International Women's Day celebrates achievements, centers on equality
NEW YORK -- Tuesday marks International Women's Day.
The day celebrates the achievements of women around the world.
It also marks a call to action for people to come together and rally for women's equality.
This year's campaign theme is #BreaktheBias, which spotlights how biases against women help fuel gender inequality.
In celebration of International Women's Day, powerful female voices will elevate a crowd gathered in Midtown to raise money for our future female leaders.
CBS2s Vanessa Murdock reports on Girls With Impact.
"I have an idea, it's a valid idea, pay attention to me," said Emily Diana.
The 18-year-old spoke those bold words with confidence. She graduated from Martin Van Buren high school last year. Before that, she graduated from the academy run by the nonprofit Girls With Impact.
"I definitely do feel more confident," Diana said.
She is one of more than 4,000 young women, ages 14-24, who attended so far. Many of them attended for free, according to Girls With Impact founder and CEO Jennifer Openshaw.
"We started Girls With Impact as an online mini-MBA or business and leadership academy to help young women build the confidence and the skills to be tomorrow's leaders," Openshaw said.
Openshaw shares she started working as young as 7, helping out her my mom by babysitting.
"I grew up where my mom was a waitress working two full-time jobs, raising three kids as a single mother," Openshaw said. "I know what it's like to pull myself up. I've learned a lot along the way."
During the World Economic Forum several years ago, leaders pondered why women were leaving the workforce. Having built her own financial security, Openshaw decided "we can keep talking about this problem, but the real solution is to train the next generation better than ever."
Participants meet for live online classes, for one hour once a week. After 10 weeks, they leave with a business plan and pitch presentation.
"Imagine you're going on a job interview, internship interview, and you talk about the venture you created. It's a - it's a game changer," Openshaw said.
"Why is it so important that we are elevating young women to be able to make it in the workforce?" Murdock asked.
"Well, I think COVID has been a double one-two punch for women and young women. Their incomes have suffered, they've lost jobs at a higher rate, and they've been less likely – 60% less likely – to be able to pay for the their education," Openshaw said.
The second annual International Women's Day benefit concert happens Tuesday night at The Town Hall. It raises money for Girls With Impact, and boasts serious star power: Grammy Award winner Jennifer Nettles, Grammy Award winner, songwriter and actor Sara Bareilles, and Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, or, as she's known on Broadway, Tina in "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical."
"It's going to be amazing," Obi-Melekwe said. "There's such a great link between Tina and Tina's story and what Girls With Impact do for young women today... she didn't really have role models to look at, nobody to really see or model herself off of."
Watch Vanessa Murdock's full interview with Nkeki Obi-Melekwe --
Obi-Melekwe says the nonprofit empowers young women.
"To get those tools really early... that's something that Tina didn't have, and so it's amazing to see how much has changed between the 1970s, 1980s to now," she said.
And so much more will change for the better in the decades to come, thanks to the talent taking the stage Tuesday night.
"This is really about bringing people together to help raise funds for under-resourced young women in the state of New York and the Tri-State region," Openshaw said.
WATCH: International Women's Day benefit concert held at Town Hall --
Money raised will ensure equal access to the academy by covering costs for those who can't afford it, with the ultimate goal of setting one million young women on their path to leadership.
For more information on Girls With Impact, CLICK HERE.