Our Story

Our story starts with two physicists. Two young women from different parts of the world that wanted to merge their networks to create an even stronger one for the next generation of women. They decided these networks could be built and sustained with mentors, and wanted to form a global mentorship program to help young women succeed.

The Cake Shop

They wanted to design the program such that the mentors could teach practical tools and share advice with their mentees on important topics such as cold emailing, delivering an effective presentation, and speaking up in uncomfortable environements. The first curriculum for the Encourage Her Mentorship Program was designed in a cake shop - what better beginning could there be?

Assemble the Team

After fleshing out the details, they did what they encourage others to do: get outside of your comfort zone and reach out. They reached out to other amazing students in their network to recruit as mentors. Working together, across an ocean, they assembled a team of 6 additional mentors - 8 total - from 6 different countries to start this program in their communities.

Now, none of this could have been done without the mentors featured on the left. These ladies went out of their way to start the first Encourage Her programs, working hard to make sure that it was as valuable as possible for their mentees - often times creating their own resources.

Program to Non-Profit

With positive feedback, the motivation to expand, and help from more passionate individuals and advisors, their mentorship program grew into the non-profit organization we are today, ready to scale up and move outward.

Now as an organization with an important mission and a powerful team, we are working to expand our programs globally.

Founding Mentors

Uliana Durbak

KU Leuven

Sam Davis

CalTech

Celia Dowling

University of Melbourne

Laura Adamkovičová

Comenius University

Hana Warner

College of William & Mary

Eloise Chakour

McGill University

Meet Our Co-Founders

Hear The Story From Them

Kaitlin Gili and Dominika Ďurovčíková

"As someone that didn't always have a mentor to guide me in the right direction, being the first from my home to go to a 4-year university, I wanted to give younger students an opportunity that I never had."

-Kaitlin Gili, Co-founder

“Looking back at my journey so far, I can absolutely appreciate how much meeting a single inspirational mentor can help. With successful mentorship comes experience, growth, network, and, ultimately, confidence. I wanted to help other young women embark on this journey too.”

-Dominika Ďurovčíková, Co-founder