Press Releases  |  In The News  |  Awards/Recognition  |  People Are Saying  |  Contact

Press Releases back to listings 

Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - May 13, 2008
Beth Mooney Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
May 13, 2008

Kenneth Square, Pennsylvania Resident Wins Cash Award To Fund Leadership Development Program For Young Women


(New York, NY, May 13, 2008) Kennett Square, Pennsylvania resident Beth Mooney, 35, is one step closer to driving meaningful change in her community and creating a better tomorrow. Beth was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. She is among the first Hello Tomorrow Fund winners to be selected by a newly expanded panel of judges that now includes Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York and actress Phylicia Rashad. Beth’s award will support the launch of the Baltimore, Maryland chapter of Girls Take Charge, a leadership development program that Beth founded, aimed at inspiring and empowering middle and high school girls to become self-sufficient, courageous and compassionate leaders in their communities.

Corrosive messages through media and other sources have become so powerful that they play a role in negatively impacting how young girls view their self-worth and potential for success. Research shows that while boys’ confidence levels continue to soar from ages 12 through 18, girls’self-esteem at the same age decreases, and girls spend up to 85% of their time thinking about external appearances. Today’s young women face an uphill battle as they begin to discover and define themselves. Girls Take Charge reaches young women at a time in their lives when they are most susceptible to a negative self perception.

Beth knows this herself, having struggled during her early teen years against anorexia. In 11th grade, she participated in a week-long leadership program and something clicked. “I really understood it was about me,” reflected Beth. “I learned that I had the skills and confidence if I looked within.” The leadership activity she experienced helped Beth overcome the life-threatening and debilitating disease of anorexia that affects so many women, and she wanted to offer more girls like her the opportunity to benefit from leadership programs and mentoring. In 2006 Beth created Girls Take Charge with her mother and sister and uses it as a vehicle to “pay it forward.” In two years since its inception, Girls Take Charge has touched the lives of more than 400 girls and they plan to reach over 600 girls in 2008. The ultimate goal is to offer programs in all 50 states.

The Girls Take Charge workshops are one to three days long and engage young women in highly interactive, energetic seminars focused on how women are taking charge, creating success and making a difference. Girls Take Charge explores and develops the inner-self by helping to shift girls’ focus away from their physical appearance and building self confidence from within. The program gives young women the skills and self-confidence to be true to – and proud of – who they are. To extend the impact, the participants encouraged to become mentors and inspire other girls, and to lead worthwhile programs in their schools that encourage socialization and community service.

Thanks to her Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund award, Beth will be able to launch Girls Take Charge in Baltimore, Maryland. Need-based scholarships will be awarded to 100 girls to provide them the opportunity to discover their talents and confidence that will have long-term and far reaching results. Thanks to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, Beth will continue her dream of sending confident young women leaders into the world.

Beth’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund met the criteria of clearly presenting unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including personal finance expert, Suze Orman, actress Phylicia Rashad and Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York. “Leadership training for teenaged girls is the best way to break down the barriers that women still face and prepare them to fill significant roles within fields they choose,” noted fellow judge Anne Dowling of Beth’s proposal. “It represents an investment in the future that pays dividends to all of society.”

back to listings