Tammy was honored as one of Glamour’s 20 Amazing Young Women at the 2010 Glamour Women of the Year Awards. Read about the other honorees here.
Name:
Tammy Tibbetts
Age:
24
Year in school and school if applicable:
Graduate of The College of New Jersey, Class of 2007
Your email address:
Your website:
Your “claim to fame” – aka why you were part of Glamour’s 20 Amazing Young Women!:
Last year, I founded She’s the First, an organization that connects you with girls whose education you can sponsor in the developing world. We inspire you to creatively fundraise, and we collaborate with you on social media activism for girls worldwide. (You can start your own She’s the First*{Campus} chapter – email me if you’re interested in learning more!)
What are you doing to change the world?
We are using online, social media activism to power creative fundraisers for girls’ education sponsorships offline. Shesthefirst.org is quickly evolving into a digital storytelling platform that shows our creativity and the resulting impact on girls worldwide. At She’s the First, we are ensuring that as many girls as possible have a chance to graduate from school and become a ‘First’ – breaking barriers and reaching new heights in her family, community, nation, and world.
What was your inspiration for this?
I was inspired by a mix of influences, which primarily were: “The Girl Effect” PSA from the Nike Foundation, the humanitarian journalism of The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, my experience directing a foundation that funded education for Liberian orphans, launching DonateMyDress.org in my former corporate job.
What is a quotation or message that drives you?
“Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.” – Margaret Meade
What has been your proudest accomplishment so far?
Building a passionate team to support the international movement for girls’ access to education worldwide. Nothing that She’s the First has achieved – including the sponsorship of 30+ girls in our first year and the creation of our wildly successful GIRLS WHO ROCK benefit concert – can be credited to a single person. I am so proud that She’s the First quickly grew into a brand that fuels such a selfless, intense desire to give back.
At what one point did you really feel like you’d made an impact?
When we sponsored three girls in AfricAid’s Kisa Project program in Tanzania, as a result of proceeds from GIRLS WHO ROCK, on June 10 in New York City. These girls receive leadership and computer training, in addition to their academic studies, for two years. We are able to email them, and we post their updates on our blog, so supporters can continue a dialogue with them and have a cultural exchange year-round. When the girls directly write us about what their hopes and dreams are, and what they are now learning thanks to She’s the First and AfricAid, it really puts a face and heart on the mind-numbing statistics that there are 600 million adolescent girls in the developing world, and the majority are not receiving they education they deserve.
What would you say was the “coolest” moment in your life thus far?
Winning the Glamour Ruth Whitney scholarship from New York Women in Communications, Inc. (NYWICI) when I was a sophomore in college, and being recognized for it at the Matrix Awards in 2005. I’ll never forget meeting Cindi Leive, and beginning a lasting relationship with Susan Goodall, who is an incredible mentor and now I serve on the NYWICI Foundation Board with her. As cool as it was to see Oprah, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and other A-list women at WOTY this year, I first saw them at the Matrix Awards! When I was 20-years-old and experiencing that in NYC as a commuting Jersey Girl, I felt like anything in my future was possible.
What is a challenge you’ve faced while trying to achieve your goals?
Certainly time constraints, because we have a never-ending stream of brilliant, creative, and exciting ideas! It’s challenging to start a nonprofit, because you pour your passion into it and want to spend all your time on it, but at first, you don’t have the budget to earn a salary for your work. So you also have to maintain a paying, full-time job, and luckily, I’ve had ones that I truly enjoy and learn from…but you still have to grow your passion in the hours that most others are sleeping, very early in the morning and very late at night. So I run on the adrenalin that She’s the First naturally provides (and drink lots of caffeine!).
If someone gave you a million dollars to benefit your cause (or your research, your company, etc.) what would you use it for?
Oh wow! We’d probably invest half of it in our partner programs—building better facilities and maybe tech centers for the girls so we can keep a global mentorship going with them—and use the other half to open an office and have a full-time staff in NYC, so we could expand the scale of our grassroots fundraising network, increase the volume of our sponsorships generated, and create a very sophisticated but user-friendly and social-media driven web site that had better avenues for online fundraising.
In 10 years I hope…
One year ago, I did not imagine any of the wonderful things that happened to me this year to be possible, so this is too hard to answer! I won’t waste your time predicting the future…I just want to continue achieving “Firsts” in my life and helping other girls do the same.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?
I am a journalism graduate, so I would be reporting on one issue or another—I’m fascinated with multimedia storytelling.
What 3 adjectives would people use to describe you?
Passionate, optimistic, and energized
What is your biggest weakness?
Memory loss! I can listen to a song 100 times and never remember the lyrics. I have to hear someone’s name three times before I remember it. But I never forget experiences.
Who is your hero and why?
Ruth Whitney, the legendary editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine, before Cindi. She believed in style and substance and made the magazine the amazing platform it is today for women who look, feel, and do good in their communities and worldwide.
Who is your biggest cheerleader, supporting you every step of the way?
My mom! I love how she loyally reads my Twitter feed for updates, even though she refuses to sign up for her own social media accounts, and she is the #1 commenter on the She’s the First blog. I was honored to have her as my guest at WOTY!
Describe your idea of a perfect day.
Sunshine, working on She’s the First, tweeting, finishing a project, starting a new one, and keeping fresh, new, fun ideas running through the pipeline!
What do you like to do outside of your work?
Sleep. And read great books when I’m in transit.
Which of this year’s Glamour WOTY award winners would you most like to meet and why?
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman President in all of Africa, who leads Liberia, because I’ve been to Liberia twice and the country’s tragic past and bright future are very near and dear to my heart.
What was your favorite part of Glamour’s WOTY Awards?
The heartfelt speech by Dr. Hawa Abdi, the standing ovation she and her daughters received, and the emotional video that showed their work in Somalia. Their segment stripped the event of its celebrity for a moment and brought us into the core of what it means to stand up for what you believe it, think selflessly, and be fearless.
What did you wear to Glamour’s WOTY Awards?
A black and white ombre Betsey Johnson dress (my favorite designer).
Who did you bring as your guest to Glamour’s WOTY Awards?
My mom, Cheryl Tibbetts.
Who do you think should win a Glamour WOTY Award next year?
Celebrity – Taylor Swift! ‘Real person’ – Maggie Doyne, who built the Kopila Valley Children’s Home and School in Nepal, which is part of the She’s the First network.
What is your favorite thing about Glamour magazine?
The pages are all style and substance, and the brand is seamlessly carried across print and online media.
What does “glamour” mean to you?
Loving who you are, what you do, and who you surround yourself with. When you have all that locked into place, I believe you have this glow about you that just attracts all the most amazing things in life, people and opportunities that you might not have found on your own, even if you were actively looking.
How does it feel to be honored as one of Glamour Magazine’s 20 young women who are already changing the world?
I feel like I have to work 10 times harder every day to be worthy!
What advice would you give to our college women readers?
Travel outside your comfort zone, see the world, never stop telling stories, and when you have an idea, just take the first step and start it. It doesn’t need to perfect, just do something and the rest will fall into place!