What Makes Girl Scouts So Much More Than Cookies

meeting girls where they are, serving girls where they are, the better we'll be able to serve all girls, especially underserved girls [music] as well. Maybe there isn't a parent there living with grandma and talk about getting other role models involved. You know, I love that [music] Girl Scouts teaches so many different skills. Resilience, confidence in girls, so many skills that are maybe things people don't think about. If you had to summarize it, the value [music] of joining Girl Scouts, what would that be? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser State and the incredible stories happening here today.

I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. My guest today is Dena Potter, and she is the CEO of Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, and she's been in nonprofit leadership for 27 years, all of which has been with the Girl Scouts. Today, we are diving into all the things when it comes to the girls of Indiana. Every year, [music] a report is published asking a simple yet demanding question about the nearly 800,000 girls under the age of 18 in the state of Indiana. How are they actually doing? They're graduating high school at the highest rate in a decade.

They're enrolling in college at higher rates than their male counterparts, volunteering and participating in extracurricular activities. But on the inside, the emotional and mental health, there's a different story to be told. And I'm really excited to have an expert when it comes to all things uh the females of the state of Indiana. And I'm really excited to dive into the work that y'all are doing with the Girl Scouts and the impact that you're making from top to bottom across the Hooser State. Dena, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me.

Wow. Okay. Uh I I mean there's a huge report that you guys put out and I was like scrolling through that one. It's a lot of PDF pages and I was like diving into it and it's a ton of data, an amazing amount of data and I'm really excited to dive into and talk. I literally know nothing when it comes to you know like girls under the age of 18 is just not in my wheelhouse. I have no sisters like not really uh never really been involved.

So this is going to be an awesome conversation to dive into as someone who is a complete novice. But I want to start with you've been with the Girl Scouts for 27 years. You started back in 1999 up in West Lafayette. Talk to me about your journey and how you ended up as the CEO of Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. Sure. So I started uh last century as you mentioned.

Hey, you said that, not me. That that's not me. Quote. [laughter] So, uh, back in 99, I started as director of marketing and fundraising. And you know, the funny thing is I didn't know I was applying for Girl Scouts. Uh, it was a blind ad, uh, back in the newspaper, you know, back in the day.

Wait, they did that? Yeah. So, it was just like a director of marketing. Yes. Yes. Right.

And so, like, you know, send your resume to this address. Um, and I got a call from Girl Scouts. Wait, that when did that stop being a thing? I have actually never heard of that. You applied to a job, but you didn't know what the job was. Well, exactly, Nate.

It's been 27 years since I've applied for any other job, so I have no idea when they stopped doing that. That's wild. Okay, so blind ad. Wait, that they should bring that back. That's kind of cool. Blind ad for a director of marketing role.

At what point in the process did you realize that it was for the Girl Scouts? Well, uh, when I pulled up to the office, right? [laughter] No. No. I'm sure they identified themselves when they called me. Okay.

So, had you been in Girl Scouts? Did you know anything about it? Sure. I was a Girl Scout as a girl. I grew up in Loganport, Indiana. Blueberries.

That's right. And uh remember fondly camping there in their urban campsite. They had platform tents. That was a lot of fun. I made some friends and so yeah, for sure I was a girl. Okay.

So you were a Girl Scout. You end up in Lafayette. You apply for this job and you end up getting it and becoming the director of marketing in 1999. Exactly. And this was a really interesting piece that we were talking about just before we pressed record was at that time there were over 300 Girl Scout organizations across the country. That's right.

So was there one of like greater Lafayette or something like that? Yeah. So there was a Girl Scout of Sycamore Council. Nine counties. Nine county area based out of Lafayette. I got you.

Okay. So that region and then in 2007 they end up kind of consolidating maybe uh to six regions. across the state of Indiana and that makes up the Girl Scout coalition today. Correct. Yes. Okay.

So, what are the Can I Do we know the six different regions? Yeah, sure. So, there's Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago, Northwest Indiana that serves basically the region, right? Uh those counties up there and then there's Girl Scouts of um uh Girl Scouts out of Fort Wayne, uh Northwest Indiana, excuse me, um northeast Indiana, Michigan. Y and then uh there's Girl Scouts of Western Ohio. They have a few counties actually on the border there of uh eastern Indiana and western Ohio.

Of course, there's Girl Scouts of uh southwest Indiana. That's out of Evansville. Okay. Girl Scouts of Kentucky um out of Louisville, but they have some southern uh based counties as well. Did I hit six, Nate? That seems pretty close, I think.

Okay. So, Northwest Indiana, Northeast Indiana, Western Ohio, Central Indiana, Southwest Indiana, and Kentucky. Boom. It's always the the Michigan and Kentucky Anna that always uh gets me like why don't we ever get first naming rights here like Kentucky or something you know like in again. Well, we're Indiana so we love our Annas, right? Yeah, you're right.

That's fair. Okay, so the question I have is a lot of times in the year I mean we're 2026 people barely stay at jobs for two years like with the same company let alone 26. And I mean your the good part about your journey here is there have been promotions and opportunity to grow most recently into the CEO role which I think is incredible to stay at an organization but to continue to kind of strive and push forward. Where along the journey did you know that you were all in on the Girl Scouts mission? Sure. So you know I started in January of 99 and actually I asked them to let me start on a holiday.

I started on Martin Luther King Jr. Day because we were closed. So, this is funny, right? I'm an introvert and so I was like, "Oh, the office will be quiet." Um, I could just give me and they gave me the keys. Like, I start, right?

I started on a holiday. They gave me the keys to the building. Your first day there was nobody else there. No. Now, one person stopped in like just to say hello, right? I think they were just making sure I was being good.

But, uh, that's a wild that's like a I just can't imagine someone being like, "Yeah, the first day that I want to walk into my brand new job, I please just have nobody there." Yeah, it was Oh, it was phenomenal. Right. So, I can get settled in, get my little desk organized. That's uh that's like saying, "Yeah, I'd like to start on a Sunday." We don't work on Sundays.

I know, but I do. Wow. Okay. So, you you do your first day and then people start to come and so you're a self-identified introvert. Yes. But you had marketing and communications roles.

I feel like that's like a conundrum all in itself there. Sure. I love to write and so I thought that I'd be an advertising writer. That was my dream job. Copywriter. Yes.

Yeah. So, but uh you know uh someone had other plans for me. Yeah. So, so in May, so I started in January. In May, I went to one of my first events. It was a Girl Scout Gold Award event.

The Gold Award is the highest award in Girl Scouts. Okay? And so I was invited to this event. It was at Duncan Hall. I remember like it was just yesterday in Lafayette, Indiana. And um that's where I saw my first Gold Award ceremony.

And these are phenomenal Girl Scouts. They're high school high school age. Yeah. So this the whole spectrum of Girl Scouts goes from where to where K to 12. Okay. Oh yeah.

So this is like you're but at the gold awards you're honoring your your high school girl scouts highest achievers for doing like what sort of things were that what sort of things did they achieved at that first gold awards? Sure. So they um they actually earned several badges along the way but then really the culmination is a community service project. They find volunteers. They raise some funds and they really take um they advocate for something um a need in their community and then they see it through. Okay.

So this is 99. You you remember going to that first one. You were 3 months into the job. Yes. And why was that gold award so special to you? Um it was the first time I had really met those high achieving Girl Scouts to see how passionate they were about serving their communities.

And you know, I've always had this motto of show up and be helpful. And so to me, I' met I'd found my people, people who also wanted to get into the community and help as well. Yeah, that is interesting because you're talking about service projects and all the things. And and I'm really excited to dive into this because I think at surface level you think of just like the greatest cookie entrepreneurs in the in the world, but like you don't necessarily think about all the other things that come from uh you experience in the Girl Scouts. Like talk to me about what these misconceptions are when it comes to all things Girl Scouts and why if you think that they're just cookie salespeople, you might be a little bit misinformed. That's right.

You know, the cookie the cookie program is fantastic. it. I love you tied entrepreneurship to that because it's exactly what it is. Oh, dude. It's It's awesome. Like I don't know how many months it's open for, but I feel like I just get hit up in every direction.

And my little thing is I'll buy like I will support any high school like elementary entrepreneur. They just have to they have to pitch me. That's right. So like if if I walk by at the Kroger and mom pitches me, I'm probably not going to buy. But if like the little young person whatever they're selling, I'm buying. And it's great.

The the Girl Scout cookies are also like not that expensive. I got roped into a $50 popcorn tin. I won't say by who, but I get the bill and I'm like, "Oh, I can't say no now." Versus like, you know, $11 for a couple boxes of cookies. Yeah, that's right. So, and it really is built for you to ask those questions to challenge that Girl Scout to pitch her to pitch her story or the reason why she's selling cookies.

And so, I love that you do that, Nate. That's exactly what we want you to do. So the misconceptions really are that we're all about cookies and typically crafts, right? People think about that when it comes to Girl Scouts as well, but we're really all about high adventure. We have four Girl Scout camps across the across our four 45 counties. And then there are other camps across the state of Indiana.

Okay. And those are they have archery and hatchet throwing and rifle, um zip lines and climbing walls, lakes and streams, places to go kayaking, my personal favorite, canoeing. And so lots of really um high adventure outdoor opportunities as well as we have lots of STEM badges. Um the STEM fields are so important to our girls to be able to get ahead as women um who are out earning an income for their themselves and their families as well as um life skills. You know, back to cookies for just one second. The fact that you mentioned pitching, right?

Um that Girl Scout may become the next PR person, public relations person. Um she's learning how to run her own business. And so, Girl Scouts teach us so many different skills. Resilience. Um, we build confidence in girls. And so, so many skills that are maybe things people don't think about when they're buying that package of cookies.

Yeah. I mean, you talk about being, let's say, 10. you're 10 years old and you go out there and one you're competing because I mean you want to go out there and you want to be the the lead salesperson, but also like that can you can easily trace back the skills of closing a million dollar big corporate advertising deal way down your career, you know, when you're 30 to like your first time getting handling rejection as a 10-year-old when someone's in a bad mood and doesn't want to, you know, buy a box of cookies, which if you are that person, I cannot believe Cuz [laughter] also the thing that I love is as they're everywhere like the quality of Girl Scout cookies has not wavered. Thank you. Yep. Agree.

I'm a Samoas guy myself. I I know some people are like coconut. I don't It's just something about it. But it's dangerous. Like I cuz I want to go out there. I end up spending like $65 throughout the cookie season and it's like a,000 calories a day of cookies.

But like I just can't say no if they ask. I love that. Thank you. Oh, so yeah. you you talk about these life skills and I think that that's important when you think about on the surface level it is you know okay archery or rifle or canoeing or you know outdoor adventure that kind of thing but they are also tying those into these life skills similar to how you can draw the line from selling cookies to closing a million-doll deal. Talk to me about how you're seeing life skills learned in scouts uh coming to fruition in these adults lives.

I mean, talk about that first group. Now, if they were in high school in 1999, again, not to talk years and ages and dates, but they would be 27 plus 18, you know, like they are grown adults out in the world making an impact. That's exactly right. And you know the really cool thing, Nate, is that so back to that May of 99 story. I went to my first gold award ceremony as a CEO back in May in Lafayette again. Okay.

And uh of this year and these women came up to me and they said and they had no idea that I was there in 99. They came up to me and they said, "Dina, we think that for the first year you were there in 1999, we think that we were Girl Scouts, right? And we did this thing." And I was like, "Tell me more about it." And they said, "We went to this gold award ceremony." And I said, "Oh my gosh, stop right there.

I was there. And so now to meet these women who've grown up and these Girl Scouts who have now brought their own daughters who are only earning their own awards and their own and their own gold awards was just fantastic, Nate. So that impact that we made on that girl's life back in 99 who's now grown up and had their own children and introduced their daughters to Girl Scouts is just fantastic. Yeah. When you talk about the impact, uh before you I guess we talk about like the benefits, right? We've kind of highlighted a few of those.

There's also issues that are happening right now that make uh after school engagement like all sorts of clubs and activities super important for the young females in the state of Indiana. So you guys partnered with the Indiana Youth Institute and you produced the 2026 Indiana Girl report. Sure. That was like I kind of uh alluded to that earlier on in the episode where uh we talked about uh all the data that you guys collected. take me through you as now the CEO of the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana when you got that report back. What were you drawn to within the data there?

Sure. So, let's take a step back. Uh, let me explain a little bit more about um our partnership. So, the Girl Scout Coalition of Indiana was uh formed. It's an an initiative um of a grant from Lily Endowment uh as I said about four years ago. It's a $15 million grant.

And so as part of that work, uh, we partnered with Indiana Youth Institute, IYI, to create this Indiana Girl Report. And this is the fourth issue for that report. Okay. And so, um, one of the things that I found really to be, and we've we've been finding this over the past four years to be the most troubling is mental health for girls. Uh, we're seeing cyber bullying at three times the rate of boys. We're seeing bullying at about twice the rate of boys.

And what that really means is that our girls have real challenges. Uh, let me tell you a story. Have you heard of lunch shaming? Lunch shaming? No. Okay.

So, uh, girls these days in school cafeterias are now taking pictures of other girls eating. They're just eating lunch, Nate. So, they're taking pictures of girls eating unflattering poses and they're putting it up on social media as a way to bully them. Oh gosh. Right. Yeah.

And so it's things you wouldn't even I wouldn't think of as an adult. Okay. And you think that like one that not only like that would just drive people to it has physical outcomes because you'd say like ah well no lunch for me or I'll just have a water or like whatever you're not you're not willing to have a chicken tender or whatever it is that like helps you nourish your body so that you can go and perform the best on your test. Right. Exactly. Right.

And then when you couple that with this whole drive um for body image for girls and the concerns there along with them trying to lose weight even though their BMIs for the most part are healthy BMIs. When you couple all that together, it's very alarming when it comes to girls mental health and the way that they're approaching their own their own health. Like was there data that you pulled out and how did you guys collect the data? Like were was someone going around talking and surveying um high school and elementary girls? Yeah, good question. So in our partnership with IYI, they had been collecting and they're really the known leader in Indiana for collecting data on youth.

Okay? So they've been doing their own kids count book for many many years. So what we asked them to do was to disagregate and just look at girls. They'd always looked at all youth. Now the interesting thing was in the first year or so what we really uncovered is that there was some data that was not disagregated. So we didn't know we didn't know girls versus boys and how they were fairing separately.

And so with our work with IYI, they've actually been um challenged to find more data, collecting more data just around girls, which has been fantastic. And so I think what we've really learned um in looking at that is that girls just face challenges in a different way or maybe at higher rates than boys. I I want to dive in. I think you had a couple of those data points like uh we pulled the data from the report. So you talk about like body image and eating behavior. So 57.

7% of female high school students are trying to lose weight, but only 15% are clinically above the 95th BMI percentile. That's right. But you talk about over 50% of the female high school students that were surveyed, like over half of every female high school student is trying to lose weight. That's crazy. That's like so you talk about then the underlying causes that that drive that like oh my goodness that is that can drive a lot of Yeah. You talk about this this underlying mental health um issue that you guys are addressing.

The next one you talk about bullying and electronic bullying. 44. 3% of girls experienced bullying, harassment or exclusion in the past year. A quarter of them experienced cyber bullying. That is How have you seen the data change over because you've done this four years in a row now, right? Yes.

How have you seen the data shift or change from 22 to 26? It's not getting any better. No, it really isn't. So, think about uh there are a couple of factors here. One in particular um is the really the influence that moms or caregivers, female caregivers have on their daughters. Our girls are watching us.

They're watching women in their lives to see how they react to any kind of uh body image image challenges, any kind of weight related challenges. And so those girls are taking that in and they're reacting the same way that their moms or female caregivers are reacting as well. So that's one big influence. And so the way that women are role modeling for girls is so important. Yeah. I mean, I think that is in any sort of whether it's an official leadership capacity, you know, like you are a coach or a role model or you're a parent or just just someone living their life thinking that someone might be watching someone, you know, in your car when you're picking up your kids and your kids' friends from school or wherever it is like are you modeling the person that you hope your children grow up to be better than?

That's exactly and like I don't know. I think that that is a piece that um it's so easy to think like oh well one comment or one this like that won't make that big of an impact but it all stacks up over time. Um have you noticed that the cuz now cell phones are banned in high schools. Have you noticed well I guess it wouldn't come out until next year but like that's interesting to think about. Yeah. You talk about not being able to take to lunch shame, right?

Um like things like that. like I don't know hopefully that ends up getting children less focused on that aspect of things and I don't know it high schoolers are just an anomaly you know like it is it is not easy to be a high schooler and especially not in 2026. That's exactly right. You know I think really it starts in middle school. I think middle school is an awkward age um and then hopefully they found their people right when they go into high school. But that's the beauty of Girl Scouts is that um girls can join whenever, grade school, middle school, high school.

But Girl Scouts helps them find their people. They find their posi, you know, they find the people that can be around them and help support them, people that they can ask questions. And I think the other part of that is that supportive adult um in their lives as well. you know, IYI says that there you need five, they hold up, they always hold up their hand when they say this, that you need five supportive adults um to really help produce a healthy uh welladjusted child. And so, and girls are no different in that, right? And so, Girl Scouts usually provides two to three um adults in a girl's life.

Uh one of them sometimes is a caregiver, but then likely the other two adults are their parents' friends or someone else, a caring adult from the community. And so to have those, we call it other than mother, right? to have an someone other than your own caregiver or parent um to to provide that supportive network. That's that's a that's a game changer, right? There's someone else now who uh really wants to make sure that you're doing well in life. Especially like you talk about that time when you're I don't know maybe 13 to 17 when you like anything that your parent tells you to do or models for you, you want to be the exact opposite.

So having those other like four or five individuals in your life that are like, "Oh yeah, I want to be like Mrs. Clark because she is so cool and has it all together and blah blah blah blah blah." So okay, that makes that makes a ton of sense. The other piece that I that we pulled out of the data that was um it's interesting for us to look at is talking about adverse childhood experiences. So, I mean, roughly one in five Indiana girls have experienced two or more ACCE, adverse childhood experiences, which is 4% above the national average of 16. So, what does that mean for the work that y'all are doing?

And the other piece that I found that was really interesting was when it comes to central Indiana, I think that um if you ask the world, hey, think of a Girl Scout, that image that is probably in your head is not reflective of what all the Girl Scouts look like. That's right. And I think that is powerful because the work you're doing in different zip codes and all across the the central Indiana region is not just like Hamilton County Girl Scouts. That's right. You know, and I think that's important. Yeah, that's huge.

And so, you know, I just pulled this this morning, so I wanted to double check. Girl Scout to Central Indiana dedicates $400,000 a year out of our own out of our budget um to make sure that any girl who wants to be a Girl Scout has that opportunity. And so we provide anything from covering their membership dues, which are $65, providing uh badges, uniforms, that kind of thing, any kind of program fees, anything that they want to go to an activity, uh we help cover that as well. That's significant. uh Nate on about a $10 million budget that we have to dedicate dedicate $400,000 to make sure that any girl who wants to be a Girl Scout can have that experience is huge. And here's why that is.

Our families have such challenges today when it comes to paying their bills. You know, quite often they're making decisions whether they're buying food or they're buy or they're paying a utility bill or they're maybe buying meds that are so important um to their to their health. And so to consider that our families are making these these huge, you know, basic Maslo hierarchy of needs decisions, right? Um for the fact that we have funding to be able to make sure that girls can participate in this critical after school experience or club experience, you know, we talked about how girls are um are very engaged in after school activities. And so to be able to provide the funding for that um is really really important. So, back to underserved communities, we uh we know that there are some communities that are more impacted by challenges of the economy um and those decisions that we we just talked about.

And so, for us to be able to provide opportunities for those girls in particular and to make sure we're intentional about that is very important to me. Yeah. uh which I just think is is important because you know you talk about five uh positive uh role models in these children's life in these in these girls' lives and I mean in in different scenarios whether it's rural Indiana whether it's uh you know urban like you cover 45 different counties and that's I believe the number is over 15,000 girls are a part of the Girl Scouts of central Indiana you're going to have all walks of You are going to have the like, you know, two parent households that have siblings in the whole nine yards, but you're also going to have very unique households where maybe maybe there isn't a parent, they're living with grandma and being part of Girl Scouts is is important. And talk about getting other role models involved like the five, right?

The five, you know, I love that. And so I think that reducing the barriers for young women to get involved with this is is incredible. You know, we also found um through the report the parentification um and so because these caregivers have maybe two or three jobs just to be able to get by, they're leaving their uh kids, often their daughters, uh to take care of the other siblings in their home. And so now, not only does that girl have her own challenges um on her shoulders that she's trying to manage, uh but now she has she needs to take care of her siblings to make sure that they're okay as well. Yeah. Well, we've outlined the challenges, right?

You talk about um adverse childhood experiences, we've talked about bullying, electronic bullying, and we've talked about the body image. All of those are kind of contributing to this overall all summary saying, "Hey, mental health, there's issues and and girls now in the state of Indiana are are dealing with this. What are you all doing?" I mean, it's one thing to have the data and identify the problem, but like you're talking about programs and badges and and experiences. How are you I don't want to say combating, but how are you guys going out there and helping solve these issues for the girls of Indiana? Yeah.

So, I think one of the most important things we're doing right now, well, there a couple things. Um, one is that we're really focused on getting into communities to make sure that we're making a difference. We're also talking with the communities to see what their girls need in particular that can help them confront those challenges. And then we're finding community partners like um, you know, after school clubs, um, community centers, that type of thing to really help us to be able to reach and serve girls wherever they are. Right. Girl Scouts has been for a very long time, probably more than a hundred years, we've been built on traditional troops, a traditional troop model, right?

Where it's after school, it's typically it's exactly what you described, a couple of troop leaders. Um, and that is and and that's that's wonderful. That's where we've been for a long time. But now to be able to evolve to meet the changing needs of girls, we have to be focused on meeting girls where they are, serving girls where they are. Um being able to um help support those caregivers who are uh really faced with um just extraordinary challenges right now. And so the more that we can reach and serve girls uh directly within their communities um the better we'll be able to serve all girls to make sure that we're serving especially underserved girls as well.

How are you feeling like participation numbers have been over the years? I mean, yeah, you've you've been there since 1999. I feel like as time options, you know, there's a million things you could do. You could play I mean, there's literally like sports teams you could play all year round and you could play like twice a day. It's crazy. So, with more options, how have you felt like participation has has skewed for the Girl Scouts?

Sure. So for three years coming out of co we actually had membership um increases we were uh trending up the last couple of years we've had some membership declines and I think that that is as families are settling in now postco is they're kind of finding their routine again I think co um taught families that they didn't have to do all the things right they could be a little bit more particular so they value um put a higher value on family time together. Yeah. And so, um, with these membership declines, I would say while we're seeing less girls in Girl Scouts, and that's where we have to evolve our own program to reach and serve girls where they are in their communities. Um, but as we've seen that, we've actually seen steady participation across our 45 counties. Yeah.

I was just thinking like you talk about co times you if there's an adventure camp or there's like stuff to get outside and do stuff like I feel like outside activities outdoor recreation was at an all-time high and now people are like oh yeah that's such a long lost memory ago like I'm good to continue scrolling social media. Um the other piece is I feel like I don't want to how do I even phrase this? I feel like the modern person has commitment issues. It's like, "Oh, I don't want to commit to like every Tuesday night in a church basement." Like that's what I felt like I was a a Cub Scout growing up and I feel like that's what it was. It was like Tuesday nights we're there, we're doing some sort of activity and we're getting a thing, you know?

Yeah. And now it's like, oh, well, I want to like drop into a practice for this and I want to go to like a it's almost like I want to do a little bit of a lot of things versus like commit to a year's stretch of Girl Scouts every Tuesday night. So, you talk about evolving your practices and meeting people where they are. How are you guys doing that? You know, I'm glad you mentioned that because I think in particular we're really challenged by recruiting volunteers because volunteers feel exactly the way you described, right? Like they just want to go do a thing and be done.

where we really do need a commitment at least of a year, right? I mean, we'd love a couple of years um for a troop leader volunteer. And so, we actually are just starting um a campaign to recruit volunteers. And Nate, you may find that surprising. That's really kind of one of the first times we're doing that. But so far, we've been really successful by going and recruiting girls and then we can usually convince a caregiver or two from that troop to step up and be a volunteer.

That's just not really the case anymore. you know, let's go back to two or three jobs and different challenges that, um, parents, women face. And so, um, we are now really intentionally recruiting volunteers to be able to help serve girls because here's the thing, the girls are there. The girls are there and they need us. Now, we need to figure out how we can help uh, recruit volunteers to be able to meet their needs. Yeah.

That which is so interesting. I feel like um historically for generations people have been like okay I am a part of you know this might be my job and I serve on this singular volunteer opportunity and there's just so many and you see all them all the time that it's like oh well I like do once a quarter here and once a quarter here and once a quarter here versus like hey take up the reigns and like make a huge impact in this organization. So, I was a high school wrestling coach for from 2019 to 2026, and that was like my thing. Instead, I was like, instead of spreading myself uh an inch deep and a mile wide across 10 different organizations or whatever, I'm just going to like make this the thing and I'm going to do this to the best of my ability and try to make a real impact there. And I think that I don't know if everyone shares that same mindset, but I wish more people saw that where it's like, yes, there are a million great organizations that are all doing amazing things, but like you have thought about being a mentor.

Well, think about getting the opportunity to lead and mentor a troop of five to 10 different, you know, and going in there and making a huge impact in their lives. And think about if you were a Girl Scout alumni, like being able to like I almost felt like that from a sports perspective that like my coaches had made such a big impact in my life that I almost like owed it to them and owed it to the sport to like go and give what I have back to the younger generation. And I'm I'm I'm hopeful that people that had a similar experience, you know, those previous go gold award winners, like they might have that same experience where they're like, you know what, I should go back. Maybe they'll hear this episode of us talking and they'll be like, that's what I should do. I got to get out there and I got to go be a troop leader. Yes.

And we do see quite a few returning uh becoming troop leaders um themselves, but we could always use more. when you talk about taking action to again like this underlying mental health issue that is across girls in uh in in Indiana. What partners have kind of teamed up and come to the table? Because I know there are a lot of great organizations that you guys are working with helping go out there and get everyone rowing in the right direction. I think the best example that we have is uh Colts kicking the stigma. Yeah.

you know, they have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into um mental wellness stations that we have at Camp Delwood. Camp Delwood's on the west side of Indianapolis at about uh 21st and Girl School Road. Okay. Okay. And so um what they've done is we've taken different uh stations across the camp. So there's a yoga um station, there's a a sound garden, uh we have hammocks, a hammock village where you can just go and lay out under the stars.

We have this really cool area. Um it's basically graffiti spray paint, but it's that chalk paint, right, that's going to wash off uh in two or three different rains. And so girls can go do art out on these um sides of these cabins and express themselves. We also have art in nature where we have these easels that we can hang from trees and they can go out into the woods and paint different uh they can paint, you know, landscape scenes or really kind of whatever motivates them. Um but several different areas of mental wellness across our camp um where girls can really just kind of find themselves, you know, and be quiet for a minute there. I think we struggle um in our culture right now uh to find quiet.

It's so interesting cuz there's also like the loneliness epidemic. You know what I'm talking about? Have you heard of this as well? Yes. Where like people are lonely in person, but you're also like on paper you've never been more connected in your life. You know, like on paper you're two buttons away from calling anyone or sending a picture, doing whatever, but yet everyone feels so alone.

And it's like I don't it's like such a again I this is my second time using this word today. Conundrum. Uh big vocab word. Come on. But it's like this conundrum of you are always plugged in and always distracted, but yet you're never satisfied. And like I I just did a 50-mi ultramarathon a few weeks ago and I like left my phone, you know, like I recorded some stuff while we were going, but I had it on like uh airplane mode.

Like you couldn't text me or whatever. And it was just nice to be like, hey, if it's not in my immediate purview right now, it can wait. It'll be okay. That's right. And so often it's like what is uh urgent and important like your priorities it all just gets skewed by like the notification bar and uh yeah I feel like getting out there especially if you're in high school cuz it's like your school is on the computer or on your iPad like the whole thing it's like your friends everyone is literally life is there versus hey it's actually out here in nature like there's a ton of cool stuff going That's right. You know, I'm I'm glad you mentioned the loneliness epidemic because our girls are facing that.

Um and they're seeing loneliness um to degrees never before, right? But their social media says they have 2,000 friends and so it is a conundrum to use your word because right right there it says 2,000 friends but and they feel like they're connected but they're that loneliness is is huge for them. Yeah. I think that is I mean it's going to be something that we look at over the course of of history, right? Like someone a 100 years from now will be looking back and say like this was the the social media era era. Could be error.

They could say error. Yeah. Who knows? You know, like which is so funny because like we're a social like we produce content for social media, but like we try to make it uplifting and positive, right? But uh they'll look back and say, "Yeah, everyone on paper was so connected, but they had also never had to just like sit down and have a conversation and actually get connected. It's crazy."

Um This is exactly what Girl Scouts does for girls, right? It helps them take a moment uh in their troop meetings or in in other places, community centers where they're really just focused on being together and building friends. And that's what really helps confront that loneliness. Yeah. Do you have any stories? I think one piece is data is good.

data data paints a picture and tells a story, but they're numbers on a paper, you know, versus like you're out there serving the girls of of central Indiana. Girl Scouts are serving, you know, young women all across the country. What are the stories that you're hearing of actual people in actual communities and actual schools that are that are dealing with these challenges that you guys are helping solve? You know, there's one that comes to mind in particular. It's a a caregiver named Amy who I I recently met and she and her daughter had moved to the Indianapolis area um from out of state and she was really worried about her daughter. She's a bit of an introvert and so she was worried about her being able to make friends.

And so they showed up to a Girl Scout rec recruitment event uh where there were some local troops who were there and they met this troop leader um and the troop leader's daughter. And she said as soon as they met them, the the daughter of the troop leader came up, gave her daughter a big hug, right? And said, "Welcome, welcome to our troop." And she's been a Girl Scout ever since fourth grade. She made friends like she found her family within her family and now she's graduated high school and she's off to college. Um, and so I just think about that safe place, girls only, that Girl Scouts provided to that, frankly, the mom and the daughter, because the mom, you could tell she had built just as many friends within that uh parent network of uh troop leaders, volunteers, just as much as her daughter.

And so they all found a place to belong. Belonging is so important when it comes to mental health. And so they found a place to belong. They've been in that troop now for what, eight years? And so now for the daughter to be um resilient and healthy and successful and to go off to college, that mom was just beaming. Yeah.

About her Girl Scout experience and the impact that we had on their lives, which is so great. You talk about, you know, you show up there, no one who shows up at the Girl Scout meeting doesn't want to make a new friend. Exactly. It's kind of like adults with networking. It's like, you ever been to a networking event and it's just so awkward and you're not sure who to talk to and then you realize everyone is literally here to talk to someone new? Just like stop being scared and just talk to somebody, right?

And it's like, hey, you all showed up at Girl Scouts here. Like like we all have some sort of common interest. Like let's be friends. And and then it's cool to see those uh develop. And yeah, you talk about you've seen cycles now, right? You've seen you've seen Girl Scouts become you've seen Girl Scouts have Girl Scouts.

Yes, I have. Yeah. You Girl Scouts have Girl Scouts. That's crazy. That's awesome. Well, it's fantastic.

What a journey, you know, to be able to know the impact that we're making on girls lives who are now, as you said, like 27 to probably more like in their early 40s uh years old is amazing. Yeah. Okay. So, what are the ages you talked about? It's kindergarten is when you can start. Yep.

Kindergarten. They're little Daisy Girl Scouts. Oh. And what kind of badges like like what does the evolution of achievement or like uh skills and knowledge that is learned like what what would a troop of kindergarteners be doing? Sure. So our little Daisy Girl Scouts, they earn uh little pedals.

They they earn a a full Daisy, right? And so they get a pedal for each thing that they've learned. So they're learning the Girl Scout promise and law. They're learning about the world around them. um they're learning just really basic um things that they can do to help in their troop. And so that's really what Daisies are learning.

They're learning to, you know, to make friends. Um so when we go to brownies, our brownie girl scouts, and that's in that um second and third grade. This is Brownies is part of Girl Scouts. It is kind of brownies to Girl Scout. I kind of always thought that they were competitors. Okay.

So you go from Daisy to Brownie to Girl Scout. No, you go from Daisy to brownie to junior Girl Scout. Oh. Cadet, senior, and ambassador. Oh, there are six age levels. Wow.

Okay. So, brownies are first and second grade. Second and third grade. Second and third grade. What are they doing? Yeah.

So, brownies are in tris. And it's all about trying new things, right? So, they earn their triads. I like that. Like, what would be an example? Oh, it could be anything.

There could be a different kind of food, right? Um, Girl Scouts is part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. Okay. So, across the world there are different kinds of Girl Scouts or Girl Guides. And so every year we have uh thinking day, world thinking day in February and they love to choose a country and then they represent it like amongst all the other Girl Scout troops in the area, right? So they each have a country and so try it could all be about like that food that they brought and exploring a different culture um a different food.

Um it's they're all different kinds of things. And so then uh Girl Scout juniors and as we progress as we go from that youngest Girl Scout to the um high school Girl Scouts, it's progression. And so, like I said, in Daisy, Girl Scouts, they're probably just right. They're getting to the troop meeting. They're forming their friendship circle. Um, they're learning about the Girl Scout promise in law.

And so, there's a little bit of involvement in planning their troop meeting. Not a lot, right? Like that troop leader is really the one that's planning it. But once we get up until that u middle school, high school range, now those girls are really impacting um the troop meeting itself. Like, what do we want to learn about? What badges do we want to earn this year?

They're setting goals for selling cookies, right? And so, maybe they're saying we want to go to Europe. That's classic, right? Like I want to go to Europe when we're getting ready to graduate high school or go on a cruise. There's a troop that I know of who just is embarking on their um Girl Scout cruise for fall break, right? They're seniors in high school and they've been planning for that for a long time.

They've been saving their cookie money to be able to go and do that. And so troops are sitting down. They're setting goals for how they're going to earn money um to be able to go on these different Girl Scout adventures. And so that's the progression of Girl Scouts. Who would have thought you showed up at a Girl Scout meeting for Daisies when they were a kindergartener and by the time they were seniors, they'd be able to pay for a Mediterranean cruise. That's right.

That's wild, isn't it? Cool. And again, they're expanding their horizons now. They're going out to completely different country and they're learning about that culture. And then you see like a squid and you're like, "Try it." Exactly.

And it's still moving, right? Yeah. Yeah. I got to get my [laughter] try it. Come on now. Wow.

Yeah. If you had to summarize it, the value of joining Girl Scouts, what would that be? You know, I think over the course of the years, what I have really found the value is in make is in making friends, making lifelong friends, people that are going to be with you forever. We recently were, well, not recently, it's probably been within the past decade. I lose track of time sometimes, Nate. But, uh, this this group of women, there were these three senior citizens.

They're like in their 80s up in uh the Carmel area and they contacted us because they had they'd gone about their liv they were in Girl Scouts and they'd gone about their lives. They'd married. They'd had raised families, right? Um and then they found themselves, three of them living in this senior center community, senior community place up in Carmel, still friends, still together. And so they were back to meeting essentially like in a troop meeting, right? Um of these 80 plus year old women.

And so that's the value at Girl Scouts. It's having those lifelong friends. The people are going to be with you through everything. You know what they say, you can't make new old friends. That's exactly right. Right.

It's like that's incredible. They had met in Girl Scouts and were still friends. I hope to have that. Like I think about like some of my buddies that I've been friends with forever. It's like I want to be like 90 and still like hanging out. That would be great.

Me too. Oh, now one piece that I kind of want to shift into here before we kind of talk broadly about Indiana is collected the data. There's programs in place, but there's still work to be done. If you thought about out into 2027, what are the biggest hurdles that Girl Scouts as well as your partners all need to come together and and where do you see the biggest opportunity to make an impact over the next few years being? Mhm. Yeah.

So, I think there a couple things. Uh, one, we touched on it earlier, but I think it it bears repeating. Um, Indiana, I think in my opinion, is in a mental health worker crisis. Um, mental health worker crisis. Yes. Thank you.

Uh, and by that I mean that we just don't have the available school counselors, school social workers, um, school um, mental health professionals um, to the same degree that other states do. You know, I think the recommendation is like one student per every 250 school counselors or so. Um or per every 500. And we are woefully we're like half. I think I was going to say I I think that the uh the counselor ratio is 485 to1. Thank you.

Like I don't know. I I went to a very small high school. We had like 300 kids. So I think we had like maybe a junior high and high school guidance counselor, but it's like 60 kids a class. So 240, you know, it's like you could build a semi meaningful connection there with someone. And you talk about like that might be who you're talking about these adverse the the ACEs, right?

like these um adverse childhood experiences and it's like well if you're a counselor and you have 485 some will have even more than that children and students to like try to give them like emotional stability or like hear about that like yes that's pretty wild and that's guidance counselors Nate um so when you go into more of the uh social workers mental health workers we're looking at like uh one 2,500 somewhere in that ballpark, right? Where I think the recommendation is again in that like 1 to 500 maybe 1 to 750 somewhere in that ballpark. So there's a huge gap when it comes to the support systems across the state of Indiana. Um from a counselors, social workers, psychologists, just like that piece of of people who make their careers in being resources for people that are struggling with with mental health. Yes. Exactly.

the the challenges that our girls, our youth have are is exactly the need that the state of Indiana needs to fund. Um those people that are there day in day out in our schools working to help um support our girls with their mental health. They're just not there the way we need them to be be there physically. Yeah. So obviously you're not like a clinical mental health expert or anything like that. We were reading data, but I'm sure there will be parents that listen to this that might have be seeing these underlying signs of in in their children in their I mean that can honestly obviously you are specifically focused on you know the young women across the state of Indiana but I think the data shows that it's like any gender like bullying and all the things are like alltime highs.

I don't know. Again, that's not that's not my data and backed up, so go do your own research there. But, um, what advice would you have for parents that might see some of these, uh, these struggles or issues presented in their young women? Yeah. Well, you know, to me, the obvious choice is joining Girl Scouts. Yes.

Right. Sign your daughter up for Girl Scouts. I would also say keep fighting, right? Like, she needs you in her corner to be able to stand up for her and to help her find the resources that she needs. And so while the uh resources are limited in our schools when it comes to mental health professionals, go find them, right? Go find them.

Make an appointment. Um get her in there um to be able to see them and get that support that she needs. Um but just keep going. Yeah. Finding the community that these after school organizations bring like finding your people. You're you're I feel like I read a book that was like find your tribe.

It's like you got to find the people that think and care about the things that you care about. And and I think another piece you as as parents that might be listening to this episode, it's like are you being someone that you would be proud that your child looks up to, right? Like we kind of like echoed that full circle back to the original. I mean, we talked about that later on where you never know when they're watching. You never know what habits they're picking up, whether it talks about, you know, how you're talking or or experiencing your own body. Yes.

Or how your own mental health is. And it's like it's kind of like the um the uh airport the airport speech or the airplane speech where they're like, you know, please put on your own oxygen mask before you help somebody else. It's like are you taking care of yourself in a way? Like are you being a good representation? And and is that going to trickle down through the system for, you know, the younger generations to look at? That's right.

And it's like I don't know. It's so much it's so easy. I feel like I this is another like a a little quip that I remember from being a kid, right? When you point a finger and there's always three pointing back at you, it's like, hey, how are we taking care of ourselves? How are we boosting up those around us and helping people find that community and that will then hopefully positively impact when you guys go out and do future studies of this report uh in a positive manner. I am curious to see how the cell phone um exclusions from high school, how that is going to affect the report for next year because like it'll be just interesting to look in the data there and see if that helped or hurt.

I you know I'm curious too um I was talking about that in the office recently with a group of moms and you know Nate because I listen I don't have children and so and to me I was all for it right I was like this is absolutely exactly where you're coming from. Um, you know, the other side of that is that our parents are are are worried about being able to reach their kids in times of a real challenge in the school. Um, and so I at least want to be sensitive to the fact that not all caregivers, not all parents are as excited about the cell phone um, as you and I are because I I am also really curious to see how that may impact mental health over the next couple of years. It's hard for sure. Like, but I remember again this is like such a boomer convers like statement for me. I remember back in my day and it was like, you know, if the parent if my mom wanted to call me, they had to call the school and it was like you got called down to the office.

You're like, "Your mom's on the phone." And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, what did I do? I'm in such trouble." Um, it all seemed to work out there and you know, but again, different times, different folks, like everyone's going to have their own opinion. There's more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to it. So I will say if you get into the data and next year it's published and they're like hey any amount 1% less okay that might be that not a statistical significance but if there's a meaningful amount less of cyber bullying I'm going to call that a win.

Yeah. You know we'll be watching that for sure. Yeah. So we'll be eager to check in on the 2027 girl report. Um, as we kind of wrap up that segment of the show and talking about the data advice, like is there a final rallying call for Hoosiers out there on how they can get involved, how they can help be part of the solution when it comes to the young women across the state of Indiana? Sure.

So, I think number one is just become aware of what's going on. Um, read through the Indiana Girl Report. There's a terrific dashboard out there on the Girl Scout Coalition website where you can kind of at first it synthesizes it and so you don't have to read the entire you know 50page report. Um so you can go check that out. It also has some um places where you can look by county or by other um factors that you may be curious about. So awareness is number one.

Number two then really is um to volunteer, get involved. So, if you do have a little bit of time, then you can help lend to supporting um a group of Girl Scouts. They would absolutely love to have your mentorship and your support. And so, for sure do that. Register your daughter and Girl Scouts. That's so important.

We provide that supportive network of friends and um leadership development along the way. And then three, and this is really important, Nate, uh we need to do, I think, as Girl Scouts to do a better job of telling our story. We need um the funds to be able to help support our Girl Scouts. That cookie program is so important to the um financial wellness of organization. About 65 to 70% of our revenue comes from the sale of Girl Scout cookies. And that is a a double-edged sword.

So, while we appreciate the support from that, that's also one huge um revenue source that's a little concerning. You know, if we get hit by a a hard winter, for example, um there may be some real challenges there. And so we need to find um and develop a better sustainable source for funding. And I believe that's in individual donors. We need to do a better job of telling our story so that individuals will help fund our program. You know, back to that about $400,000 that we uh provide from Girl Scouts of Central Indiana for membership dues assistance for uh different types of financial aid to participate in our program that ensures that all girls have the opportunity to join Girl Scouts.

And so that funding um to be able to help support us in that way is so important. I love that. And getting involved with all things Girl Scout cookies supporting I got drawn into the dashboard. Oh my lord. It's great, isn't it? You don't have to read the 50 pages, you know, like this data, which I don't know how many people were surveyed or or the data from it, but 18.

3% of females that were surveyed have uh considered suicide. Yeah. It's alarming. Like that is staggering to me. Like that is the issue. Like that is a a challenge and a problem that needs to be solved because it's like you're young.

Like you have it's like again such like a cliche statement, but you do have so much life ahead and like it does get better. Like there is amazing things. So I just like am looking through that. kind of clicking around where it's like uh you know 18 or no 39% have said they've been depressed for over two weeks. Yeah. So one of the stats you would find in there is hospitalization rates for girls that girls are hospitalized um whether it's inpatient or emergency room visits twice the rate of boys, right?

And so my gendered side, excuse me, my gender says, "Oh, that's just boys." You know, sometimes they're a bit more rambunctious maybe than girls are. And which is probably not true. So my survey of one I was talking with um a pediatrician the other day asking her you know why do you think this is that girls are being hospitalized twice the rate of boys and she said Dina go back to your mental health stats those girls are likely presenting uh because of mental health challenges whether it's suicide ideiation whether it's severe depression anxiety disorders and so likely again survey of one right likely the hospitalization that I've really been watching over the four years, which has not improved any, those rates are likely due to mental health. And so that suicide rate that you just talked about is so incredibly scary. And that's why girls need their people, they need their tribe, like you talked about.

Okay. This is another one that is staggering. Okay. um homeless students. When you talk about the number of homeless female students and they are the definition of homeless in case we want to the number of students who lack a fixed regular adequate nighttime residence as reported by the Indiana Department of Education 6,000 over 6,000 young women don't have a stable place every night to lay their head down. Like that is again that's a wild stat to me.

No, it's horrible. Yeah. Yeah. And so as we talk again about uh family challenges, right, not being able to put food on the table or they're making decisions, do I pay my rent or do I buy groceries? Um that's where that value of Girl Scouts having that supportive network is so important. But if they if they're working two or three jobs, they may not be able to volunteer to even think about getting their their girl and Girl Scouts.

This has been u a super enlightening episode. I have really enjoyed not just getting into the data but putting the human aspect of these young women in Indiana like like com like like attaching that with the data. It's one thing to look at the stats like I would strongly recommend go look at the dashboard because like I clicked around for 3 minutes or whatever and was like blown away but then listening to the solutions that are being presented the ways you're working with you know organizations like kicking the stigma just helping make an impact like I think on surface level it's like oh you know it's selling cookies you know yes that is part of it but it's so much more and like having those experiences as a child. Again, like going out there, you know, being an entrepreneur for, you know, a course of weeks is a a really good skill to have. And these other skills that you're acquiring of making friends and handling difficult situations and planning your own meetings and somehow organizing a trip across the literal world, you know, like those are all amazing experiences that people can have from their time in Girl Scouts that's going to help identify a lot of these problems that you're seeing in the data.

That's right. So, thank you for bringing a human aspect of that and and connect connecting the dots on that. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah. Well, we've come towards the end of the show where we get to talk all things Indiana. So, this question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart.

They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homejart. com. My question for you, why do you call Indiana home? You know, um I I really call Indiana home for the people. Uh my family's from here.

My dad actually moved here from Kansas um and was stationed at Gryom Air Force Base. That's what brought Yep. Yep. before I was even a twinkle in my mom's eye. Uh he was working he was stationed at Gryom. And so it's it's where my family is from.

Um and you know, I love the I love the land. Like seriously, I love that we drive through cornfields this time of year, right? And we enjoy seeing those um implements, farm implements out there um taking care of the land. But then, man, you go down to southern Indiana and it's so beautiful down there. the rolling hills and so on. And so I don't know that I would know what to do without some cornfields, right?

But some lakes and streams and rolling hills. It's versatile. It very versatile. I love that. No, anyone that's like, "Oh, it's just flat and corn fields." It's like, well, one, you need to go explore the entire state.

There are portions and there are very beautiful flat corn fields. Yes. But then you get a ton of other different uh topographies, right? Amazing. We've got three questions left for you. So, this is your opportunity.

I'm really excited because you are an outdoor person, you know, like you talk about uh you you had mentioned that you had been down at Frank's uh out on the water and you know, canoeing, kaying, all the things. You're going white water rafting this weekend. Like that's nuts. So, I want to know then this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to be talking about. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? I almost hate to say this, right?

Because listen, the secret's going to be out of the bag if I do. But um I love Yellowwood Lake. This This is good. So So many people come on and they're like, "Uh I don't know how much of a secret it is or I don't know how hidden it is." When someone leads with I almost don't want to tell people cuz it's going to let the cat out of the bag. What is Yellowwood Lake?

Right. Yellowwood Lake is down in Brown County. It's in the Yellowwood Forest area. It's a small lake. Uh, but it has some little uh fingers coming off of it that are fun to explore. You'll get out there again, very quiet.

You hear the bullfrogs. Um, there's all kinds of wildlife and birds there. But I love it. It's um only I think trolling mo trolling motors and so nothing no big boats, no big motors. Um you see a lot of kayaks and paddle boards out there and so it's just fun to explore. It is literally in the middle of nowhere.

Like you you have to be intentionally going to find Yellowwood Lake. That's why I love it. Wow. The Yellowwood State Forest. It's right in the middle of that. There's a little campground.

You take Yellowwood Lake Road. I mean, there's not a lot of ways to get to it. I really feel like we should just stop talking about it, Nate. It's kind of making me uncomfortable because now we're going to have these thousands of people. It's just I will say, have you been to Martell Forest? Have you ever been to Martell Forest?

No. Okay. So it's like this amazing hiking trail called Martell Forest. And I got so many nast So it's like beautiful. You can get a ton of elevation. A lot of people that are training for ultramarathons or like you know trail running go out there.

I got I mean I'm not kidding 10 or 15 comments saying like you need to delete this. There's cars on the side of the road. Like too many people were going out and exploring it cuz they had been gatekeeping Martell Forest. And so this is this is just going to happen with yellow like [laughter] uh we just did yesterday hanging rock up in uh Wabash and so many people were like I've never heard of this cuz Indiana is second in natural national landmarks. We're the second most uh state. So we're better than 48 others when it comes to natural national landmarks.

And uh we shared that one and people are like, "Oh my gosh, I need to go check this out." Other people are like, "Oh my gosh, no. I've been going here for 20 years and now it's now everyone's going to know about it. But it's okay because it's our Indiana that everybody gets to explore. All right, two questions left for you. So, this is where we source new guest ideas and learn about other people in the state of Indiana that are just inspiring people.

Who's a Hooser we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. Yeah. Um, Tamara Winfrey Harris. Who is Tamara? Tamara is the CEO of the Women's Foundation of Indiana.

And here's the cool thing about many cool things about Tamara. She's an author. Um, but she recently led, so there was the Women's Fund of Indiana and that was a central Indiana based foundation, right? And so now she's led it to be statewide and so now she's really looking at providing uh funding resources to uh women and girls serving nonprofits across the state of Indiana. That's amazing. That's vision.

Yeah. Yeah. This is Tamara. Tamara. Yep. Amazing.

Okay, we're gonna have to hit her up and get her on the show. That sounds like amazing. It'd be a great interview. One, you've been working in nonprofit for the last 27 years. You have been in the state of Indiana. You have been making impacts across, you know, young women's lives for going on three decades.

When you think about what it means to be from the state of Indiana and call yourself a hooer, what do you think it really means to be a Hooser? You know, I think um who's your hospitality really is a thing. I think it's the kindness of people. Um you know, Girl Scouts, our mission is to provide um girls of courage, confidence, and character. Courage, confidence, and character, right? Who make the world a better place.

And I think uh Hoosiers, we're just all in. We really are to make sure that we're making a difference in our communities. Um that we have lasting impact, that we're making the world better than we found it. And so that I think is huge. And I'm going to put in a plug. We recently uh were awarded the 2029 um Girl Scout National Convention.

So in 2029 Yeah, we were baby. That's right. Everybody's coming here. Um and my goodness, you know, we're the crossroads of America and people are excited to come here. They're excited to explore Indianapolis. They've heard about who's your hospitality.

That was a huge part of our presentation to win that convention to bring it here. And so we're excited to show off the state. We have to have some great Girl Scout activations when the national conference comes here in 2029. Like I'm talking like everywhere you go downtown, there should be like cookie vending machines and like the whole shebang. Because what I love about Indianapolis being the host city is like if you care about it, we care about it. So when like work truck week comes to town, it's like everybody is blue collar to the to the gills or Gen Con, everyone's got a costume or whatever it girl scout the national convention, you guys come here.

Oh, we're talking Girl Scout themed everything. I love it. And about 10,000 Girl Scouts are going to be here. So, we're taking over that downtown area. I mean, if there's a cookie popup day, watch out world, cuz they are coming through. I love Samoas, right?

Samoas. I love the Samoa. Wait, are they still called Samoas? They are. Okay. Did was the name changed for a second?

Oh, okay. So, there are two Girl Scout cookie bakers. Two licensed bakers. Okay. One has the Samoas and that's the cookie that we sell that our Girl Scouts sell. The other has caramel delights.

Yeah, very similar. I'm a Samoa man. They're dark chocolate. Uh the caramel delights are um more of a milk chocolate Samoas are more of a dark darker chocolate. Wow. Yeah.

There you go. The insider right here. That's inside. So do different troops or do different Is it by the troop or by the organization? Yeah, the organization. So you guys use the Samoas?

Yep. Little brownie baker. That's the baker that does the Samoas. And then what's the other one? ABC bakers. All right.

So, check your boxes, people. You got to know the difference between which kind of cookie that you're getting. That's right. That's inside. That's inside baseball basically. Well, and I tell you what, do their peanut butter sandwich cookies.

That's what they call them. Tagalong's peanut butter patties with the other baker. Oh, right. Wow. Wow. You got to check your boxes, people.

That's crazy. I had no idea cuz there's a whole big thing like, oh, that they change their names or whatever. It's just it's just two different bakeries. So, maybe your local organization switched what bakery they were using. Exactly. The more you know it could happen.

Wow. This has been so incredible. Uh I've loved getting to learn more about your journey from from literally a blind job posting where you didn't even know what you were getting involved with. Now here 27 years later still making an impact. The CEO of Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. That is just one incredible to do anything similar for 20 plus years.

the fact that you're making an impact in so many young women's life uh right here in the state of Indiana. We're lucky to have leaders like you across the state. If listeners out there want to get involved, if maybe there's a potential troop leader that's listening or if they are there are parents out there that want to get their kids involved. They want to get their their young girls involved with Girl Scouts. How can they do that? Yeah.

So, I'm going to give you two right here in central Indiana. It's the Girl Scouts um Girl Scouts indiana. org or is our website or go to the Girl Scout Coalition website. Uh you can go to girlco. org uh and you'll find information about the Indiana Girl report about the six Girl Scouts uh that make that coalition and so on. Yeah.

And on the coalition website is also where that dashboard and the report is and it is fascinating. So amazing. All right. Well, hey, I appreciate you stopping by. This was awesome and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you.

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