The Magic of the Girls Future Ready Foundation Annual Gala 2024 - “Educate a girl, and she will…

By Hanna Borowska and Girls Future Ready Foundation, 2024

“*Every current CEO, President, and Professor was once 20 years old. Every future CEO, President, and Professor is NOW in their 20s. It is these talented future leaders that the Girls Future Ready Foundation has been supporting for the past 6 years” -*Zofia Kierner, Founder and CEO of the Girls Future Ready Foundation

There is one extraordinary day in the year when women in business gather in one place to meet their successors. Everything happens because of the Girls Future Ready Foundation - the largest youth-led foundation that supports the educational and professional development of girls in CEE and creates an environment where girls can thrive, achieve their full potential, and become successful, independent, and influential future leaders. Many look forward to this Friday evening all year long. They plan, check, and think about what to do to leave this event with an interesting development offer. They rehearse their formal introductions in front of their bathroom mirror. Some of them also follow their destiny. Relying on luck, they will seek their dream opportunities that could change their future. There will also be those who don’t know what the Girls Future Ready Foundation Annual Gala is. Invited by a friend, they see it as a great opportunity to visit the Ambassador’s Residence or simply spend their free time differently. They are unaware that by agreeing to come, they cast a spell on themselves that can change their lives.

However, it doesn’t matter why you showed up. No matter which girl you identified with upon entering, I’m sure you felt dazzled as you left. It started with the most elegant outfit you found in your closet. After getting ready and taking a selfie in the mirror, you arrived at the driveway of the US Ambassadors Residence. There’s a chance that during the greeting with Ambassador Mark Brzezinski, you introduced yourself and mentioned what you do. You smiled for a photo. You started networking.

Surely some of us knew what we were doing, while the rest simply started talking. You thought it would be worthwhile to listen to Zofia Kierner’s speech. She convinced you that there are girls in the world who*‘have climbed and have moved mountains with a smile on their face and a broken heel.’* Then you heard about your peers who became laureates of the HerStory Program - the most practical mentorship program on the CEE market which monthly connects 1 young woman with an experienced mentor to together work on concrete projects. In the past girls have started their own businesses, podcasts, NGOs, written articles for large media publications and much more. You saw how this year’s mentees developed their skills, confidence, and career aspirations. While listening to them talk about the programs, you noticed their inspiration, gratitude for support, and desire to educate and develop their skills. You understood how much HerStory broadens horizons and creates solid foundations for the participants’ future success. Additionally, the girls’ mentors themselves emphasize that it is a two-way learning process. Anna Janowiak (Director of the Compliance Department at DNB), who met her mentee Zuzanna Czernicka with the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) concept, summed up the collaboration as follows:

‘The time I spent with Zuza on the project was amazing for me. Not only did I develop by working with someone from a completely different generation, but I also observed how wonderfully Zuza blossomed.’

But they’re not the only ones who have convinced you that HerStory is an amazing adventure that can change your life. It is thanks to all the HerStories of the mentorship pairs on stage Julia Saługa and Anna Zielińska (CEO of Stor9), Patrycja Skowrońska and Nicole Chojnicka (HR Manager at Hotel Bristol Warsaw, a Luxury Collection Hotel) and the girls who literally reached the stars - Maja Staniewska, Alessandra Jabłonowska, Magdalena Jarosz and their mentor Justyna Pelc (CEO InnSpace), you felt in your heart that next year you would do everything to stand on that stage to share your HerStory. And then it began. You forgot about the seriousness of the situation. You understood that tonight the future mattered. You got the energy to think about your dreams or development paths. You felt incredible. My question is why? Surely you’ve talked to a stranger in your life before. So why was that evening so special? Or maybe it was just unusual for me.

But I won’t believe that I was the only one who felt the magic spell. I’m sure each of us felt that extraordinary power in the air. Those who came as mentors and those young girls looking for their future. Each of us felt the support and incredible energy spreading in the air. Maybe you don’t expect this answer, but you cast the spell. You’re probably wondering how that’s possible, or what I mean by that. Let me explain.

The process started at the entrance. Next to Mark Brzezinski stood two beautiful women. One older, dressed in a beautiful, purple dress, smiled and invited you into her home. This was Olga Leonowicz, the partner of the Ambassador. The other, younger one immediately became your inspiration. Zofia Kierner, the Founder of Girls Future Ready. After all, at such a young age, she welcomed you to her Foundation’s Gala at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence. She thanked you for coming. It was at that moment that the magic began because in that unfamiliar house, you felt comfortable, and all barriers went aside. You felt the femininity fighting for a better tomorrow. So we found the answer. You created that strange energy on a certain Friday. You met women impeccably beautiful in their values, in beautiful outfits, not hiding their voices. I’m convinced you became someone’s inspiration yourself. You saw truly mature women fighting for their opinions and beliefs. You noticed femininity throughout the residence. It was very diverse. One mature, aware, and the other still undiscovered, hidden in the shadows, but equally wonderful. It was living proof of wisdom and hope for a good future. You came here as an independent, self-determining young woman with your own created views. You got the chance to realize that your magic spell is being Future Ready. Why? Because girls from Girls Future Ready really fight for their dreams!

Ms. Olga Leonowicz stated that true femininity is when a woman, while maintaining feminine attributes, shows her true strength flowing from character, determination, and beliefs, without hiding it all by trying to be a “strong man.” Ms. Olga and Mr. Ambassador, by inviting the Foundation into their home, allowed us to experience all of this live.

I assume that through the atmosphere created in the residence, you left there genuinely happy. The gala showcased the opportunities, summarized the foundation’s work, and highlighted women’s strength. Maybe someone left you with a thought. Maybe you found yourself a job, internship, volunteer work, inspiration, or just laughed. Maybe you reconsidered your greeting a hundred times, or just once, or not at all. Maybe you forgot about that day by now, or you remember it every day when you go to bed. Maybe you realized that there, under one roof, there were people who truly change the world. Both the older ones and the younger ones, Zofia, HerStory laureates, and those who dream of becoming them. If not, it means you have to come next year. But for now, the most important thing was that you came and allowed yourself to be known. Somewhere now in the world, there is a girl who thinks of you as an inspiration. I want to thank you for that. It was nice to meet you on that beautiful Friday evening. I hope you remember at least two things from that day. Femininity is the choice of a woman brave enough to be herself while fighting for her opinion. Also, something you received from the foundation as you were leaving the gala. A certain magic card on which the text was written: ‘If not us, who? If not now, when?’. So when do you start reaching for your dreams?

PS. For my inspiration in striving to be Future Ready. Thanks to the Girls Future Ready Foundation, we were able to meet. Nina, all the best! Reach for the stars and always fight for what’s yours! Happy Birthday : )