Greece joins the Inspiring Girls network!
Meet our new co-chairs in Greece
We’re delighted to welcome Greece as the latest country to join the Inspiring Girls network! Leading this new chapter are Pinelopi Theodorakakou and Stella Kasdagli, co-founders of WHEN, a non-profit organisation working for the economic development of women and gender equality in the workplace.
We spoke with Pinelopi and Stella about their vision for Inspiring Girls Greece, the importance of role models, and what excites them most about joining our global community.
What inspired you to set up Inspiring Girls in Greece?
Pinelopi: If I had to name one thing, it would be the belief that small actions can lead to big changes. The vision behind Inspiring Girls is simple but very precious: to inspire young girls by connecting them with amazing women who have succeeded, failed, learnt and grown along the way.
They are not perfect women or perfect role models — because who is? — but that’s exactly the point. Girls can have access to women from their own countries who voluntarily share their knowledge and experience. That’s also at the heart of what our organisation does, which makes Inspiring Girls a perfect match for us.
What do you hope to achieve by bringing Inspiring Girls to your community?
Pinelopi: We hope to create more opportunities for young girls to get inspired, ask questions, and discover new aspects of the career paths they dream about. Just as importantly, we want them to connect and network with each other.
At the same time, Inspiring Girls is also about empowering women who step in as role models, because sharing your story and experience is just as transformative for them as it is for the girls.
Why do you think role models are so important for girls in Greece?
Stella: Greece, while having seemingly achieved legal equality between men and women, is still lagging in terms of substantive gender equality in the everyday lives of women and girls. Our country fares low in the European Gender Equality Index, as a result of multiple inequalities in the fields of free time, employment, education and power.
This means that many girls in Greece grow up around women who spend more time in caretaking roles than their male partners or brothers, work fewer hours, have less decision-making power in their communities and workplaces, and are over-represented in less lucrative and stereotypically female fields of study and work.
The only way to enrich girls’ imagination about the different choices and outcomes that can define their lives is to give them opportunities to meet a diverse range of female role models, each with her own path, challenges, achievements and ambitions.
What excites you most about joining the Inspiring Girls community?
Pinelopi: One thing that really excites me is the chance to connect with Inspiring Girls communities in other countries, to share stories and best practice. I also love the possibility that, through this initiative, we can build real communities of care and support — motivated by a shared commitment to show up for the younger generation and help them find hope in challenging times.
Who has been a key role model in your own life, and how have they influenced you?
Stella: I grew up with two very different grandmothers — my maternal and my paternal one — who each embodied a very distinct set of priorities and values: on the one hand the intellectual grandma, who translated books, wrote poetry and had a very rich social and cultural life that kept her young until her later years, and on the other hand the homemaker grandma, who cooked for us and was always there when I got home from school to either hug me or tell me off for not getting an A+.
Each of them offered me her unique take on life and the definition of happiness, and I like to think that both have infused my life with the values that most resonated for me as a young girl.
What’s one message you’d like to share with girls in Greece?
Stella: That it’s a great thing to have dreams and ambitions — and a courageous thing to be ready to do the work that’s necessary to achieve both.
About the Co-Chairs
Pinelopi Theodorakakou is the co-founder and Head of Training, Empowerment and Awareness of WHEN, the co-founder of inc.lude, a company providing consulting and training services on diversity, equity, and inclusion to businesses and organizations, as well as a career coach for women and young girls.
Stella Kasdagli is a writer, an inclusion expert and the co-founder of WHEN. She is also the co-founder of inc.lude, a specialised agency offering consulting and training services that enable companies of any size and industry to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion across their structures, cultures and public profiles. Stella is a published author, a translator and the facilitator of impactful workshops on professional development, gender issues and social change. She is a certified ILO Participatory Gender Audit Facilitator, an IVLP alumna and a 2023 Vital Voices Visionaries Fellow, and the recipient of the Social Impact UK Alumni Award. She has published ten books for the empowerment of girls, women and teens, and lives in Athens with her husband and two daughters.
Welcome to the Inspiring Girls family, Greece. We can’t wait to see the impact you’ll make.