They made the cover of TIME. Now they're helping more girls find their voice
For girls who were building change long before the spotlight, the work doesn't stop with a TIME magazine cover. Over the past year, with the LEGO Group alongside them, TIME's Girls of the Year have been building their next chapter. They chose the global non-profit Girl Rising because its work reflected what matters most to them, and together they're helping more girls around the world find their confidence and use their voice. This International Day of the Girl, we're sharing their story.
Picture this: A 17-year-old pilot soaring in Turkey. A 12-year-old author and organ donation advocate in the United States. A 17-year-old racing driver in Mexico, shattering stereotypes in a sport long dominated by men. A 17-year-old storyteller in New Zealand, championing young writers.
Last year, these girls and their fellow changemakers became TIME's first-ever Girls of the Year, reimagined as LEGO® Minifigures on a special animated TIME cover. Stories like theirs matter, because too few girls ever get to see them.
Research commissioned by the LEGO Group* found that 70% of young women globally struggle to see themselves as someone who is good at building things. So the LEGO Group asked the Girls of the Year a big question: how can we help more girls follow in your footsteps?
Their voices shaped what came next
Through a survey and follow-up conversations, the girls told us about their journeys, the moments they doubted themselves and the world they want for girls everywhere. The same ideas kept coming up: confidence, creativity, gender equality, access to opportunity and, above all, being heard.
"When us girls believe in ourselves, we can reach incredible things," said 17-year-old Ivanna Richards, a racing driver from Mexico who competes in Formula 4.
The girls chose Girl Rising
With those themes as the blueprint, the LEGO Group shortlisted organisations whose work matched what the girls had shared. Then we handed the decision to the experts: the girls themselves.
They reviewed the options and chose Girl Rising, an organisation that works to make sure girls everywhere are educated, respected and heard, and puts girls' voices at the heart of every decision.
Real talk, one card at a time
Girl Rising's ‘What Would You Do?’ is a card game made with and for girls. Guided by a trained mentor, girls play through real-life scenarios together, building the confidence and skills to navigate life's challenges on their own terms. Nearly 70,000 girls across East Africa, Asia and Latin America are already playing.
Now, with support from the LEGO Group, Girl Rising is creating a special edition, and the Girls of the Year are adding their own bricks. Defne, Ivanna, Naomi and Rutendo are helping shape it around what they care about most: leadership, creativity, voice, wellbeing and mental health.
"At Girl Rising, we make our biggest decisions based on what girls tell us, so being chosen by the TIME Girls of the Year means a great deal. Their ideas will help girls around the world find the confidence to lead on their own terms," said Christina Lowry, Co-CEO, Girl Rising.
Lauren von Stackelberg, VP and Global Head of Social Responsibility at the LEGO Group, added: "Children and young people have brilliant ideas about the world they want to grow up in, and they deserve a real say in shaping it. Our role is to listen, amplify their voices and help them build that future. The TIME Girls of the Year showed us exactly what's possible. We followed their lead, and together we're building something that will help many more girls believe in the power of their ideas and the impact they can have on the world."
And for every girl out there, Rutendo has one message: "Never let anyone underestimate you or box you into stereotypes because of who you are."
There's no stopping what girls can build.
Find out more about the work Girl Rising is doing around the world.
(*)Data from a LEGO Group study of 32,605 parents and children across 21 countries