Earlier this month I stepped (way) outside of the United Nations and nonprofit world in which I live and spent a couple of days with the leadership and employees of Henkel North America at their campus in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Since the UN Foundation launched Girl Up earlier this year, we’ve been amazed at the support you’ve shown for girls around the world like you.  You have really made this a “for girls, by girls” movement.

I recently had the privilege (and fun!) of speaking at the Posey Leadership Forum at Austin College in Sherman, Texas.

As the holiday season approaches, everyone here at Girl Up is realizing how many great things we have in our lives.  So in celebration of the American holiday Thanksgiving, we’ve all come up with five things that we’re thankful for.  This is the first blog in our “I am thankful for…” series -- keep checking in to find out what everyone else here at Girl Up is thankful for.

It’s High Five Friday again, and this Friday we want to High Five the winner of our Teen Advisor contest, Lily Kaplan!

For a few months now I have been responding to emails, facebook posts and tweets from girls looking for ideas on ways to get more involved in Girl Up..  I always tell them that one of the best ways to get more involved is to host a GirlRaiser, so last Friday I decided to do just that. 

The day before the Louise S. McGehee School campaign was set to launch, students of the “Global Issues” class had finally decided on a name for their project.

I had a very cool opportunity to attend a Girl Up pep rally in Seattle today. Over 150 girls came through to learn about the life of some of the girls in Africa and Latin America. I carried jugs of water with girls today who experienced first hand how heavy and exhausting it is to carry gallons of water for hours, which many girls spend their days doing in these countries. 

It’s High Five Friday again! This Friday, we want to recognize Tabby Biddle from The Huffington Post for being an awesome Girl Up supporter and a champion for women around the world.

Here are some ladies who took action and organized a Girl Up event in their city - they planned an amazing GirlRaiser called Bites & Beats, and showed their community in Austin how to Girl Up!

As a teen in the U.S., you are more socially connected today than ever before.  A study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004, and one in three teens sends more than 100 text messages a day – or 3,000 texts a month!  Teens instant message and connect on social networking sites with friends almost as much as they connect in person. 

Girls and boys from all over LA joined us at the Unite for Girls Pep Rally in Los Angeles to learn about the lives of girls in Malawi, Liberia, Guatemala, and Ethiopia, and to start to take action by getting involved in Girl Up.

The Unite for Girls tour is in Los Angeles this week, and we got off to a great start with a high-energy event at Variety last night. Over 200 people came together to celebrate Girl Up and give a High Five for girls around the world.

When I was little, my sister and I would sit down after trick or treating and would spread our candy all over the living room floor so that we could count and sort it.

Victoria Justice - teen actress, singer and Girl Up champion - was honored on Sunday, October 24, at Variety magazine’s annual Power of Youth event for her work with Girl Up.

Last week I was given the most amazing opportunity -- a chance to interview a Prime Minister on BBC Radio! I received a phone call late one night asking if I was up for this and I said YES!

Today is “High Five Friday” at Girl Up so we began the morning by posing the question, “Who are five people in your life that deserve a High Five?”...

As our team meets with girls around the country, and even in Malawi and Liberia, we’re constantly hearing things like “What a great t-shirt!” or “Ooh, where can I get a Girl Up water bottle?”

I know this may be hard for some of you to believe, but the girl who always has something to say, the girl who can write 500 words in a jiffy, the girl who can really exhaust you with her chatter, Betsy Cribb, is out of words.

Today is, very sadly, my last day in New York with the Girl Up team. I am certainly not joking when I say that they saved one of the best for last!

My morning began with a behind the scenes look at the media work of the Bloomberg group. I got to watch as UN Foundation Chairman and Founder Ted Turner and UN Foundation President Timothy Wirth were interviewed on the Bloomberg channel.

After a hurried lunch in the press room, I squeezed onto the press platform in the ballroom to hear the plenary session on Empowering Women and Girls. The meeting began with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s announcing the launch of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

It’s embarrassing, but the first three words that come to mind when I think about last night’s Girl Up launch party hosted by Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks Judy McGrath are OH MY GOODNESS. And I thought I was starstruck at the plenary session yesterday…

Many of you are probably familiar with “David After Dentist,” a viral video on YouTube that features a young boy who is a little numb from laughing gas after visiting the dentist. At one point he asks his father, “Is this real life?”

After weeks of corresponding with the Girl Up team by phone and email, days of eager anticipation, and hour after hour of butterflies somersaulting in my stomach, I finally made it to New York for the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). As the Teen Correspondent for Girl Up at CGI, I will be covering ...