Does your child dream of being an astronaut? How about a social media director or a surgeon? Maybe she wonders what it would be like to be a computer scientist, a conductor, or a car designer. Career Girls role models will help her discover a world of possibilities.

Of course, you want to guide your child into a future filled with success and happiness. But that could involve everything from helping her to do well in school to introducing her to a whole range of career opportunities — even when you may not be aware of all the options yourself! So where do you begin? What steps can you take to educate yourself while guiding your child in the right direction?

The two of you can sit down and check out Career Girls’ high-quality, no-cost resources available right here. We think you'll agree: the inspiring role models you'll meet will fire up your child's imagination about what her future can be. Best of all? Career Girls is ad-free — creating a distraction-free space to make the most of your time together.

With more than 600 role models working in hundreds of different careers, you may be wondering how to get started. There is a lot to explore, and no one right way to use Career Girls. But a great place to begin is with the Empowerment Lessons.

Using the Empowerment Lessons

Empowerment Lessons are a special series of videos and educational resources that are just right for supporting parents in raising empowered and independent girls. The Career-Based Empowerment Lessons are centered around career exploration, and the Skill-Based Empowerment Lessons focus on social and emotional learning (SEL) with key topics such as teamwork, confidence, communication, leadership, financial literacy, and the importance of integrity. Each has been designed to help your child build lifelong success while she is still in middle or high school.

Each lesson centers around a short video clip that features real-world role models who share straight-to-the-point career insights and advice. These videos are paired with ready-to-use educational resources that build on the most important concepts.

To get started, just follow a few simple steps:

  1. Choose an Empowerment Lesson. Each Career Girls Empowerment Lesson video is about two minutes and focuses on a different topic. You can use the Empowerment Lessons in any order that best meets your child's needs and interests. For example, to help build the confidence she needs to participate and excel in any endeavor, take a look at Be Confident.
  2. Download the Corresponding Resources. Each Empowerment Lesson has a corresponding set of resources accessible on each video page (see example) and can also be accessed individually through the Resources module at the bottom of this page. Download and print the PDFs you'd like to use.
  3. View the Video with Your Child.  It may be helpful to preview the video first, noting information that might be particularly relevant to your child or vocabulary you might want to review. For example, with “Be Confident,” discuss what confidence means: Is confidence something you get all at once or something that builds? What are some things you feel confident about? How did you develop confidence in this area? What would you like to feel more confident about?

Use the corresponding resources to take the learning further:

  • Independent Learning Guide: (see example) This guide is designed to engage girls in digging deeper into concepts introduced in the videos. Your child might complete this guide on her own, but you'll find that it's also a great tool for sparking meaningful conversations that can have a lasting impact.
  • Classroom Lesson Plan: (see example) While designed for school settings, you may find this resource helpful for taking an in-depth look at topics that you think have particular relevance.
  • Fun Page Activity: (see example) Guide your child in completing this fun activity to further connect what she learned in the video to her own life.

Use the "Positively Empowered!" Certificate. Goal-setting is an important part of mentoring, and the Positively Empowered! Certificate provides an easy and concrete way to help girls set personal goals for developing the skills and knowledge they need to go after their dreams — and track their progress.

Using the Career Exploration Tools

Along with ready-to-use Empowerment Lessons, Career Girls offers built-in career exploration tools to engage girls in expanding career awareness, imagining what's possible, and taking important steps to plan for their futures.

The free Career Quiz is a fun place to start. This quick and easy quiz helps girls discover careers that may be a match for their skills and interests, with links to role models who can help them learn more. Girls who are natural problem-solvers, for example, can meet Makeda Keegan, an IT Systems Manager. Makeda encourages girls not to be afraid of software and coding. More important than being good at math, she explains, is being "curious, enthusiastic, and thorough."

You and your child can also explore by Career Clusters, such as STEM, Health Sciences, and Finance. Or, you can jump right into an A to Z tour of Careers and the Role Models who work in them — from an Accountant to a Zoologist.

Make sure your child is aware of our Student Resources. The printable resources promote independence, providing tools she can use to track careers she explores and connects those careers to her own interests and goals. Be sure to check out the free motivational posters (see example). These colorful posters share powerful advice from real-life role models to help your daughter develop the stick-to-itiveness she needs to go after her dreams.

Use Our Parents and Family Member Resources

Use the Resources module below to find these additional parents and family member resources:

Resources

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  • Integrity Bingo

    Print copies of these as gamecards to play Integrity Bingo with your group. Create 28 small pieces of paper, each labeled with a number from 1 to 28. Students fill out their Bingo cards, and then numbers are drawn at random until there is a winner. Keywords: printable, printables
    (429.37 KB, pdf)
  • Integrity Bingo – Empowerment Activity

    Topic/Theme:​ Communication Skills – Use this Empowerment Activity to reinforce the corresponding video and build teamwork and community within your Career Girls Club or other group. Keywords: activities, communications, honesty
    (339.04 KB, pdf)
  • Is This a Career for Me?

    This Venn diagram is a fun way to explore careers alongside interests and strengths. Notice careers that intersect with interests and abilities. Keywords: printable, printables
    (21.62 KB, pdf)
  • It Does Not Define You

    Emilie Hill, Science Educator: When something bad happens, it can shape you and your world, but it does not define you. Download and print this free motivational 8" x 8" 300 dpi mini-poster. Keywords: inspiration, inspirational, resilient, resilience, resiliency
    (2.46 MB, pdf)
  • Leadership and Teamwork – Ready-to-Use Script

    Choose this ready-to-use script to make your Career Girls presentations easy! Keywords: scripts, leader, team
    (68.99 KB, pdf)
  • Life Lessons 101: Classroom Lesson Plan

    This guide facilitates whole-class and small-group learning with the Life Lessons 101 Empowerment Video. Keywords: classroom lesson plans, videos, CLP, soft skills, skill-based, skill based
    (110.07 KB, pdf)
  • Life Lessons 101: Fun Page Activity

    This activity invites students to further explore concepts from the Life Lessons 101 Empowerment Video. Keywords: fun page activities, FPA, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based
    (26.33 KB, pdf)
  • Life Lessons 101: Independent Learning Guide

    This guide is designed to support quick-start, discussion-based group learning, as well as students who are independently exploring the Life Lessons 101 Empowerment Video. Keywords: independent learning guides, ILG, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based
    (78.92 KB, pdf)
  • Literary Arts Careers – Classroom Lesson Plan

    This guide facilitates whole-class and small-group learning with the Literary Arts  Careers Empowerment Lesson Video. Keywords: classroom lesson plans, CLP, videos, career-based, career based, writing, literature, author,
    (249.52 KB, pdf)
  • Literary Arts Careers – Fun Page Activity

    This activity invites students to further explore concepts from the Literary Arts  Careers Empowerment Video. Keywords: fun page activities, FPA, videos, career-based, career based, explore, literature, art, author, authors, writing
    (20.87 KB, pdf)
  • Literary Arts Careers – Independent Learning Guide

    This guide is designed to support quick start discussion-based group learning and students who are independently exploring the Literary Arts  Careers Empowerment Lesson Video. Keywords: independent learning guides, ILG, videos, career-based, career based, explore, literature, writing, authors
    (207.58 KB, pdf)
  • Marshmallow Structures – Empowerment Activity

    Topic/Theme:​ Architecture and Construction Careers – Use this Empowerment Activity to reinforce the corresponding video and build teamwork and community within your Career Girls Club or other group. Keywords: activities, architect, architects, engineer, engineering, engineers, STEM
    (71.68 KB, pdf)
  • Math Opens Doors

    Jacquelyn Sims, Mathematician: Math opens doors. If you can do math, you can do well in any other subject. Download and print this free motivational 8" x 8" 300 dpi mini-poster. Keywords: inspiration, inspirational, mathematics, STEM
    (2.51 MB, pdf)
  • Mentoring Tips for Parents

    Download this for an easy-to-share one page version of everyday mentoring tips for parents. Keywords: mentor, mentors, guide, parent, parental, family
    (478.31 KB, pdf)
  • Motivational Mini-Poster

    Add your photo in the middle and add quotes from our role models to create a mini-poster that will inspire and motivate you to dream big and achieve your goals. Download and print this free mini-poster. Keywords: printable, printables, inspiration, inspirational
    (31.28 KB, pdf)
  • Nothing is Impossible

    Tipsy Talwar, Sales Trader: Nothing is impossible, and don't let anyone tell you any other way. Download and print this free motivational 8" x 8" 300 dpi mini-poster. Keywords: inspiration, inspirational
    (1.91 MB, pdf)
  • Ocean In a Bottle – Empowerment Activity

    Topic/Theme:​ Oceanography Careers – Use this Empowerment Activity to reinforce the corresponding video and build teamwork and community within your Career Girls Club or other group. Keywords: activities, oceanographer, oceanographers, marine, STEM
    (271.98 KB, pdf)
  • Overcoming Obstacles – Classroom Lesson Plan

    This guide facilitates whole-class and small-group learning with the Overcoming Obstacles Empowerment Video. Keywords: classroom lesson plans, CLP, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, overcome, obstacle
    (260.79 KB, pdf)
  • Overcoming Obstacles – Fun Page Activity

    Use this activity page with students in conjunction with the Overcoming Obstacles Empowerment Video. Keywords: fun page activities, FPA, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, obstacle, overcome
    (31.34 KB, pdf)
  • Overcoming Obstacles – Independent Learning Guide

    This guide is designed to support quick start discussion-based group learning and students who are independently exploring the Overcoming Obstacles Empowerment Video. Keywords: independent learning guides, ILG, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, overcome, obstacle
    (201.82 KB, pdf)

What are your dreams for your child? If you’re a parent, grandparent, or other caring adult who is raising a girl or young woman, chances are you often find yourself thinking about her future. How will the choices she makes now impact her future? Will her career provide financial security?  We know it may seem that your child is influenced by everyone but you. But parents and family are a profound influence in their child’s life. And when it comes to careers, experts tell us that parents and family matter the most.