It started with a field trip.

“Were you on a class field trip,” Alisyn Camerota asked Simone Biles incredulously in a CNN Heroes interview, when you [first] went to a gym?? What happened there?”

“I had never even heard of gymnastics before,” answered the most decorated gymnast of all times. “I was just, like, oh I bet I could do that.”

And so, she did.

As much as I have loved the back flips in these Olympic games, I am fascinated by the back stories.

How athletes found their sport. Where they discovered resilience.

The games have begun. And amid a rain-soaked Paris as boats sailed, athletes waved, and Celine dropped the mic, girls across the world stood on couches and cheered.

Because what they saw looked familiar.

The athletes waving from the Seine looked like them.

For the first time in the history of the Olympic games there is full gender parity on the field of play, with increased representation across ages and national representation. Girls watched Coco Gauff serve as the youngest flag bearer at 20, and read about a roster of athletes their own ages – like skateboarders Zheng Haohao (11), Vareeraya Sukasem (12), Heili Servio (13), Fay DeFazio Ebert and Coco Yoshizawa (both 14), Lola Tambling and Sky Brown (both 16), swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu (14), and gymnast Hezley Rivera (16). They witnessed an all-teen podium on the very first day.

A moon milestone was marked this weekend.

Fifty-five years ago on July 20th, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin made history as the first humans ever to set foot on the moon. As we marvel at this fact, one thought remains planted in my mind:

If in 1969 a woman had walked on the moon instead, would our lives be different?

Yes, says astronaut Cady Coleman, when we discuss it. Without question.

Our lives would be fundamentally different.

Cady would know. She has literally space-walked the walk.

Être, in French, means “to be,” and my favorite question to ask any rising leader is: Who do you want to be?

It’s why in 2016 I named the girls’ mentorship platform I launched Être (imagine my lawyerly delight when I found I could trademark a French verb), and it’s why so many pages of our website from day one have keyed off that idea: #BeSmart, #BeWi$e, #BeConnected, #BeInformed, #BeInnovative, #BeStrong and more.

Over the last eight years this mantra has grown right alongside us, so here are six new screensaver-worthy versions of what mentors are asking, and advising, today's girls.

An Interview with Sunny Choi and What’s Powering Her to Paris

Sunny days are here. For the first time a female break dancer will represent the United States in the Olympics…and her name is Sunny Choi.

Sunny Choi (or B-Girl Sunny as she is known) is on her way to Paris to debut break dancing on the Olympic stage, and compete in the first Olympics with full gender parity, ever. Cheering Être girls everywhere had questions:

What qualifies as break dancing at the Olympics?

Why hasn’t it been part of the games before this?

Who is Sunny Choi and how is she preparing for Paris?

For the first two queries we checked in with the International Olympic Committee. For the last – and most important – question, we spoke directly with Sunny Choi herself. Below, after quick background, is an edited version of Être’s interview with Sunny. Wait until you hear what’s powering her path to Paris!

As Q2 2024 draws to a close and summer breaks wide open, it’s time to lower our sunglasses and gaze back at a blazingly bright past quarter. Having spent decades in M&A, I take particular pride in poring over performance, marking trends, and setting outrageous new goals. With this Mentor Watch I’m thrilled to share Être’s top 10 mentor moments of Q2 – along with our thanks to the women and companies opening boardroom doors, forging new partnerships, speaking to us from space and seeing girls’ potential.

Mentors matter – earlier than most think – and Être’s latest quarter shows how much.

Two million mentor minutes.

Mission-driven masterclasses.

A meaningful partnership with Mejuri.

All ways in which The WIE Suite – an exclusive membership community of women - is inspiring the next generation of extraordinary leaders.

As their website notes, The WIE Suite helps members “strengthen their careers, leverage their personal brands and access insights and expertise from their peers.” Convening speakers and supporters like Mellody Hobson, Arianna Huffington, Christy Turlington, Melinda Gates, Thasunda Duckett, Diane von Furstenberg and Naomi Campbell over the years, The WIE Suite teamed up recently with global fine jewelry brand Mejuri to reach and empower a new cohort of champions.

Last week we offered six pieces of commencement advice from The Epic Mentor Guide - Être's second book where 180 leaders answered career questions posed by girls around the world - and this week we're back with another six.

Six women sharing lessons from space and launching new books.

Six women skating into new roles and sparking new beauty initiatives.

Six women creating new music styles, hosting new podcasts and premiering new films.

All of the women in today's newsletter edition not only participated in The Epic Mentor Guide but have projects happening right now that we can't wait to share. With more congrats to this season's graduates, our gift is the gift that keeps on giving: rockstar advice from women who know.

Women like...

With graduation season fully upon us and commencement counsel coming at us fast, it is a joy to look back to The Epic Mentor Guide - Être's second book where global girls posed career questions to 180 rockstar leaders - and revisit advice conveyed to girls by women who know.

Women who have been in the trenches and atop Olympic podiums.

Women who have founded companies, walked catwalks and orbited to space.

Women who remember what it feels like to stand in the next gen's shoes, and want to whisper insider advice that helps them run towards bright futures.

Women like these.

She’s a 14-year veteran linebacker.

She won four titles with the Dallas Diamonds.

She’s a two-time International Federation of American Football Women’s World Champion.

And the first woman to play running back in a men’s professional football game.

Oh, and she’s the first woman ever to coach in the NFL.

Girls, lace up your cleats and meet Dr. Jen Welter.

Girls, this is your Captain speaking.

As we crane our necks upward this Memorial Day to see flags wave, it’s not hard to imagine Captain Theresa Claiborne – the first Black woman to fly for the U.S. Air Force and then for United Airlines – owning the skies and breaking barriers with every mile flown.

Retired as of last Thursday after piloting both military and commercial planes for 43 years, Captain Claiborne’s trailblazing career logged more than 23,000 flight hours and set an example for girls everywhere that the sky is not, in fact, the limit.

It wasn't the gorgeous setting or the downtown NYC vibe we felt that made the evening special. It wasn't even seeing our companies' mantras sewn exquisitely onto the softest pajamas ever that thrilled us.

It was the stories.

The stories of founders handpicked by Petite Plume to gather for one night and launch a powerful new initiative called #MadeForChange.

I didn't know all that history about the stock exchange - she knew EVERYTHING!

I liked hearing about the first woman to have a seat on the exchange.

My favorite part? Definitely the bell ringing. Like, DEFINITELY.

They have the best jobs...I'd never work from home if I could work there.

Things I heard as we filed onto the street after celebrating Être's 8th birthday while bells rang at the NYSE.

What made this birthday so special?

It's wasn't just that, as the girls reminded me all day, it was our golden birthday because we turned 8 on May 8th.

As we walked into the flower-filled restaurant amid chatter and laughter, it felt like spring had come to New York City. With mothers and daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces and friends filing in, Mother’s Day had arrived early and smiles were bright.

Bright indeed, since the day was brought to us by The Female Quotient, Invisalign and a host of luminary women and girls offering insights and inspiration we won’t soon forget.

Wait, who was in the room?

Think Female Quotient founder and CEO Shelley Zalis and Kamal Bhandal from Invisalign. Paralympian Lizzi Smith and MommyShorts founder Ilana Wiles. Chef, cookbook author and Food Network star hashtag#AlexGuarnaschelli, DJ Amrit Tietz and Adweek’s Luz Corona, MPS. Romper reporter Jamie Kenney and Être Board member and middle schooler Grayson Sethi.

Mental Health Awareness month begins this week, and young change-makers are more than ready. With riveting stories to tell and award-winning resources to share, students like 20-year-old Areli Rosales are making a major difference this May…exactly when it matters most.

Areli is one of two students recently chosen to receive the 2024 Student Voice of Mental Health Award from The Jed Foundation (JED). JED, a leading nonprofit that protects the emotional health of today’s teens and young adults, honors one high school student and one college student each year creating innovative communities of care in their schools and communities.

When I first heard about Areli, a first-generation college sophomore at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the organization she built called KeepInMind, I not only wanted to know more – I wanted every young person to know about her too. Particularly because according to Être’s latest research, between the ages of 13 and 18 the percentage of girls who say they feel anxious rises by 88% and the percentage who say they feel stressed rises by 241%.

Ninety-five days to go.

Ninety-five days and counting until Paris 2024, and athletes training to earn their spot at the games are fully in the zone.

Particularly those who have already won the gold.

What do these epic athletes want girls to know about what it feels like to serve the winning shot? How to train and where to find their confidence?

Plenty.

Meet 2020 Paralympian Emma Schieck, a recent graduate of UNC and an athlete on the U.S. Women's National Sitting Volleyball Team readying herself and her team to repeat their stunning Tokyo win in 2020 with back-to-back gold medals.

“We’re going to do it,” she told me with a level gaze when we spoke last month, and every fiber in my body believes her.

Hop on Insta or TikTok and you’ll see videos of women and girls discussing their symptoms of autism. Clear-eyed and candid, many of these stories spotlight the frustration they felt when gender imbalances in autism diagnoses led to years of misdiagnoses and missed opportunities.

With so many sharing their experiences about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and as April is Autism Acceptance Month, I am honored to share the riveting story of Rawan Tuffaha, the lead singer of a group of four musicians on the spectrum making up the band, ASD. Her voice is crystalline – a clarion call to listen and hear what these bandmates have to say. Trust me – click here and listen as you read.

It’s today!

As a member and Chair-Elect of the International Space Station Education Outreach Subcommittee and a mentor connector for girls who love STEM, today’s total solar eclipse is monumental. What time will it start? I’ll be at my desk all day – how can I watch it live? Why is this eclipse so special? What do I look for? What else should I know?

With questions like these coming in fast from students, parents, teachers, and cool aunts everywhere, here is a fast list of tips and viewing tricks you need to know, straight from women in space…two of them literally in space as they speak to us from aboard the International Space Station 265 miles above the Earth.

As we spend the weekend inputting our location to NASA’s website to see exactly when Monday’s eclipse will pass overhead and setting aside stacks of protective glasses, astronaut and researcher Kellie Gerardi has more excitement in store.

A partnership with SunChips featuring a new limited edition flavor mashup in honor of solar eclipse 2024. “I was so excited when SunChips reached out about this particular campaign,” Gerardi told me when we chatted last week, “because my platform is all about harnessing my enthusiasm for space and science and sharing it with as many people as possible.”

I know, it’s not Monday so an Epic Mentor Newsletter edition is unusual. But Chelsey Goodan's new book Underestimated was just named a USA Today National Bestseller (this includes every book currently on the market, in every format and category), so I want to shout it from the rooftops. Her work is powerful, timely, and – my favorite part – perfectly in tune with today’s girls.

How do I know? Être girls brought it up.

We keep hearing about this book - tell us more about the author?

Chelsey Goodan has been a tutor and mentor for over sixteen years, and she focuses particularly on empowering teenage girls. She not only coaches parents on how to better connect with their girls, Goodan talks directly to girls about what they’re feeling and how to unpack those emotions. She’s the mentorship director of DemocraShe, founder of The Activist Cartel, and the author of a brand new book about which Oprah Daily said: “If you have a teenage girl in your life, you need to read this.”