Girl Scouts CEO Says Investing in Girls Is Key to a Bright Future

Newsweek

4 days ago

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Beyond the cookie sales and green vests filled with colorful patches, Girl Scouts is a legacy organization that has been helping girls become stronger leaders for over a century.
"Our mission is to build girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place," Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Bonnie Barczykowski told Newsweek in an email. "We want them to know the future is theirs to lead."
Leading Girl Scouts of the USA as the CEO since 2023 is both a "tremendous responsibility and a tremendous opportunity," Barczykowski said.
She said her goal is to ensure the organization remains relevant in what it offers girls and to close the gaps that exist so that more girls, volunteers and communities can "fully experience the life-changing benefits of Girl Scouts—especially those we have yet to reach."
Barczykowski joined Girl Scouts at the local level in Missouri as a board member and then COO in 2012, ultimately serving as CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri for nearly a decade. There, she transformed the program, expanding access to include more girls while leading a $50 million fundraising campaign.
Prior to working at Girl Scouts, Barczykowski began her career as an elementary school teacher. She then transitioned into sales and marketing for a major airline before opening and operating five Curves fitness franchises.
She told Newsweek that all her experiences and the perspective she's gained from them deeply inform her leadership today.
"I bring both local and national insight to the table, and I lead with clarity, conviction, and an unwavering belief in the power of girls," she said. "My career has never followed a straight line, and that's what makes it unique. It's proof that courageous moves and unexpected turns can lead to extraordinary outcomes."
Girl Scouts was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, at a time when women and girls had limited opportunities. The organization has since grown to include nearly two million members from 111 local Girl Scout councils and troops in more than 92 countries through USA Girl Scouts Overseas.
The Girl Scout Law promotes honesty, fairness, courage, respect, sisterhood and service — values that serve as the foundation of an organization existing in an ever-changing world.
"The girls we serve are always moving forward—fast—and it's our responsibility to stay in step with their pace and potential," she said. "So we'll continue to evolve to make the Girl Scout experience relevant, exciting and accessible for every girl, ensuring her individual goals and dreams are reflected."
Women's Global Impact: Bonnie Barczykowski
Women's Global Impact: Bonnie Barczykowski
Newsweek Illustration
Leading an organization that has been around for over 100 years can be daunting. But Barczykowski is up to the task. The Girl Scouts of today have different interests, priorities and challenges than scouts of the past.
"My biggest, and most exciting, challenge as the CEO of an organization with such a powerful legacy—113 years of building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place—is ensuring that that legacy endures and that Girl Scouts is thriving for 113 more years," she said.
When leading an organization that centers on building girls' character and teaching them the importance of "leaving the world better than they found it," Barczykowski said practicality and empathy are equally important to being a solution-minded leader.
Along with her "talented and dynamic" leadership team, and 111 council CEOs across the country, Barczykowski is committed to "revolutionizing" engagement with members, amplifying impact and "securing tomorrow as responsible and passionate stewards of Girl Scouting."
Noorain Khan said being a Girl Scout changed her life – the organization brought her lifelong friendships, encouragement from adult mentors and opportunities to get involved with leadership and social justice programs. That formative experience kept her involved in the organization through adulthood, serving as a young adult volunteer, a National Board member and now as the National President and Daisy troop leader.
Khan said Barczykowski is an incredible leader and partner, describing her as wise, kind, intentional, strategic and clear.
"As a former council CEO, she knows what it means to deliver for our girls day in and day out," she said. "She always listens and tries to understand. And she's a visionary who believes that the impossible is possible—and, very importantly, she knows how to bring people along in that vision."
Understanding and empathy are key when leading Girl Scouts through fast-paced technological advances and a post-pandemic society. The organization's internal research shows that more than half of girls ages five through 13 said they think the idea of being a grown-up sounds scary. In recent years, Girl Scouts has increased efforts to prepare girls to tackle the world's most pressing issues.
After a recent study showed that nearly 70 percent of girls experience loneliness, Girl Scouts launched the Mental Health Initiative in 2021 in response to the growing mental health crisis among girls, in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and HCA Healthcare. This includes new mental health-related patch programs designed to facilitate important conversations and provide resources and materials to scouts and troop leaders.
In the last year, Girl Scouts has also received a $30 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support character development initiatives and partnered with the League of Women Voters to support the Promote the Vote program and other civic engagement opportunities within Girl Scouts.
"My greatest hope is to ignite that same spark in today's girls—to help them discover who they are, what they care about, and how powerful they already are," Khan said. "Because I'm not just helping build the future of Girl Scouts—I'm giving back to the sisterhood that helped build me."
Khan said Girl Scouts has always tried to "meet girls where they are" to help best prepare them for the challenges ahead.
This includes the addition of the Girl Scout Advisory Board, which features 22 Girl Scouts from across the country who help shape the organization by advising on everything from global leadership to mental wellness, outdoor exploration and the future of the Girl Scout Cookie Program.
"Through all this evolution, our purpose has never been clearer: we don't just prepare girls for the future; we prepare them to lead it," she said.
As society has progressed to expand the rights, freedoms and opportunities for women, Girl Scouts must keep up to promote diversity and accessibility for all girls.
Barczykowski said Girl Scouts from all walks of life bring their own unique perspectives, passions and energies to their journeys within the organization. And it is Girl Scouts' organizational priority, she said, to reach every girl in every community and eliminate any obstacle that prevents any girl from getting involved.
As a young hijab-wearing Muslim girl, Khan said she didn't look like most of her troop, but she felt seen, supported and celebrated. It was that sense of belonging that helped her believe in herself and inspired the culture she wants to continue as a leader.
"One of my top priorities is making sure every girl feels she truly belongs in Girl Scouts—and knows this is a place where she can grow, lead and thrive," she said. "That means doing more to engage communities of color, girls with disabilities, girls who don't feel like they belong and girls who face financial barriers. They deserve to feel safe, welcomed and fully supported—and to experience the same powerful outcomes as every Girl Scout."
Khan said her goals are rooted in purpose – building a thriving organization with flourishing local councils and a powerful, united movement that continuously grows in strength and relevance.
She is the first Muslim American and Millennial to hold the position of National Board President. At the 2023 National Council Session, where she was elected National President, the body also voted to codify anti-racism into its constitution to eradicate discrimination within the organization.
Girl Scouts is "one of the most unique and enduring forces for good in the world," she said, and said she's deeply committed to ensuring more girls in every corner of the country have access to its "life-changing power."
"When girls become Girl Scouts, the impact doesn't stop with them—it ripples outward into families, neighborhoods and communities," she said. "That's why I'm focused on helping build an organization that's not only healthy and future-ready, but one that is as welcoming as it was when I walked into my first troop meeting."
Barczykowski wants girls all over the world to know their worth, trust in their potential and make their dreams a reality. For everyone else, her advice is to invest in girls.
"They're not just the leaders of tomorrow—they're leading in incredible ways today, and they want to put their skills to use," she said. "Introduce a mentorship program, invite a Girl Scout troop to learn more about your field, create an internship program for Gold Award Girl Scouts, or encourage your staff to volunteer with their local Girl Scout council. It's never too early to start inspiring our future workforce."
Bonnie Barczykowski is one of the panelists at Newsweek's Women's Global Impact Forum that will take place at Newsweek's headquarters at One World Trade Center in New York City, on August 5, 2025.
The forum aims to connect senior female executives across all industries and job functions with rising stars on the path to C-suite positions to discuss leadership, innovations and how they are inspiring all women to succeed in the business world.