We Tell Girls to Break Barriers, But We Rarely Show Them How

by Erica Palmer

Every year, we celebrate the women who’ve risen to the top of business, entrepreneurship, and leadership. And every year, the numbers remind us just how few make it there. The reality is simple: talent is not the issue. Access is. Girls aren’t lacking ambition, creativity, or skills. They’re lacking visibility. You can’t dream of a career you’ve never seen. You can’t step into a room you didn’t know existed. But the good news is this: opening the door just requires parents, educators, professionals, and community members to be intentional in small, powerful ways. Here are five simple actions anyone can take.

Let Girls Sit in on Real Conversations

Exposure is often worth more than encouragement. You don’t need to create a polished “career day” or wait for a perfectly packaged moment. Invite a girl to sit in on your next marketing meeting, brainstorming session, or client call. Let her watch how ideas are discussed and decisions are made. These glimpses behind the curtain demystify business and make it feel accessible instead of abstract. When girls see the machinery of strategy and leadership up close, they’re no longer imagining a vague future but observing a real one.

Replace “You can be anything” with “Here’s how it works.”

Adults often jump straight to the motivational message: You’re capable, you’re smart, you’re unstoppable. And that is excellent, but it needs to be followed up with an explanation of how. What does a strategist do all day? How does an idea become a campaign? Why does a business choose one path over another? Walk them through your process. Show them the tools you use. Break down the jargon. Suddenly, it’s not “I want to be in business someday,” but, “Oh, I actually understand how to be in business someday.”

Invite Them to Build

Observation is a starting point, but participation is where confidence grows. Ask her to pick a brand she thinks is doing it right and unpack why. Show her a simple profit-and-loss statement and ask what stands out. Share two pricing options and let her weigh in on which feels more strategic. Give her a set of competing priorities and ask which she’d tackle first. These exercises teach skills while validating her perspective.

Create Spaces to Try, Fail, and Try Again

Girls grow up in a culture that rewards perfection and penalizes mistakes. Boys grow up in a culture that treats missteps as part of the process and praises them for simply giving it a shot. If we want more young women stepping into leadership, we have to normalize iteration. Provide environments where failure isn’t embarrassing, but normal. Girls will become more willing to raise their hands and take risks. They begin to understand that business is not about being 100% right on the first try; it’s about refining and trying again.

Help Them Build Their First Network

Professional networks shape careers long before people realize it. But for girls, especially those without built-in industry connections, networks often don’t exist. You can change that. Make a warm introduction to someone in your field. Recommend them for an internship or program. Bring them to a local event. Share a resource, a podcast, a newsletter they might not discover on their own. A network of even two or three people can fundamentally alter her trajectory.

Programs like Next Girl Up exist to help.

At Next Girl Up, girls sit in real conversations, learn how business truly works, build and create hands-on projects, experiment with their peers, and begin forming their first professional networks. We’re not just telling girls they belong in leadership; we’re giving them the access and practice to step into it with confidence. When we show girls the door and walk them through it, they don’t just break barriers. They build new paths for everyone who comes after them.

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In 2018, Erica Palmer launched Camp Erio Marketing, a free three-day summer program that introduced middle school girls to the world of marketing and business. With donated space, volunteer instructors, and a mission to build confidence and spark curiosity, the program filled up within a week and grew fast. Over the next few years, it reached hundreds of girls across New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport in Connecticut. In 2025, Next Girl Up is the next evolution. Designed as a 10-week, free, nationwide program, it builds on the same mission with an expanded curriculum, hands-on projects, and a supportive community, empowering high school girls everywhere to think big. For more information, go to: https://nextgirlup.org/