We launched Global Girl Los Angeles 2011 News Training Academy this past week at the Skirball Cultural Center. We’ve got 8 wonderful girls from all over the city. Many of them started off shy, but it’s been inspiring to watch how quickly they’ve grown in confidence! We’ve had several guest trainers this week, including the fabulous Kamala Lopez, who ran the program in Los Angeles last year, and helped them with their “on-camera” presence, Tabby Biddle, a blogger for the Huffington Post, and my dear friend Jacquleine Fuentes, who not only has a voice from heaven and a huge musical talent, but a beautiful way of merging activism and art. She ran a songwriting workshop in Spanish. Check here to read about all our amazing trainers this summer!
This week the girls have been talking about their role models, about what it means to be a feminist, and about why their voices are important. They’ve also started tweeting. Check here for their updates. Next week they’re going to continue to learn how to use cameras to begin shooting and writing their stories during the last 2 weeks of July. The girls have also been asked to guest blog for Women's Campaign International, which we’ll be sure to tweet about when it goes up.
One bit of very exciting news for us this week: In a press conference about her trip to South Africa, First Lady Michelle Obama talked about how inspired she was by our very own Global Girl, Annah Tseko. She also tweeted a video of Annah that you can see here! There’s a fantastic article about Annah catching the First Lady’s attention and all the work Annah has been doing to better her community, including the work she’s done with Global Girl in South Africa. We’re so proud of her! If you haven’t read her blog post about meeting the First Lady, check it out here!
Stay tuned for more videos, and be sure to check the website for blog posts as the girls continue to write about their experiences : )
