Top Ten Women’s History Month Wins...Because Next Gen Girls are Watching
As we head into the last full week of Women's History Month 2025, girls are watching women win. In the news and in the market...from space to SXSW...future leaders are watching women score in a big way this month, and we had to make a list.
In no particular order but with all the applause and praise, here are Être's Top Ten Wins for Women during Women's History Month:
1. Winners in the News: The Skimm
More than 10 years after they started theSkimm's live-smarter daily newsletter, founders Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg sold the company to Ziff Davis' Everyday Health Group this month. We're cheering not just because this sale represents a true couch-to-capital story, but because the insightful career advice both women gave to girls in The Epic Mentor Guide now rings even louder in our ears.
2. Winners who Pop: Poppi
When PepsiCo announced it's acquisition of prebiotic soda brand poppi for $1.95 billion this month, it marked another important founder story. Launching Poppi less than 10 years ago from her kitchen alongside her husband, Allison Ellsworth brought the brand first to Shark Tank and then to TikTok where the brand went viral. What does Ellsworth have to say about next gen consumers? "For a long time, soda has had a bad reputation and it’s our mission to turn that around. The response we see from Gen Z lets us know we’re on the right path!”
3. Winners with Game: Kirsty Coventry
This month Zimbabwe swimmer Kirsty Coventry was named the first woman and the first African to lead the International Olympic Committee in its 131-year history. Holding seven of her country’s eight Olympic medals (including gold in 2004 and 2008), Coventry notes that her election "is a signal that we are truly global and that we have evolved into an organization that is truly open to diversity and we are going to continue walking that road in the next eight years.” Oh, and she gave birth to her second child while campaigning for the role.
4. Winners who Return: Suni Williams
After an unexpected nine months in space when the journey was supposed to last a week, NASA astronaut Sunita ("Suni") Williams splashed down off the coast of Florida on March 18, making her 608 days in space over three flights a record and her 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalk time the most of any female astronaut. What did girls attending her local elementary school have to say upon her return? "It's, like, so cool that's she's a part of our town and everybody knows her across the entire country," said student Jaya Butler. "I'm so proud to have gone to her school."
5. Winners with Receipts: New Nike Ad
Following the epic So Win Super Bowl ad, Nike did it again this month by continuing to print "receipts" listing the accomplishments of role model women. Spotlighting stars like Doechii (Nike backed her post with the caption, “Too official to ever need validating, but we printed Doechii’s receipt to remind you anyway"), Sophia Wilson, Juju Watkins and Mal Swanson, Nike's endless receipts are exactly the kind of Spring scrolling we like!
6. Winners Born This Way: Gaga
Accepting the Innovator Award at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards last week, Gaga looked straight into the audience and told us this: "If I learned anything in the three decades I’ve been at this, it’s that the most powerful innovation is your authenticity.” Thanking her ancestors and the LGTBQ community, she concluded by saying, “To every artist that’s ever been told they’re different, complicated or too much, please never change. Break the mold. The world doesn’t need another copy. It desperately needs your original."
7: Winners on the Pitch: Mak Whitham
Speaking of originals, 14-year-old McKenna ("Mak") Whitham made history this month when she went in as a substitute in Gotham FC’s match away at Seattle Reign and became the youngest-ever outfield player in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)! "Standing on the sideline and waiting to get on the pitch was pretty exciting," Whitham told ESPN. "I wanted to be out there and was ready...But what was even better was when Coach Juan [Carlos Amorós] came up to me and said, 'Enjoy the game and just be you.' And that was what I did."
8. Winners on the Page: Jordan Chiles
With a forward by Simone Biles and rave reviews across book charts, Jordan Chiles rewrote history this March by bringing us behind the scenes at the Olympics and into her childhood gym. The UCLA competitor told Rolling Stone she wrote the book “to show the world that it took me 23 years to get into this position that I am in right now, being a two-time Olympian, a world champion and many more other accolades. People can say a lot of things about you and create a story, but why not tell your story the right way?” Why not, indeed?
9. Winners at the Mic: SXSW Women
Joining women like Cady Coleman, PhD Teresa Drew and Quincy Kissiedu-Brown on panels during SXSW EDU and SXSW was a joy this year, and although I had to head back to NYC early for this Morgan Stanley boardroom visit I was contunually impressed by the women that took over the Austin stages this year! Speaking about STEM, sports, film, fair pay, philanthropy and so much more, International Women's Day at SXSW brought powerhouses together at the mic - take a look here and here to rewatch.
10. Winners Getting Paid: March Madness
For the first time in sports history, the NCAA is paying women's March Madness teams 26% of the overall TV deal, which is the same percentage that the men's teams received in the first year after play performance units were introduced in 1991. Does it match the men's pay? No, but it comes out to $15 million in prize money with scheduled increases in future seasons - a promising start.
And a start can mean anything in the future.
Next gen girls will watch more founders make headlines and bring startups to billions. They'll watch leaders break ceilings and astronauts splash down. They'll collect their own receipts, announce their presence with authority, mark moments on the pitch and page, and step confidently to the mic.
Anything can happen when women today show girls what's possible tomorrow.
Happy Women's History Month - here's to all the wins.
Looking forward,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more Women's History Month wins you won't want to miss: NYSE's celebration on IWD and two winning Hello Sunshine partnerships with Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Être Girls!
