She’s the First is an international organization that provides scholarships to girls in low-income countries, allowing them to go to school and become some of the world’s next global leaders.

Clubs and chapters are found on college and high school campus around the world. Each year, these incredible leaders come together in New York City for three days of empowerment, talks and tons of leadership experiences. Although I was unable to attend, the She’s the First Facebook held livestreams of some of their talks. They can be found here on their Facebook page if you feel like listening to some of the coolest women talk about girl power.

On Friday, one of the first talks was given by Martha Diaz, the founder and director of Hip-Hop Education Center. This organization calls itself a “Communiversity” where community and university come together and utilize social networking and hip-hop to teach essential skills to transform young peoples’ lives. Diaz’ talk was about redefining gender and leadership roles – something a founder and creator of an organization knows a lot about. As the first in her family to go to college, she recognizes that there was a lot she could do for herself and those around her. “What I don’t see, I make happen. If I don’t see a good representation of me, I’m going to make happen.” And she did exactly that. She also notes that there can be a lot of resistance to making things happen if they don’t exist. But, “in spite of all the resistance you’re going to get, keep going. If you get tired, take a break. But never quit.”

Also on Friday, Amani Al-Khatahbeh also joined the She’s the First summit to encourage women to raise their voices and utilize free speech on campus. Amani is the founder and creator of muslimgirl.net, the most read website for Muslim women in the English-speaking world. Oh, and she’s only 23. During her talk, she spoke about her journey through finding her voice on campus, something that’s hard to do when 1. You’re a woman and 2. You are pushed down because of religion. However, Amani left us with one point: “access to education is so powerful and transformative.” Education is what will change the world, especially if we start with girls.

The next day of the summit, two STF scholars gave a presentation about balancing tradition with empowerment. Angelica, from Guatemala and Carlota, from Peru. Both women come from indigenous communities where tradition is highly valued. It was truly inspiring to hear what two scholars have to say on these important issues, and it really shows the results of all the campus chapters’ hard work. One attendee tweeted “Snaps to @shesthefirst scholars Angelica & Carlota for being honest about empowering girls: ‘sometimes we have better ideas!’”I would have to agree. The girls also talked about confidence, perseverance and resilience – all a part of the recipe to overcome challenges. When Angelica said, “they say, ‘you’re a girl. You can’t do that.’ I say, ‘yes I can,’” it really shows the amount of empowerment these girls now hold because of their education.

It’s incredible to see how much She’s the First has impacted people all over the world. I encourage everyone to look into a chapter at their school, or start one if there isn’t any listed. If you attend Boston University, check out this other article I wrote and like us on Facebook! Girls need education today in order to change the world tomorrow.

“Do your best each and every day because you are a rockstar.” – Angelica, STF Scholar from Guatemala.