What Others Are Saying

Pulitzer Prize Winning New York Times Op-Ed Columnist and author, Nicholas Kristof, presents Just Like My Child Foundation 2016 Keynote Speech. His comments included:

"There’s no force more powerful to transform a society…(than girls). The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books. Why does girls’ education matter so much? First, because it changes demography.

One of the factors that correlates most strongly to instability is a youth bulge in a population. The more unemployed young men ages 15 to 24, the more upheaval.…For every 1 percentage point increase in the share of the population aged 15 to 24, the risk of civil war increases by 4 percent.

That means that curbing birthrates tends to lead to stability, and that’s where educating girls comes in. You educate a boy, and he’ll have fewer children, but it’s a small effect. You educate a girl, and, on average, she will have a significantly smaller family. 

More broadly, girls’ education can, in effect, almost double the formal labor force. It boosts the economy, raising living standards and promoting a virtuous cycle of development.  When a country educates and unleashes women, those educated women often become force multipliers for good."

Jada Pinkett Smith, Just Like My Child Foundation 10th Annual Gala Keynote Speaker:

I want to thank the room for doing this right now because this is what life’s about (point to the girls from Uganda who are live on Zoom). I grew up in Baltimore City, amongst violence, drug addiction, unemployment and poverty. There was a time I hated being a girl because I lived in an environment that disrespected women, violated women and I wanted to be anything but a girl. And then I met some women when I came to Los Angeles who taught me the power and the beauty of being a woman and I had to rehabilitate my feminine understanding and feminine power and made it my life's work to do the same for others. I love me some girls and some women.

The power that we possess in this journey of self empowerment and self love as women is really understanding who we are. There’s so much work to do. A woman's superpower is love. 

I want to honor Vivian (Glyck, Founder JLMC) and Regina (Hall), thank you so much for this invite. Thank you for this opportunity to learn about Girl Power Project. You are doing some amazing work!! My gift tonight is being introduced to you, this work and these girls/beautiful faces."

Just Like My Child Foundation (JLMC) honored Academy-Award Winning Actress, Producer, and Humanitarian, Viola Davis, one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2017, with the JLMC 2017 Global Humanitarian Award. Davis is the embodiment of an empowered woman who grew up and out of an extraordinary tale of poverty to find her inner calling. She's an agent of change dedicated to telling the uplifting stories of women and triumph. Read this wonderful article by Deborah B Pryor of EURweb who can you detailed insight on the JLMC 11th Annual Gala!

"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity." —During Viola Davis' speech at 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

On the value of Girl Power for any woman: “You deserve to be happy, you deserve to be joyful, you deserve to be celebrated. But in order to do that you must first fall madly in love with yourself.”

- Lisa Nichols, Keynote Speaker, Just Like My Child November 2018

“You are doing a wonderful, valuable thing for the world. Girls need all the help they can get. You are an inspiring woman and role model, Vivian”

- Lana & Dave Asprey, Founders of Bulletproof

Marianne Williamson, Just Like My Child Keynote Speaker November 2015

“The love that will save the world is not just the love for our own children, but the love for all children, including those who live on the other side of the tracks.”