#GirlsCan Campaign: Exclusive Interview With Esi Eggleston Bracey

In February, CoverGirl introduced an awesome campaign that we had to share on the Facebook walls of pretty much every woman we knew. The #GirlsCan program is adding a much-needed dose of female empowerment to the world, encouraging women to “overcome barriers to break boundaries,” and “be the next generation to rock the world.” 

We spoke to Esi Eggleston Bracey, vice president of Global Cosmetics at Procter & Gamble, to learn more about the campaign and how it got started!

“For a long time here at CoverGirl, we’ve been on a mission to show women what’s possible in terms of achievement and success,” Bracey says. “We’ve partnered over the years with great CoverGirls that are really barrier-breakers and ‘non-traditional’ beauties.”

Although they’ve consistently featured kick-butt women, the brand realized they could do even more to push gender equality. “We decided that we could be more overt in this message we’ve always been sending, and that’s where the #GirlsCan campaign began,” Bracey said.

It kicked off with a video featuring female game-changers, including Queen Latifah, Ellen Degeneres, P!nk, Katy Perry and Sofia Vergera — but it definitely didn’t stop there.

“Over the next five years, CoverGirl has pledged to donate $5 million to support the work of individuals and positive organizations that break boundaries in the areas where women are underrepresented, like technology and sports and even entertainment,” Bracey says.

The program made an initial donation of half a million dollars to Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit trying to close the gender gap in the computing fields.

The money will support the launch of Girls Who Code clubs across the nation and in Canada and will also go towards recruiting and training tech industry professionals to help lead Girls Who Code.

“It’s all about making technology possible for women,” Bracey says. “A lot of the time, it’s as easy as seeing inspirational role models [to start that process]. So when you see girls who code, you think you can be a girl who codes.”

CoverGirl also donated $200,000 to the Soledad O’Brien + Raymond Starfish Foundation, which provides young women with scholarships, mentors, tutors and any other resources they need in their quest to get an education. The foundation also holds an annual PowHERful Summit in New York. The funding will help them expand the summit to other cities and hold it more frequently.

“It’s back to this idea of role models: having the conversation about what’s possible, showing where the ‘can’t’s exist and then showing people who have turned those ‘can’t’s into ‘can’s,” Bracey says.

The campaign is deeply significant to Bracey. As a young girl, she watched her mother go to law school, graduate with honors, pass the bar exam the first time she took it and go on to be a successful lawyer, all while taking care of Bracey and Bracey’s little brother. “I never thought there was anything I couldn’t do, and that was because of my mother,” Bracey says. That’s why she believes that role models are the key to inspiring and motivating young women.

“My personal interests and the interests of the brand are completely shared,” Bracey says. “This program will help us reach women in even bigger ways than we have before.” According to Bracey, we will certainly see more from the #GirlsCan campaign in the coming months.

And for the collegiettes who want to get involved (who wouldn’t?!), Bracey encourages them to join the conversation, saying “Her Campus readers, [use the] hashtag #GirlsCan [on Twitter] and share your ‘Can’ story!”

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