She's the First: New Media Campaign Aims To Change the World

When she’s not making prom dreams come true or breaking ground for a leadership academy for children in Liberia, Tammy Tibbetts can likely be found singing Taylor Swift tunes or munching on a snack consisting of either chunky peanut butter or hummus (but not together). At just 24 years old, Tammy is breaking barriers and changing the lives of girls and young women worldwide through the creation of She’s the First, a media campaign launched on November 1, 2009 that strives to promote the importance of the education of girls by connecting donors to schools in under-developed countries with sponsorship programs using an online directory. As the director of the MacDella Cooper Foundation (an organization focused on the empowerment of orphans and children of Liberia,) and creator of DonateMyDress.org (a national campaign dedicated to encouraging girls to donate their prom and special occasion dresses to those in need), Tammy is a true veteran of leadership and service. Here, Tammy takes a break from her various endeavors to share with Her Campus the secrets of her success, how She’s the First is going to make a difference, and most importantly, why you should care.

Her Campus: Congratulations on the recent launch of She’s the First! Who or what inspired you to create She’s the First?

Tammy Tibbetts: She's the First is a mix of three major inspirations: First, the PSA [Public Service Announcement] for The Girl Effect (thegirleffect.org), from the Nike Foundation. “The girl effect” is a new term defined as "the powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society." Watch the video here; you'll get chills! But you may be uncertain what next steps to take to help out. I wanted to combine the philosophy of The Girl Effect with a direct call to action to sponsor girls' education. I admired how the 5 Friends campaign drove voter registration for the 2008 election with a viral video on YouTube, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and his celebrity friends. They directly instructed you to forward the video onto five friends—your contribution to the cause is so clear. Finally, through my day job at Hearst Digital Media, managing the DonateMyDress.org network of prom dress drives, I saw firsthand how a cause campaign can succeed when it leverages the power of a network. By banding together likeminded organizations, whether prom dress drives or schools in the developing world that value female students, we can raise greater awareness and attract greater support, which can then be funneled to each of our members. All of this shaped the mission and vision of She’s the First.

HC: As someone who has interned at Ladies’ Home Journal, Seventeen, and JANE, you have always held a passion for magazines. When did you first develop a passion for nonprofit organizations? Did one passion stem from the other?

TT: I always enjoyed volunteering on a local level, first in Key Club in high school and then Circle K in college, but I found my passion for global humanitarian work by accident. When I was a senior journalism major at The College of New Jersey, I reported a story on the life and charity of MacDella Cooper, an alumna, and became captivated by her work with children in Liberia. When my job as reporter was done, I became one of her volunteers and then her Director of Operations.

HC: Has having a background in communications and digital media played a role in your success in your nonprofit work?

TT: Absolutely! If you haven't read Nicholas Kristof's recent article in Outside magazine, "How to Save the World," I highly recommend it. He argues that "like Pepsi, humanitarian causes need savvy marketing," and I agree wholeheartedly. Communications professionals have a natural ability to make dismal issues appear approachable and hopeful. We know how to connect people emotionally, how to break down a vision into concrete, easy-to-grasp steps. And digital media, of course, is the perfect medium for making a cause viral. We can do so much with social media -- Twitter, Facebook, YouTube -- to promote awareness and drive action for local, national, and global projects.