“Change the world by being yourself.”
This quote by Yoko Ono describes precisely what Amy Poehler’s organization, “Smart Girls,” is trying to promote. Besides encouraging young women to be intellectuals and individuals rather than suppressing their uniqueness to fit in, “Smart Girls” in a fun organization featuring inspiring online articles with a wacky sense of humor, a signature of Amy Poehler.
“Smart Girls” started in 2007, when Poehler created a YouTube channel called Smart Girls at the Party, made to empower children and teenagers to be themselves. Meredith Walker, a producer whose credits include Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, and composer Amy Miles, who has written music for Inside Amy Schumer and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, were co-creators of the channel and subsequent organization.
Aside from the positive message “Smart Girls” aims to spread, their website is loaded with interesting and informative content. Featured on their website this month was a video that described not only how to make DIY bath bombs (um, yes please!) but also information on what makes bath bombs have a chemical reaction when they contact water.
Of the 31 categories on the website, visitors can read up on topics including politics, education, entrepreneurship, history, culture, sports, and animals, alongside more feminine topics such as self-care (note: this is not listed as beauty), music, and DIY.
Even when one ventures down the self-care tag, there is no focus on makeup or hair; instead, “Smart Girls” offers a range of topics dealing with body positivity, exercise, meditation, autism, phobias, depression, and stress.
The most admirable goal of this organization is the emphasis on helping young men and women love their “true selves,” rather than the selves they think they need to be. The organization also profiles successful women who have embraced their nuances and quirks.
Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, and Google+.