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girls empowerment movement

Calling all 6-8th grade girls!

GEMfest 2025 will be held on International Women's Day, Saturday March 8! Here are some things to get excited for:

Attend fun workshops and participate in hands-on activities to discover your passions and learn new skills like sustainable fashion, public speaking, and wellness!

WORKSHOPS

Hear the stories of inspiring keynote speakers and panelists who will share their different paths to success and show you how limitless your possibilities are!

SPEAKERS

Enter the raffle for a chance to win exciting prizes from our sponsors, and take a bag full of goodies home with you at the end of the day!

SWAG

What is
GEMfest?

GEMfest is an annual convention held in Orange County, CA where middle school girls hear inspiring keynote speeches and attend their choice of hands-on workshops teaching skills for success such as creativity, wellness, and leadership.

Come learn the skills you need to be confident, speak up, feel great, and turn your dreams into realities. Join us if you want to have a fun day and leave feeling unstoppable! Oh, and did we mention free snacks, a delicious lunch, and a gift bag full of awesome swag!?

happy (belated) women crush Wednesday!! 💜

Time to meet our amazing team!!!! First up, we have leadership! ⭐️

Introducing our 2024-2025 GEMfest team! We cannot wait for another year. Follow for our updates - more details to come! 💜💜💜

Our GEM presidents went to the National Youth Leadership conference in St. Paul this past weekend, and we are so excited to announce that we have been awarded the Youth Leadership for Service Learning Excellence Award. Congratulations to all of the GEM members and thank you NYLC!💜

GEMfest 2024 was a success!! We had the best time. Thank you everyone for coming- see you next year 💜💜💎 #girlsempowerment #gemfest

US BECAUSE IT IS FINALLY GEMFEST!! We had the best day ever.
#gemfest #girlsempowerment #discover

TOMORROW!! We cannot wait to meet you all tomorrow at GEMfest- there is still time to buy tickets (link in bio). See you soon 💜💜

We’re so excited to have @lexysilverstein as both a workshop leader and a panelist at GEMfest THIS SATURDAY! Purchase tickets at the link in our bio.

Our Upcycling Workshop is a hands-on experience designed to inspire creativity and promote sustainability in fashion. Participants will learn the art of transforming pre-loved clothing into unique, personalized pieces. The workshop will guide attendees through various upcycling techniques, encouraging them to see the potential in overlooked garments and reduce waste. In addition to practical skills, the workshop includes a short presentation on sustainable fashion, highlighting the importance of eco-conscious choices in our daily lives.

WE ARE SO EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE OUR SPONSORSHIPS! COME TO GEMFEST 2024 FOR FREE PRODUCTS FROM THESE COMPANIES 💄🫧🥨
@lushcosmetics @caliray @tosisnacks @stars4everbyanna

We are so excited to have Hannah Romeo as a speaker at GEMfest 2024! 💟 Hannah Romeo co-founded GEM in 2017 with Eliza Feffer, Karli Davis, Lily Humphrey, Ishani Patel, and Capri Campeau. She graduated from Sage Hill School in 2019. In June 2023, she graduated from UCLA’s College Honors Program with Highest Honors in Biochemistry. While at UCLA, she sang in the UCLA Chorale, volunteered at UCLA Health, served as Vice President and VP of Standards for the STEM Sorority Phi Sigma Rho, and conducted clinical research into the use of telemedicine in urology. She currently works as a Junior Research Specialist at UC Irvine’s Landman-Clayman Curiosity and Innovation Laboratory which focuses on minimally invasive surgical techniques for the treatment of kidney stones and kidney cancers. Hannah has always been passionate about female empowerment and is applying to medical school to become a urologist, a historically male-dominated specialty, to treat female pelvic and urinary issues.

Dr. Kate Huckelbridge began serving as the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission in February of 2023. Before this appointment, Dr. Huckelbridge served as the Commission’s Senior Deputy Director and has worked for the agency since 2009 in a number of different roles, including as a senior environmental scientist and as the Deputy Director over the Energy, Ocean Resources and Federal Consistency Unit, Transportation Unit, and the North Coast District. She also served as the Tribal Liaison for the Commission.
Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Dr. Huckelbridge completed her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University with an environmental engineering degree. After working briefly as a consultant, she went on to earn a masters and a PhD in environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focused on water quality dynamics and modeling in managed wetland systems. Since coming to the Commission, she has worked on a wide range of projects related to oil and gas development, power plants, wind energy, wetland and marine habitat restoration and mitigation, mitigation banking, and transportation, and more. In addition to her technical work, Dr. Huckelbridge served as one of the Commission’s representatives at the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, which was a two-year state agency training on advancing racial equity in California government. In her spare time, Kate enjoys hiking, kayaking, skiing, and playing and listening to music of all kinds.🌄
We are so excited to announce Dr. Huckelbridge as one of our keynote speakers for GEMfest 2024!! Link in bio for tickets 💎

We are excited to announce our panelist: Dr Stapfer!🩺 Dr. Stapfer attended the University of Hawaii on a 4 year full athletic scholarship where she played basketball for the university while obtaining her degree in biology. She subsequently completed her medical degree at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia where she obtained Alpha Omega Alpha status and graduated cum laude. She completed her general surgery training at USC followed by board certification by the American College of Surgeons in 2003.
During her residency Dr. Stapfer managed to have two healthy children. She then went on to complete fellowships in hepatobiliary and pancreas surgery followed by a second fellowship in abdominal organ transplant fellowship at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Stapfer has extensive training in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery as well as abdominal organ transplantation including liver, kidney and pancreas. She is triple board certified in general surgery, hepato-pancreaticobiliary surgery, and abdominal organ transplantation. She currently is the Director of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery at Providence St. Jude Medical Center.

Last service learning day before GEMfest!! Make sure to buy your tickets for GEMfest 2024 using our website (link in bio) 💝💝

HAPPY GALENTINES DAY FROM GEM 💎💜 #galentines #valentines #discovery #gemfest #femaleempowerment #viral #reels

Calling all of our art lovers… we are excited to announce one of our panelists: Timree Gold! 💟 🎨 ✨
Ever since she was a little girl, Timree Gold
loved to paint; what started in her college
apartment selling painted plates has
evolved into an international business full of
color & joy.

As a self-taught artist, she paved her own
way and created the Timree Technique: a
whimsical & distinctive painting style.
From paint studios, to online classes, to a line of
products in Michaels, & more, Timree has
shown time & time again, that she can paint
anything & instantly make it CUTE!

We are excited to announce our closing speaker… Eliza Feffer! 🥳
Eliza Feffer co-founded Girls Empowerment Movement during her junior at Sage Hill School in 2017. The idea started with a question she and her friends were asking each other: “What advice do we wish we had gotten in middle school?” The question evolved into the inaugural GEMfest, a day where the community could come together to support women and girls, to teach them life skills and lessons, and to provide them with invaluable mentorship. Eliza graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2023 with a BSBA in Marketing and a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. During her four years at Washington University, Eliza performed in the WashU Stand-Up Comedy Club and served as a member of the Campus Interview team, assisting the admissions office with prospective student interviews. During her fourth-year, she served as an Olin Global Ambassador and the President of Kairos After School, a student organization offering tutoring at an innovative charter school in St. Louis. Eliza currently lives in San Francisco where she works as a Marketing Analyst at Williams-Sonoma Inc. She loves stand-up comedy, going on walks in nature, and trying out new restaurants in SF.

Introducing our keynote speaker Georgetta Foreman! Georgetta Foreman is currently the Supervising Producer at Allen Media for all of their nine court shows. The line-up includes Justice for the People with Judge Milian, Equal Justice with Judge Ebony K. Williams, and Mathis Court with Judge Mathis. With over 20 years of experience in television the TedX Speaker has produced other well-known court shows such as Divorce Court, Judge Alex, and Texas Justice at Twentieth Television.

Georgetta is the daughter of Two-Time Heavyweight Boxing Champion, George Foreman. She has a strong background in sports, managing and producing talent, marketing, and product development. Georgetta used her media-savvy gifts for half a decade as a Senior Trade-Out/Prize Producer with the CBS game show, Let’s Make A Deal.

Beyond production, the Texas native has a love for scenic beauty and is drawn to beach cities. Georgetta is a mother of two and sister to many. The issue dearest to her heart is mental wellness of women and children. Georgetta has volunteered in communities from Houston to Malibu and is looking forward to making a bigger impact through public speaking and wellness awareness.

CALLING ALL 6TH-8TH GRADERS AND PARENTS GEMFEST OC 2024 IS HERE!! View our website: www.gemfestoc.com 💎💎

Reminiscing on our recent GEMbassador event 🤍

We had a blast yesterday at our first GEMbassador event of the year! We loved meeting our GEMbassadors and doing fun activities with them! Look out for information on our next event coming soon!!💜💜

GEMbassadors - do you choose to accept our mission?! we hope to see you there 🫵🕵️

Happy woman crush Wednesday from Sage Hill! Follow our TikTok @shs_gemfest for more content!💜💜

Behind the scenes of our latest GEM team meeting!🤗🤗GEMfest is only 4 months away- visit our website for more details.

Another successful service learning day in the books! We ❤️ our team!

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