their limiting beliefs, rewrite their personal story, reconnect with their purpose, imagine their ideal outcome, and gain the strategies and tools they need to make it happen.

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With the start of my new site, I’ve also launched a new blog which will feature less newsy news and more insight and reflections for young women. Therefore, I won’t be updating Smart Girls Know any longer. I will, however, keep this site up so you’ll continue to have access to the past 4 years worth of content, interviews, book reviews, affirmations, and more. Thanks so much for being a part of the Smart Girls Know community, and I hope you’ll join me over at debbiereber.com!

XOXO Debbie

I just saw a trailer for a soon-to-be-released film called One Day on Earth and had to share. On October 10, 2010 (10.10.10), across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and inspired citizens recorded the human experience over a 24-hour period and contributed their voice to the largest participatory media event in history. The result is this film, and it looks absolutely amazing. Here’s the trailer…see for yourself:

Here’s how the filmmakers describe their vision behind the film:

One Day on Earth creates a picture of humanity by recording a 24-hour period throughout every country in the world. We explore a greater diversity of perspectives than ever seen before on screen. We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together.

Can’t wait to see this!

How would you feel about being a delegate for the United Nation’s International Year of Youth Culmination Celebration in New York City this August? Teen and teen online destination AllyKatzz is offering you the chance.

This August 11th, 192 female delegates ages 11-24 will join together at the UN for the special celebration will which include lots of press, powerful women, celebs, ALLY Award winners, UN youth champion Monique Coleman, and tons of girl power. According to AllyKatzz, it will be “the day when girls from around the world speak up and change the world.”

To throw your hat in the ring to be a delegate, you need to apply by writing an essay sharing your vision on how you hope to accomplish one of the following “Millenium Goals” – end poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, and global partnership.

To find out more and apply to be a delegate, visit AllyKatzz here. Applications are due by June 30, 2011. Good luck!!

This week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, a special week aimed at preventing eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment.

The theme for this year is “talk about it.” As the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) explains, “We live in a culture saturated with unrealistic body-image messages and almost all of us know somebody struggling with an eating disorder. Because this is true, we urge you to talk about it and do just on thing to raise awareness.”

Here are three things NEDA wants everyone to know about eating disorders:

1. Eating disorders are serious illnesses, not lifestyle choices. Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, biological and social factors. As our natural body size and shape is largely determined by genetics, fighting our natural size and shape can lead to unhealthy dieting practices, poor body image and decreased self-esteem. While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are about much more than food. In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Approximately 15 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder.
2. Education, early intervention, and access to care are critical. In the United States, we are inundated with messages telling us that thinner is better, and when we “fit” our culture’s impossible beauty standards, we will be happy. Did you know that 80% of all ten year olds are afraid of being fat? As a culture, it is time for all communities to talk about eating disorders, address their contributing factors, advocate for access to treatment and take action for early intervention.
3. Help is available, and recovery is possible. While eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses, there is help available and recovery really is possible. It is important for those affected to remember that they are not alone in their struggle; others have recovered and are now living healthy fulfilling lives. Let the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) be a part of your network of support. NEDA has information and resources available via our website and helpline: 800 931-2237.

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If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, please check out my friend and fellow member of the Confidence Community (TM) Johanna Kandel’s book, Johanna struggled with her eating disorder for ten years before finally getting help. She founded the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness in 2000 to do community outreach, education, awareness, and prevention of various eating disorders, to share the message that recovery from these disorders is possible, and make sure that those suffering from eating disorders don’t have to recover alone.

In her powerful new book, Johanna offers tools and insight for those with eating disorders so they can:

• Stop self-sabotage and sidestep triggers
• Quiet the eating-disordered voice
• Strengthen the healthy, positive voice
• Let go of all-or-nothing thinking
• Overcome fear and embrace change
• Stay motivated and keep moving forward

Complete with inspiring true stories from others who have won their personal battles with eating disorders, this book provides the help you need to break free from your eating disorder and discover how wonderful life really can be.

Hello Smart Girls,

Along with the rest of the country, I’ve been reading, listening, and watching coverage of this past Saturday’s tragedy in which a 22-year-old opened fire on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her staff and supporters – an event which left 6 people dead and 14 wounded – with horror and sadness. That such terrible acts of violence happen at all is incredibly disturbing…it’s the kind of thing that shakes you up to your very soul.

In the days since the shooting, the media and certain politicians have been dissecting the event, trying to make sense of what happened, looking to place blame, to answer unanswerable questions. If you’ve been paying any attention to the media coverage, you’ve probably heard about the hot-button issues currently being debated: the “crosshairs” on a certain map, the hostile and threatening language used by both politicians and some in the media, and whether or not the shooter was politically motivated or just plain crazy.

I think it’s important to examine these different issues, so we can look at them through a different lens. So here goes.

Let’s start with the “crosshairs.” The crosshairs refer to symbols displayed on a map of the United States on a website operated by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The site, which was taken down within minutes of the shooting, was called Take Back the 20, with 20 referring to the 20 House Democrats who voted for Obama’s healthcare bill in districts that Republicans won in the 2008 election. At the top of the map it said, “We’ve diagnosed the problem. Help prescribe the solution.”

Since the shooting, pundits have been going back and forth discussing these crosshairs, saying they weren’t representative of a gun. Rather, they were “surveyor symbols” or symbols sometimes used on maps. Others claim they were simply “bullseyes.”

I understand why some people are denying these were crosshairs. I get it. But even that the symbol is unclear means many will and did interpret it as a crosshair in a weapon. After all – a commonly accepted definition of a crosshair is: “A set of two perpendicular lines in the sight of a firearm, used to align the gun with the target,” not to mention the fact that Sarah Palin is a life-member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), a gun-rights advocate, and has famously said in one of her speeches, “Don’t retreat….reload.” Do I think that Sarah Palin was advocating the shooting of politicians who voted for Obama’s healthcare plan? Of course not. Do I think that it’s okay to use symbols of violence or imply that weapons should be used as tools to advocate for change? Absolutely not.

Let’s move on to the hostile language used by some politicians and media pundits. Name calling, put downs, and threats are so commonly heard on the news that it doesn’t even make many people blink. Whether it’s Sarah Palin encouraging her supporters to “stop cars with Obama stickers” and confront the passengers or Glenn Beck saying he wishes he could kill liberal filmmaker Michael Moore (“I’m wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it?”) or Keith Olbermann calling the Republican party “the leading terrorist group in this country.” At what point did it become okay for adults, grown people with high-powered jobs and matching salaries, to use hate speech? How in the world does this contribute to society in any way, shape or form?

Lastly, we look at the shooter himself, 22-year-old Jared Loughner. As details about the young man emerge, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that this is someone who is mentally unstable, someone who had a personal vendetta with the Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords. Therefore, many say, he was a ticking time bomb, and no hate speech or symbols on a map are responsible for pushing him over the edge. While I agree that there is no way to know what triggered Loughner to snap and take his horrible action, it would be naive to assume that the current political climate didn’t play any role in contributing to this young man’s state of mind.

Okay. Let’s shift gears for a minute. Think about your high school or a school in your community and ask yourself these questions:

• What would happen if a student posted yearbook photos of kids or teachers from his or her school with crosshairs strategically placed over some of the faces? Should school administrators look the other way and act as if this isn’t a threat of violence?
• Should a student running for student government be allowed to call his or her opponents hateful names or give campaign speeches encouraging supporters to take violent action to ensure the outcome they want?
• Should a student be able to say anything he or she wants about another student, even if it makes that person feel depressed, sad, threatened, or ostracized, and claim they have the right to do because of freedom of speech?

Of course not. That’s because to use language or symbolism that is meant to make another person feel threatened, insecure, or negative in any way is called BULLYING. We don’t stand for bullying in our schools and communities among children and young people. So why should we stand for it among our elected officials and the media that we go to as trusted sources of information? What kind of behavior do such high profile pundits and politicians think they’re modeling for the rest of us? Don’t they know that by behaving in such an irresponsible way they are sending the message to young people everywhere that this is the way the world works? That while bullying may not be okay in school, it’s the way to get ahead in real life?

With regards to the Giffords tragedy, the finger pointing and blaming and justifications and back-peddling continues. I’d like to encourage those in positions of power, whether in politics or the media, commit to doing their part to change the climate we live in. To own their role in the discourse. To realize the tremendous responsibility they have to be thoughtful with what they say and how they act.

Last year, Marianne Williamson wrote a piece on the Huffington Post called a Plea to Sarah Palin: Words Have Power. Here’s some of what Marianne wrote in April 2010:

I have defended you since reading the book, particularly when others would make fun of your comments about looking to God’s Will to guide you. But something is happening now that is so critical to this country, with such genuinely significant repercussions, that I implore you to hear me — not just as a fellow American, but as a sister who I know prays to the same God that I do: Words have power. Please modify your words.

To echo what Marianne says, words DO have power. Every word we use has an impact. The way we act has an impact. Our impact can be positive or negative, depending on where we stand, but it will contribute to what’s happening in the world in some way. Please join me in committing to using our words and actions to creative positive change.

Courtney Macavinta, my trusted friend, fellow-author, and founder of The Respect Institute (an institute providing youth, parents, educators, policymakers and organizations with the vision, tools and research they need to build self-respect and spread respect for all), says it beautifully:

“Disrespect is truly contagious. It’s easy to insight each other to be disrespectful – and even hateful towards others – because it momentarily makes us feel bigger, stronger, better than others. Pay attention to how the feeling quickly fades. It does so because it’s false power. The power of respect is so much stronger and sustainable. It creates bridges, solutions, and healthy relationships where they didn’t exist before. But true respect starts on the inside. When you take accountability for how you think about yourself, how you treat yourself, and how you treat others, you can change the world for real.”

With peace & love,

Debbie

I’m sorry, but how cool is this? Ten-year-old Kathryn Gray from Canada has just become a world-renowned astronomer. How? She became the youngest person ever to discover an exploding star, otherwise known as a supernova.

Supernovas are relatively rare events – according to the website Space.com, on average, a supernova will occur about once every 50 years in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way. When a supernova is burning, its brilliance can outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime.

The only way to discovery a supernova is to go through old images of star fields and compare them to new pictures, which is exactly what Kathryn was doing when she studied a bunch of images that had been sent to her father, an amateur astronomer.

When Kathryn spotted the supernova, she showed it to her father, who worked with her to rule out other possibilities, such as an asteroid or a supernova that had already been discovered. But Kathryn’s discovery was new – she found a supernova that happened in a galaxy more than 240 million light years away.

Congratulations, Kathryn!

Today is Rally for Girls Sports Day, an annual event hosted by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) to raise address the fact that girls are still not receiving equal opportunities in high school sports programs. According to the NWLC, schools across the country don’t provide equal opportunities for girls to participate in sports, and some are even cutting athletic opportunities in ways that exacerbate existing gender inequities or create new ones.

And there is a ton of research documenting the many benefits of sports in the lives of girls. As outlined by the Women’s Sports Foundation, girls who participate in sports are more likely to get better grades and graduate than girls who don’t play sports, are less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy in school than girls who don’t play sports, have higher levels of confidence and self-esteem and lower levels of depression than girls who don’t play sports, have a more positive body image than girls who don’t play sports, may reduce their risk of breast cancer by up to 50%, may reduce the risk of osteoporosis (brittle bones) in older age, and will learn valuable lessons about team-building, goal-setting and the pursuit of excellence, which crosses over into other areas of life.

When schools don’t offer the same opportunities for girls to participate in sports as they do for boys, they’re creating an unequal playing field for the future (pun intended). As the NWLC’s brief reports:

Playing sports keeps students engaged in school and thus can help to improve graduation rates around the country. Young women who play sports are more likely to graduate from high school, have higher grades, and score higher on standardized tests than non-athletes. Female athletes are also more likely to do well in science classes than their classmates who do not play sports.20 In addition, the availability of athletic scholarships dramatically increases a young woman’s ability to pursue a college education and to choose from a wider range of colleges and universities.

To do my part for today’s Rally for Girls Sports Day, I wanted to highlight an organization that is working hard to ensure girls can reap the benefits of sports.This past weekend I had the pleasure of being a running buddy with Girls on the Run, a learning program for girls ages 8 to 13 years old which combines training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development. This fall, more than 350 girls in my hometown of Seattle had a chance to participate.

I’ve been involved with Girls On The Run for the past 5 or so years, coaching girls for a few seasons and being a running buddy for the past three. As a running buddy, I get paired with one girl for both the practice and actual 5K, so she feels supported throughout the whole thing. And me, well, I just get to enjoy the warm and fuzzies from sharing in this experience with a young girl who is pushing herself outside her comfort zone.

And this past Sunday was no exception, especially about the comfort zone part, as it was in the low thirties with the added bonus of what felt like an Arctic “breeze” coming off Lake Washington to make sure we were near frozen before the race even started. Despite the less-than-ideal conditions, my runner, Sophie, kept a positive attitude the whole time. She and her friend decided they wanted to try and be the first Girls on the Run girls to cross the finish line, so we all weaseled our way up to the start line and took off like mad when the starting horn finally went off.

After I caught up with her starting-line sprint, we tackled a killer hill in the first mile, and enjoyed long easy strides as we coasted down it. With the hill out of the way, the rest of the course was pretty flat, so we focused on recovering from the hill, managing our breathing, and finding a pace that we could keep steady. Sophie stayed strong, and with about a half-mile to go, we decided to kick it in, sprinting for the finish line. Sophie came in 4th out of all the girls, and her friend from the start of the race came in 1st! I was so proud of my runner, and so honored to have gotten to share this experience with her!

As a runner and a girl advocate, it’s no surprise that I love what Girls on the Run stands for. I’ve said it many times before on this blog, and I’ll say it again. Running is a HUGE part of my emotional well-being. It has given back to me in more ways than I can possibly list here, and I think it is an incredibly empowering activity for women and girls. So how awesome is it that GOTR introduces girls to running, all the while offering empowering information on everything from media literacy to self-respect and providing girls with true role models to show the benefits of running? Pretty awesome.

Girls on the Run is offered in the fall and spring all across the U.S. If you’re interested in learning more about the program or how to get involved, visit the main website here and look for a chapter near you! And if you’re interested in trying out running for yourself but don’t know where to start, check out my book Run for Your Life: A Book for Beginning Runners!

About 2 years ago, I was in between writing projects and started brainstorming other creative directions I wanted to explore in my job and life. I thought about some of the passions I haven’t had a chance to fold into my work in the past 10 plus years,  specifically issues regarding the plight of girls in developing countries. As you may already know from reading this blog, my first jobs out of college were working for development and relief organizations, including CARE and UNICEF, and much of who I am and how I see the world today was shaped by that work and a life-changing trip I took to Somalia in 1993.

I started thinking about what kind of project I could create that would reconnect me with this work and have some sort of positive impact on the plight of children and girls in poorer countries. Sketching down ideas, I came up with a loose concept I called Global Girl, and dreamed about a website where teen girls from around the world could connect with each other through videos and blogs, realize how similar their emotional experiences are despite the cultural differences, gain a global perspective, and foster a sense of responsibility for others around the world that would carry into adulthood.

Unfortunately, I never got past the development stage of my idea – partly because HCI Books called me and offered me the job of creating the Louder Than Words series, and partly because I found myself getting stumped by the HOW. As in, HOW could I pull it off? HOW would it work? HOW would I get the seed money to get it going?

Luckily, not everyone gets as stuck in their ideas as I do. A few months ago while following a research trail online, I stumbled upon Global Girl Media. Of course, I loved the name, soI clicked through and discovered an organization doing work in the same vein as what I had initially envisioned but with its own twist. Global Girl Media supplies equipment, education, and support to young women in under-served communities around the world to help them become journalists and allow them to share their unique voices and perspectives on their lives, communities and world events to the global community.

Co-founder Amie Williams talked about why she and Meena Nanji first founded the organization last year in an article by Al-Jarzeera:

“Both of us were lamenting this gnawing feeling that despite all of this new digital technology and increased global access to information there was still something missing from the medium: Women, particularly young women in the developing world and marginalised communities in the West, were not just underrepresented, they were nearly silent. No one was telling their stories. No one was reporting from their perspective. No one was listening to the millions of young girls out there dealing with major life issues from poverty to HIV to gang violence to women’s rights in real time. As a woman, as a filmmaker, and as a mother, this silence was to me more than just deafening – it was frustratingly discriminatory and real evidence of just how lopsided the voices that are heard in media have become.”

Since launching last fall, Global Girl Media has named Olympic Soccer player Julie Foudy as its spokesperson and launched its first project, Kick It Up, which trained 10 Los Angeles-area and 22 South African high school girls to be digital reporters for the summer’s 2010 World Cup. Check out this video about their program and see some of the girls in action. You can also watch more recent videos from the LA and Soweto, South Africa reporters on the Global Girl Media website on topics ranging from HIV prevention and sexual orientation to profiles of inspiring women and girls. I can’t wait to see what important topics Global Girl Media take on next!

This past weekend while I was out of town on my girls getaway weekend, my intention was to opt out of social media. No tweeting, no Facebooking, no nothing. So, imagine my surprise when I checked my email and found a slew of Facebook notifications relating to two of my FB friends who were commenting on a status update from earlier in the week. Confused, I scrolled through the messages, trying to make sense of why a guy I knew in college and wasn’t even in touch with anymore (outside of FB) and a good friend from Seattle, were apparently having a cross-country virtual back and forth. As I read message after message, I started to feel sick to my stomach. These two guys were cutting each other down with language of  intolerance, insensitivity, and elitism. The worst part? It was all happening on my Facebook page.

Panicked, I made a late night call to my hubby back in Seattle, and asked him to delete the posts as soon as possible. When I hung up the phone, the posts were gone from my page, but I was still stunned by what had transpired. How had my status update, one in which I remarked about how inspired I had been by the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, become the spark for cyberbullying by two people who don’t even know each other?

I don’t want to go into details about what was actually said. Suffice it to say that one friend pushed the other’s buttons, lines were drawn in the sand, and there was no looking back. In reading the comments, I totally understand how those buttons were pushed, and sympathized with the friend who was attacked in the first place. In fact, I’m unfriending the person who started it all because our values are completely at odds with each other and I frankly don’t want the unhealthy, negative energy around me. But here’s the thing – even though it was started by one person, even though I was equally offended by that one person’s comments, it took both friends to keep the conversation going, to keep the back and forth going back and forth.

There are all kinds of cliches to sum up how I’m feeling about this whole event, like turn the other cheek, don’t pour fuel on a fire, it takes two to tango…you get the point. But what I really want to say is, whatever side of the discourse you’re on, whatever your belief system, hate is hate. Intolerance is intolerance. And trying to make someone feel bad about who they are is bullying. Plain and simple.

I’m not writing this because I want my friend to feel bad for getting dragged into an online sparring match that I know was very upsetting to him. He has apologized to me for the whole thing, and of course I accept this. I guess my plea is that people be more thoughtful with the intention we put out into the world by the things we do and the things we say. There’s a difference between intending to defend ourselves and intending to make someone else feel bad.

So, I present you all with this challenge: the next time someone gets you riled up by saying something hurtful, pushing your buttons, trying to drag you into an uncomfortable conversation, of even making a rude comment to your Facebook status update, take a pause before you take action and ask yourself, what is my intention here? If it’s negative in any way, shape or form, do yourself a favor and walk away or make a different choice. You may not have the last word in that moment, but you’ll definitely feel less angry in the long run, not to mention be making a strong statement that says, the cycle of bullying stops here. And how great would that be?

Yesterday, I had the honor of being a part of Dove’s Self-Esteem Weekend, a 3-day event where Dove inspired thousands of organizations and individuals to gather together and realize the power women can make in the lives of building the self-esteem of girls. The Movement is about imagining a world where every girl grows up with the self-esteem she needs to reach her full potential, and where every woman enjoys feeling confident in her own beauty.

“Imagine the world of possibilities we can open up by helping to build self-esteem in the people we love most. Our movement is building a world where women everywhere have the tools to inspire each other and the girls in their lives.”

While my work most often involves talking with groups of girls about anything from media literacy to how to de-stress, for this weekend, I decided to pull together some of my favorite women here in Seattle to connect, build community, and enjoy some delicious cupcakes! I also asked each woman to answer the question Dove has posed to women everywhere: What do you wish you’d known at 13?

I loved seeing how every woman answered this question so differently, sharing their unique perspective and life-experience with the group. The end-result was a collection of powerful quotes which I pulled together to create this video. I hope you find these women and their message as inspiring as I do!

Also – check out this fabulous article on Huffington Post about the impact women can have on the self-esteem of girls by my friend, mentor, and Global Ambassador for the Dove Self-Esteem Fun, Jess Weiner!