Congrats, Carrie!! You are the lucky winner of our Victoria Justice Birthday Contest. Your entry was so moving and represented Victoria’s work on behalf of Girl Up. We received a lot of amazing stories and it was tough to pick just one so thank you to everyone who participated!

The first day of the Women in the World Summit was absolutely amazing. The day opened up with a haunting song by Suma from Nepal, a girl sold into indentured servitude by her family. Her story has been shared by 10x10, an organization which made a feature film profiling 10 girls in 10 countries, all with the message that educating girls in developing nations will change the world.

Our first ever Leadership Summit was a huge success! The event brought 100 girls from across the country and connected them to women at the top of their game in finance, politics, and entertainment. All 15 of our Teen Advisors came to DC to show their peers on how to spread the Girl Up message and were treated to a tour of the nation’s capital.

Imagine that after a bloody and violent war that spanned more than 20 years, a powerful leader rose up to deliver the country from its impoverished and fragile state. This leader, a native of the country, pledged to make it better for all citizens. Now stop for a second.

I am a proud ‘90s kid. My youth was not consumed with computer games and my interactions with others did not occur over Facebook or Twitter. Although I’m 18 years old (still young in the scope of things) social media is even younger.

I had a fantastic time with the Girl Up and Nothing But Nets campaigns at the NBA All-Star Jam Session! The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando was crowded with excited NBA and WNBA fans.

Girl Up is on the road this week for the NBA All-Star Jam Session in Orlando, FL! For the first time ever, the Girl Up and Nothing But Nets campaigns will join forces to spread awareness about the United Nations Foundation and your ability to change the world.

A presentation at school does not have to take months of planning or even be stressful. All you need is a supportive teacher, a few friends and the drive to help a girl who does not have many opportunities.

Hi! I am Omar Terrones, a member of the Girl Up club at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, CA with Teen Advisor Rocio Ortega. I was one of the first few people, as well as the first and only boy to join the club back in its inception.

Marlborough's Girl Up Club hosted its very first fundraiser event Sunday, February 5. It's fair to say that it was a success on all accounts!

Picture this: your name is Fatuma, and you are a fourteen year old girl living in Todee, Liberia. Your brother is allowed to go to school and you aren’t, even though you desperately want to go to university and become a doctor. While American girls like me have the same dreams as Fatuma does, she simply does not have the resources to pursue her goals.

When I was eight years old, my friends and I built a fort in my backyard and proudly displayed a sign reading “NO Boys Allowed!” Today, girls around the world are facing serious issues and we need boys to be part of the solution, too.

Nearly 50 percent of Uganda’s population is under the age of 15, and mobile technology is offering them huge opportunities to access information and connect globally. That's why we teamed up with Villages In Action (VIA) to virtually connect with young girls in Kikuube Village, Uganda. VIA is a program dedicated to giving the people in the villages a voice in the global community.

A few months ago, I started to think about what it meant to turn 18 years old. I couldn’t believe that I would be an adult! I thought about all my dreams, friends, family, and successes that I’ve had in my life. I can happily say that I have fulfilled almost all of my childhood dreams (except a few, including becoming a Disney princess). I also thought about all my aspirations for the future: to go to college, to get a job, to fall in love, and to have a family.

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the country of Haiti.  Today, the second anniversary of the earthquake, is a good reminder to remember the girls and women who have been affected. Currently, there are about 800 camps and half a million people still displaced, many of them girls and women. 

I had such a great experience in New York with United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign and Clean & Clear! My day started out exciting and ended spectacular!

Last week, I held the event that I had been dreaming about since I first applied to become a Teen Advisor. My friends entered the room bursting with excitement. First, they bought raffle tickets then wrote encouraging letters to girls in Malawi, Ethiopia, Liberia and Guatemala. They had the opportunity to meet and take a picture with our celebrity host, “Glee” cast member Max Adler.

It was about 8:15 in the morning and New York City and its residents seemed to adjust groggily to the fact a new day had begun. Coffee in hand, I walked past a structure that stands so proudly over New York’s East River.

I attended a breakfast on behalf of Girl Up at the United Nations to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The breakfast room was filled with supporters for elimination of violence against women, and the excitement to celebrate the four winners of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence Against Women t-shirt design contest was everywhere.

On December 6, I had the amazing opportunity to speak at a Girl Up reception in Atlanta! A special thanks to the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Atlanta Girls’ School for hosting us.

Finally the day that the Garfield High School Girl Up Club had been planning for had arrived! On Wednesday, November 16, the members of the GHS Girl Up club came to school at 6:30 a.m. to set up for the assembly.

This holiday season, Girl Up is working with you to change the lives of 2,000 girls in the Jijiga refugee camp in Ethiopia, run by UNHCR. While these girls have fled their homes in Somalia to escape conflict and famine, the reality of life in a regufee camp means they need our help more than ever.

Everyday I’m inspired by the work I do for the United Nations Foundation, but today I was completely blown away: Girl Up and Project Girl Performance Collective participated in TEDxWomen’s global conversation on the importance of women and girls! This incredible group of teens rocked the stage at the Paley Center in New York as part of a global event, with speakers in two cities and more than 100 organized viewing conferences around the world

As the holiday season approaches, all of us here at Girl Up are realizing how many great things we have in our lives. So in celebration of the American holiday Thanksgiving, we’ve all come up with a list of things we’re thankful for.

As the holiday season approaches, all of us here at Girl Up are realizing how many great things we have in our lives. So in celebration of the American holiday Thanksgiving, we’ve all come up with a list of things we’re thankful for.