ZGiRLS expands nationwide

Olympian, former national champion, and 10-year U.S. Ski Team veteran Libby Ludlow has had her hands full since retiring from the sport in 2008. After finishing her degree at Dartmouth College, Ludlow, a Seattle native, attended law school at the University of Washington and graduated in 2013. But while pursuing her degree, she realized a future practicing law was not for her. Despite pushing through to graduation, she started working towards building her own business through her passion of empowering girls in sports.

In 2012 that passion became a reality as she founded ZGiRLS, a program that empowers young females in sports to be “confident, centered and courageous.”

Ludlow teamed up with fellow Seattle-ite, former NCAA All-American skier from the University of Vermont, and co-founder, Jilyne Higgins (formerly McDonald). Together they brought ZGiRLS to life in the Seattle area by providing a comprehensive program filled with mentorship, education, and support.

In 2013, ZGiRLS finished second out of 92 teams in the University of Washington business plan competition. This week, Ludlow and Higgins took ZGiRLS nationwide by launching an Indiegogo campaign.

“This campaign is about more than just crowdfunding. It is about making ZGiRLS known and accessible by girls across the country. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last three years, it’s that ZGiRLS works,” said Ludlow. “We know that we have something special on our hands, and we know that more girls need access to it.”

Ludlow and Higgins developed a curriculum, trained mentors to lead “circles,” and founded an athlete advisory and professional board filled with Olympic gold medalists, soccer and basketball stars, and women with PhDs and professional degrees.

“We’ve poured our hearts and souls into making ZGiRLS an organization that truly elevates and empowers girls. Our team has remained dedicated and fixated on one goal — building the necessary infrastructure and support to bring ZGiRLS to girls across the country,” said Higgins. “We know that this is a really big goal but, I always come back to exactly what we teach at ZGiRLS – chasing down your dreams takes courage, and by doing so, you make courage contagious. Like fire, it spreads and ignites even bigger dreams in those around.”

Mentors are typically college-levels athlete or higher who are trained and certified by ZGiRLS. The mentors are assigned the task of leading a “circle” (a group of five to nine girls) in the ZGiRLS curriculum — all aimed at increasing and improving the internal belief system in the young athletes through monthly meetings.

ZGiRLS recently struck up a partnership with the newly founded Lindsey Vonn Foundation and have received shout-outs on the Late Show with Seth Myers and Retweets from the likes of Ashton Kutcher.

With all of the overwhelming positive feedback and support, Ludlow and Higgins decided the national launch was a necessary step to increase the impact of ZGiRLS throughout the country. With the recent switch to becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization, the ZGiRLS campaign strives to increase sign-ups and mentor recruitment nationwide. One way they are aiming to do that is through the option for parents and/or coaches to buy “vouchers” for a discounted rate with ZGiRLS, so that when registration opens on July 1, they can officially start a circle for their group of girls.

How ZGiRLS Programs Work – Diagram

“We knew from the outset that we wanted ZGiRLS to be a nationally-recognized organization,” Explained Ludlow. “After three years of growing ZGiRLS in the Seattle area, we know that our programs and curriculum are ready to make a broader impact. We couldn’t be more excited to make ZGiRLS available to girls across the country.”

The campaign launched on June 1, 2015 with the goal of raising $100,000 by month’s end. To learn more about the program visit ZGiRLS.org, or listen on Friday, June 5, as Ludlow and Higgins, join the Women in Sport podcast to talk with SkiRacing.com Associate Editor Jessica Kelley and WiSP founder Chris Stafford about the organization’s endeavors.