Keynotes on Confidence and Choosing Joy
All photos and graphics courtesy of ICGS
Last month I was honored to give the opening keynote address at the International Coalition of Girls' Schools' 2025 Conference in Philadelphia. Gathering over 600 delegates from 250 girls' schools and mission-aligned organizations across 14 countries, this three-day event was brimming with energy from the moment the lights went up, and I couldn't wait to start.
Because what I was there to talk about was Gen Z mentorship, confidence and 2025 research that had just been released at Cannes five days earlier.
And as I joyfully walked through the story of Être's boardroom visits, TED-Ed mentor moments, our new partnership and research with Hello Sunshine and the teen Board members helping to launch Sunnie, pens came out and hands went up.
More about my session can be found in the artful description by Lucinda Levine of Inkquiry Visuals below - these live-drawn visual notes quickly became one of my favorite aspects of the 2025 ICGS Conference. In their words, "[t]hese graphic recordings capture the heart of featured keynote and breakout sessions, bringing complex ideas to life," and the crowd couldn't stop buzzing about them.
From her graphic depicting my keynote...
...to the inspiring words of former Chief of Staff to Oprah Winfrey Libby Moore, who, as ICGS summarized, urged the audience to "reimagine leadership through the lens of higher consciousness and love-infused purpose...[and] align head and heart in order to lead—and live—with authenticity"...
...to workshops like Messages and Meaning: Decoding Teen Communication through Adolescence, which dove deeply into what students are saying online by bringing educators and Marymount students together to talk memes, emojis and more, Lucinda's drawings illustrated the conference in personalized and lasting technicolor.
I learned something new with every head of school, teacher and student I met, and the team at ICGS knocked the event out of the park. From Megan Murphy's stirring remarks to the Board's introductions and Kathleen Osborne's keen direction, I was impressed all over again with the breadth and depth of the ICGS network. The conversations we're still having about back to school clubs, mentor pop-ups and more warm my heart.
Was it a joy to stand before this impassioned and engaged audience to share back to school ideas and hot-off-the-press research? It was.
Did educators and students from 250+ schools have questions and comments? They did.
Did I have the best time and am I excited to connect the ICGS community to the exciting new universe at Sunnie? I am, indeed.
Because when I looked out across that packed Philadelphia room and saw tables of girls with their hands already raised, I was reminded again why we were all there - to educate and empower tomorrow's change-makers.
As we start to think about back to school, know that they are ready. They are going to make all of us unspeakably proud.
Looking forward with gratitude to ICGS for having me,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more links from the 2025 ICGS Conference you won't want to miss: the full list of speakers found here, the additional list of breakout sessions over here, and the full list of participating schools right here.
