GLAM Launches Online Leadership Program for Girls Amidst the Pandemic

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Girls Leadership Academy Meetup (GLAM) today announced the successful launch of GLAM Virtual, the online leadership program debuted in January in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By yearend, 360 girls aged 8-12 will have successfully completed the program, which aims to help close the gender gap in STEM fields and senior leadership.

GLAM was founded in 2016 as an in-person, immersive curriculum consisting of two days of inspiration and leadership training for girls aged 8-12. By 2019, more than 260 girls in the U.S. and UK had completed the program. GLAM Virtual debuted in January 2021 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to allow girls to access the program online. Thanks to its digital format, girls from around the world – including North America, Europe, Asia and Africa – have been able to participate. This scalability will enable GLAM to meet its objective of empowering one million girls by 2030.

GLAM Virtual is delivered in partnership with corporate sponsors, which enroll girls from the families of their employees and their communities, including girls from underserved areas. GLAM relies on volunteers as well as participation from corporate sponsors' women executives in technology for presenting pitches, hosting coding workshops or judging the final business pitches.

Corporate sponsors in 2021 have included Arm, eBay, and HatchBeauty Brands, with Cisco slated for October. Described by a participant's mother as a "mini-MBA for girls," GLAM takes students through an award-winning eight-pillar curriculum involving leadership, strategy, entrepreneurship, teamwork, creativity, computer coding, business planning and business plan pitching. In addition to exposure to successful female role models, GLAM girls get public speaking and business plan pitch coaching from Chelsey Baker, founder and CEO of National Mentoring Day and National Mentoring Awards. More than 80 percent of girls who go through the program say they want to continue coding after GLAM.

To help girls understand their unique gifts and talents, GLAM introduced its GLAM Superpowers initiative. Since its introduction in February 2021, 350 women and 542 girls have completed the personality quiz (accessible via the GLAM website), which helps them identify their superpowers and recognize their strengths. Girls who discover their superpowers can then search the database of women leaders who have also completed the survey to identify role models with the same superpowers as them. GLAM's goal is to showcase at least 1,000 women role models by 2030.

About GLAM
GLAM (Girls Leadership Academy Meetup) is a nonprofit founded in San Jose, California by iTalent Digital CEO & Founder Renée La Londe. It was born from a desire to give girls from all socioeconomic backgrounds the opportunity to be exposed to tech and inspired by successful role models from an early age. The award-winning leadership program is always offered free of charge and introduces middle school-aged girls to basic computer coding, as well as business plan development, vision-boarding, public speaking and leadership.

Contact:
Michele Foster
[email protected]
512 772 4701

SOURCE GLAM (Girls Leadership Academy Meetup)