As the USA’s Girl Scouts CEO, Sylvia Acevedo has been a longtime advocate for girls’ and women’s causes. Before taking the organization’s lead, she also ran various health, fitness, and literacy improvement programs aimed at underserved children. With her vast experience, Acevedo fully understands what it takes to raise a girl to become a resilient and confident woman. Let’s find out her secrets below!

1. A girl needs a spark

Sylvia was once a Girl Scout campout when she found the spark of her life. Her troop leader has shown her the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper and encouraged Sylvia to get a science badge. The event led to her beginning a lifelong passion for space and constellation. All girls need that one special moment to feel that her goals are more achievable than she initially thought.

2. Dream Big

When she was 9, Sylvia’s teacher had shown her a photo of Stanford University. For a girl growing up in southern New Mexico, the place seems like a magical land. As she expressed her wish to go there, Mrs. Baldwin (her teacher) said: ‘You’re a smart girl. You can.’ And she went on to become one of the first Latinos to attend the prestigious school. Everygirl always needs a confidence boost at one point in her life.

3. Find your Voice

When a girl joins a community, she needs to feel safe to voice her thoughts. Sylvia stressed that all girls should have the courage to speak their minds and use their voices for leading. “We want girls to know how to take civic action, how to find common ground, how to influence public policies, how to get out the vote,” The same should also apply for girls of all ages.

4. Never Take ‘No’ for an Answer

When Sylvia started her Girl Scouts journey, her leader had given her an important piece of advice: Never leave a potential customer until you’ve heard “no” three times. Not only does this can work in cookie sales, it played a big part in her later years. While there have been many cases where people say no to Sylvia more than three times, she learnt to be more persistent and resilient. For a girl to rise with confidence and power, she would need to ignore those who attempt to hold them back. They could create their own way that leads to success.