By Kristina Knaus, Volunteer Coordinator at Girls Can Do ::
Volunteer Coordinator, Kristina Knaus
I volunteer a lot. You always feel good after you volunteer; you always have this warm “I gave back” feeling. When I finished volunteering at Girls Can Do however, it was more of a “Wow, I think I might have just helped change some lives” feeling. That is a feeling I could get used to.
Karen’s idea for Girls Can Do was to have an event with nine amazing women telling their stories to try and inspire young girls to have big dreams and achieve them. I feel she can safely say she achieved her goal. I am so proud to work at a company with a CEO who is so passionate and headstrong: Not only is she leading a UX consulting firm with 50+ employees, she also plans uplifting events for girls in her spare time.
The women who spoke at Girls Can Do inspired me and I was well above the target age. At 24-years-old the world is still pretty terrifying, and hearing success stories is always nice. These women all had some kind of obstacle they had to overcome, and they not only overcame their obstacles, they pole vaulted them. Kristin Laidre thought she was going to be a professional ballerina. After three foot surgeries that dream was pretty much dust, so she decided to become a marine biologist. Now she gets to hang out with polar bears. Coleen Christie was terrible at reading aloud; she went on to become a news anchor that reads aloud for a living to millions of viewers. For me, knowing these things makes all the difference. Everyone has something they could let hold him or her back, but to become great you can’t let those things control your potential.
After the event it was heartwarming to see all the girls line up in the lobby to get autographs and have their questions answered from the speakers. I saw Catherine Crosslin writing affirmations for girls and members of Seattle Reign soccer team offer to come show a local soccer club some new tricks. Getting to see so many young girls excited about their futures and truly believing the sky is the limit was the best kind of way to spend my Saturday.
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