A recap of the Be Bold Girls Changemaker Challenge Pitch Day
On a rainy Saturday in March, forty girls grades 7 to 12 gathered at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington to present their solution designs for pressing issues limiting women and girls in their everyday lives. The event was part of the Be Bold Girls Changemaker Challenge, a competition that invited young changemakers to turn their passion and talent into impact and create a solution design for the change they wish to see. They were warmly supported by big conference rooms full of parents, friends, volunteers, and judges.
The Solutions
The participants tackled a wide breadth of topics, including AI in fashion, destigmatizing periods, and reimagining stem as a field for women. They researched their target audience, proposed a solution design that addressed a problem impacting young women and girls, explained why the solution had potential, and described the impact they expected it to have.
The evaluation
The teams presented their projects to a panel of experts, who evaluated them based on five criteria: problem understanding, detailed research, originality and innovation, impact, and presentation. The judges praised the teams for their creative and impactful solutions, their passion, and their skills in design thinking, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.
“I’ll probably end up in tears at some point because that’s what happens when I’m inspired,” said Kirsten Smith, one of the judges.
When asked about what the most exciting part about the challenge has been, Nickie Smith, the co-founder of Be Bold for Change, the nonprofit behind Be Bold Girls said:
“This program fills me with optimism and hope for our future. The girls’ ideas are incredible. Their critical thinking is outstanding, and their storytelling brilliant…they’ve really taken on the guidance from the workshops and their voices have grown bigger and bolder .”
The judges across the board expressed that there was so much passion around the topics that young women face today and that Be Bold Girls provided a safe environment for the girls to be themselves to express their solutions.
the winners
The winners of the Be Bold Girls Changemaker Challenge 2024 were announced at the end of the event. The first place went to Sophia Hsu, Alice Chen, and Nicole Cheng of Powerpuff Girls, who pitched a series of books called Periods, Period. that aims to destigmatize periods. The second place went to Emilie Duran, who presented Penderie, an innovative fashion app that leverages AI and reduces fashion waste. The third place went to Angelina Kam who pitched Infinite Allure. It's a real running business that she started that sells aromatherapy wax tablets to raise funds and awareness for organizations supporting women and girls, while growing community among young women.
The judges were so impressed by the caliber of the pitches that they funded two Honorable Mentions to Fnote Biniam and Navari Lui of Untold Cosmetics, and Lulu Yu, Satvika Kannappan, Nandita Malhotra, and Asha Ranjesh of Girlink.
As well as prizes, the winners will be invited to share their changemaker experience at Be Bold Now Seattle, 2024, April 24th at SIFF Cinema Egyptian. Tickets are available here.
valuable experience for all
Winner or not, the pitchers unanimously agreed that the process of creating a solution and participating in a challenge itself was fulfilling.
In a series of interviews of participants, there were consistent themes when it came to the skillsets they’ve gained from the Challenge: creativity, leadership, public speaking, research, teamwork, friendships with like-minded people, bravery, confidence, and authenticity.
As one of the ambassadors and winners of the Challenge, Angelina, said about Be Bold Girls:
“Be Bold Girls allows us as students to be the leaders... For example, for this Changemaker Challenge, as student ambassadors, we were very active in designing this program, so it’s been a valuable experience.”
We congratulate all the participants for their amazing work and thank our parents, sponsors, judges, and volunteers for making this event possible. We hope to see you again for more Be Bold Girls events!
For more information about Be Bold Girls and the Changemaker Challenge, contact Nickie.Smith@beboldgirls.org or Stella @beboldgirls.org.
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