To celebrate International Day of the Girl, Teen Vogue and Culture House brought together over 50 young women and girls to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange — making a point that girls belong in all these spaces, including boardrooms and the top leadership positions across industries.
Anchored by actress, activist, businesswoman, producer, and recent Harvard graduate Yara Shahidi, the group of bell ringers also included fellow Harvard grad and model Aoki Lee Simmons (Teen Vogue’s September cover star), activist Sophia Kianni, and actresses Lola Tung and Antonia Gentry.
“I’m honored to be here on International Day of the Girl,” Shahidi said at the event. “This day not only celebrates the incredible accomplishments of girls world wide, but also sheds a light on the continued fight for girls rights around the world. I couldn’t think of a more timely moment to recommit to a deep love and responsibility to our global family. So that all girls in the communities they blossom from know peace and prosperity.”
Nasdaq chief digital officer Sehr Thadhani also addressed the timeliness of this topic in her opening remarks.
“As we gather today to celebrate the progress that young women and girls have made – it is also a solemn moment of reflection as there is just so much more that still has to be done,” Thadhani said. “At this particular moment in history, with everything that is currently unfolding in the world, we are reminded of just how important it is to ensure that girls everywhere are safe, secure, and have access to an equitable future — and that the fight for their rights and freedoms must always continue.”
It’s the kind of work Yara Shahidi has been doing for years. In 2016, she partnered with the White House’s Let Girls Learn initiative and talked with then-First Lady Michelle Obama about the importance of girls’ education.
“First and foremost just being a teenager can be difficult in and of itself, and then given that there are certain limitations put onto female teenagers, or just being a girl, is unfair because we’re all in the same boat of wanting to be educated and wanting to have opportunities based on our interests,” Shahidi said as a 16-year-old, in conversation with Michelle Obama and Glamour magazine. “When somebody underestimates you — and I’ve been in that boat before — what I realized about it was that it’s more than trying to prove them wrong, but making sure that you prove yourself right, and make sure that you reaffirm your own beliefs and your own self-worth because overall that means more.”
The Nasdaq International Day of the Girl event ended with a moving image: Shahidi, Simmons, Gentry, Kianni, Tung, and Thadhani surrounded by dozens of young women and girls who are honor roll students, debate champions, and local activists living in New York City.
