Women Making HERstory Today

To wrap up Women’s History Month, we wanted to highlight and celebrate women who are doing incredible things and making history today. From diversity and inclusion advocates to young poets to teenaged trailblazers, these women are influencing the world as we know it, impacting the lives of young learners all over the world. If you can read this post and not feel inspired then we haven’t done our jobs.  

Dr. Bettina L. Love co-founded the Abolitionist Teaching Network in 2020 to help teachers and parents fight against injustice in their schools. Abolitionist Teaching comes from a critical race lens and encourages educators to protest, boycott, and call out leaders who are perpetuating discrimination often found in school communities. Dr. Love is also an author, researcher, educator, and advocate with a strong focus on celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion. Her accomplishments include leading a discussion at the White House Research Conference on Girls, being named the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, and Georgia’s House of Representatives presenting her with a resolution for her deep impact on education. 

Malala Yousafzai has been fighting for girls’ education since she was 11. Speaking out about girls’ right to learn made her the target of the Taliban, who managed to shoot her in an ambush in 2012. She survived and has been dedicating her time and energy since then. In 2020, she graduated from Oxford University and works with her organization, the Malala Fund, to ensure a free, safe, and quality education to every girl. Malala travels all over the world to meet girls who are struggling with war, poverty, gender discrimination and other hardships. She hears their stories and fights along with them to get their stories heard and enable changes to be made. 

Gitanjali Rao is just 16 years old and already making a huge impact on society with her use of technology to address major issues such as water contamination, opioid addiction, and cyberbullying. She’s on a mission to inspire other young innovators to solve problems worldwide. Kindly, her app and a Chrome extension that identifies cyberbullying and helps students rethink their words, is just one step in her incredible journey. Gitanjali also works with schools, STEM organizations for girls, museums, and large organizations like Shanghai International Youth Science and Technology group and the Royal Academy of Engineering in London.  Watch her TED Talk about her process of problem solving and innovation.

Amanda Gorman was 22 at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 when she became the youngest poet to ever speak at an inaugural ceremony, reading “The Hill We Climb,” a poem she penned especially for the occasion. Already a Harvard graduate and the national youth poet laureate, Amanda adds this accomplishment to her resume because she was hand-chosen to speak by the incoming First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Since then, her books have been top sellers on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, she’s signed with IMG Models, and has even gotten to sit down with former First Lady Michelle Obama for a Time magazine interview.  

Another exciting thing happening for women in 2022, the US Mint is starting a four-year program that celebrates extraordinary women who have accomplished and contributed incredible things to our country. Each year, the Mint will release up to five new designs honoring a woman who has made an impact in government, science, art, civil rights, or other important areas of life. The first quarter will pay homage to the late poet, performer, and activist Maya Angelou. Others being celebrated this year are an astronaut, a Cherokee chief, a superintendent of a public school district, and a Chinese American film star! Read more about this program here.

To these incredible women and all the others who are making the world a better place, we sincerely thank you!