I've dropped little bits and pieces here and there about my new love, i am that girl, but I haven't actually taken the time to really tell you what's made me fall so hard. It goes beyond the draw of new rain boots, an awesome dress, a cute boy or my shiny new camera. It's not a tangible object that I can hold in my hands but it is something that I hold in my heart in a way that fulfills me beyond anything else I can measure. I want to share it with every single person I talk to and I'm surprised by the fact that I haven't done that right here yet.
As we approached the new year, I had ideas on what I wanted to do with 2010 but I wasn't sure how I felt about resolutions. It seems to be the trendy thing to set lofty goals with the expectation that you'll never fulfill them and I didn't want anything to do with that. So, after spending a lot of time in self-reflection I opted to make commitments to myself instead. One of those was "I Will Be Passion" and just a few days into 2010, that fell right into my lap. A lovely woman whose blog I read on a regular basis posted about a group that she was starting up in SoCal. After poking around on the facebook page for her group, I stumbled onto iamthatgirl.com. I was hooked.
Right now you're saying to yourself, "Nice story but what is it?" I'm about to tell you. i am that girl is a Los Angeles based organization founded by Alexis Jones (of Survivor: Micronesia fame). When people ask me for my elevator pitch I tell them that we are a group of socially conscious women who want to support each other and make a difference in the world all at once. But it's so much more than that. The fact is that we're all that girl and we all need to be reminded of the fact that we're not alone in the things we go through or in our desires to make a difference that is bigger than we are. We live in a generation where so much emphasis is put on how we look, what we wear, what job we have, who we're dating and how we stack up against each other that somewhere along the way the important things got left off of the checklist of what makes a person truly beautiful. Alexis and her incredible dream team want more for this generation of women and the generations that we're going to influence. i am that girl is a women's movement that is going to rock the 21st century, change the definition of beauty and remind us all of what the important things really are.
So how did I come to be part of this? Did I pack up and move to LA in an effort to become part of something incredible? No! I didn't need to! I am happy to say that I can play a big role in this amazing thing from the comforts of my little Seattle bubble. With the recent kickoff of the that girl goes local program, women all over the country are (and still can!) starting their own local chapters of this amazing company. I am just one of a handful of presidents representing the i am that girl mission in her town.
On a weekly basis groups of amazing women gather together in coffee shops, food courts, libraries or the comfort of one of our homes to discuss the big things going on in our lives and the big things going on in the world. Every group has their own unique conversations but we all share in a weekly discussion based around readings and facilitation questions that support a pressing issue in all of our lives. These discussions reach into every corner, from racism to birth control to sexuality and beyond. Every month each chapter reaches out to their community to bring awareness to issues like sex trafficking, equal rights, education, abuse, etc. We volunteer, we make noise, we challenge the status quo and we stand up to raise our voices for those who can't do it for themselves.
If you think that beauty is more than about how you look, you think that making a difference in the world sounds like a pretty badass way to spend your time and you strongly believe that we're all a part of the same incredible team, you ought to come check out our movement and maybe even bring a friend along for the ride.
And if you don't believe me? Believe her:
Our Mission: To inspire authentic confidence in girls and women everywhere so that they can positively and significantly impact the world.
As we approached the new year, I had ideas on what I wanted to do with 2010 but I wasn't sure how I felt about resolutions. It seems to be the trendy thing to set lofty goals with the expectation that you'll never fulfill them and I didn't want anything to do with that. So, after spending a lot of time in self-reflection I opted to make commitments to myself instead. One of those was "I Will Be Passion" and just a few days into 2010, that fell right into my lap. A lovely woman whose blog I read on a regular basis posted about a group that she was starting up in SoCal. After poking around on the facebook page for her group, I stumbled onto iamthatgirl.com. I was hooked.
Right now you're saying to yourself, "Nice story but what is it?" I'm about to tell you. i am that girl is a Los Angeles based organization founded by Alexis Jones (of Survivor: Micronesia fame). When people ask me for my elevator pitch I tell them that we are a group of socially conscious women who want to support each other and make a difference in the world all at once. But it's so much more than that. The fact is that we're all that girl and we all need to be reminded of the fact that we're not alone in the things we go through or in our desires to make a difference that is bigger than we are. We live in a generation where so much emphasis is put on how we look, what we wear, what job we have, who we're dating and how we stack up against each other that somewhere along the way the important things got left off of the checklist of what makes a person truly beautiful. Alexis and her incredible dream team want more for this generation of women and the generations that we're going to influence. i am that girl is a women's movement that is going to rock the 21st century, change the definition of beauty and remind us all of what the important things really are.
So how did I come to be part of this? Did I pack up and move to LA in an effort to become part of something incredible? No! I didn't need to! I am happy to say that I can play a big role in this amazing thing from the comforts of my little Seattle bubble. With the recent kickoff of the that girl goes local program, women all over the country are (and still can!) starting their own local chapters of this amazing company. I am just one of a handful of presidents representing the i am that girl mission in her town.
On a weekly basis groups of amazing women gather together in coffee shops, food courts, libraries or the comfort of one of our homes to discuss the big things going on in our lives and the big things going on in the world. Every group has their own unique conversations but we all share in a weekly discussion based around readings and facilitation questions that support a pressing issue in all of our lives. These discussions reach into every corner, from racism to birth control to sexuality and beyond. Every month each chapter reaches out to their community to bring awareness to issues like sex trafficking, equal rights, education, abuse, etc. We volunteer, we make noise, we challenge the status quo and we stand up to raise our voices for those who can't do it for themselves.
If you think that beauty is more than about how you look, you think that making a difference in the world sounds like a pretty badass way to spend your time and you strongly believe that we're all a part of the same incredible team, you ought to come check out our movement and maybe even bring a friend along for the ride.
And if you don't believe me? Believe her:
Our Mission: To inspire authentic confidence in girls and women everywhere so that they can positively and significantly impact the world.
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