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Greenville Business Magazine

Girl Scouts Launch LinkedIn Network

Apr 05, 2018 03:14PM ● By Kathleen Maris

Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands announces that Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) and LinkedIn launched The Girl Scout Network on LinkedIn. Just a few days before Equal Pay Day on April 10, Girl Scouts and LinkedIn are manifesting their shared commitment to equal opportunity in a new career resource that promotes girls’ and women’s empowerment, leadership, and advancement in the world. With the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2017 findings revealing that gender pay parity is still more than 200 years away, the two organizations are taking action to help tip the scales for women in the workplace.

Girl Scout alums can connect with one another on The Girl Scout Network to enhance their career development. Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands urges anyone in the Upstate and Midlands who was a Daisy, Brownie, or higher to join. Millions of girls already benefit from being a part of Girl Scouts as they grow up, and this new community on LinkedIn will similarly offer support for female professionals. It will also allow alums the opportunity to share their experience with the next generation and join forces with like-minded women to effect change.

With access to LinkedIn’s data and insights, GSUSA will aggregate key information from the public profiles of Girl Scout alums such as education, career fields, and leadership positions to identify trends, deficits, and opportunities for women in the workplace. This information will help Girl Scouts create relevant and impactful programs and experiences for girls in Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands and beyond, to both better prepare them to lead as professionals in the workplace and move the needle on gender parity in their respective fields. The collaboration marks the first time that GSUSA will have the ability to track the life experiences and success of Girl Scout alums using LinkedIn’s community of more than 546 million members.

The Girl Scout Network on LinkedIn will provide relevant statistics about female leadership to inform and energize female professionals in their careers. The Girl Scout Network will also provide a place for employers and human resource professionals to recruit women who possess both the hard and soft skills crucial to career success, such as complex problem solving, process skills, and teamwork and communication—all of which girls learn through Girl Scouts.

“As the largest girl leadership organization in the United States, Girl Scouts is responding to the clear national need for strong leadership, pay parity, and a robust talent pool to meet our nation’s skilled labor needs,” said GSUSA CEO Sylvia Acevedo. “We are thrilled to align with LinkedIn to establish a network of tens of millions of Girl Scout alums. I encourage all Girl Scout alums to help fuel the talent pipeline and enhance their professional networks by joining the Girl Scout Network on LinkedIn.”

“Being a Girl Scout opened my eyes early in life to what it means to be a leader and team player,” said Alyssa Merwin, LinkedIn's vice president of Sales Solutions Americas. “Now online communities like the Girl Scout Network will provide critical outlets for millions of girls and young women to continue benefitting from the power of this network as they navigate their careers. LinkedIn is proud to collaborate with Girl Scouts to advance a shared commitment to creating economic and workplace opportunity for all women using our LinkedIn Company Page platform.”