Meet-A-FLiP: Rachel Doyle

This month FLiP is pleased to meet Rachel Doyle, Founder & President of GlamourGals.  The original CosmoGirl! of the Year award winner, Rachel embodies that magazine’s tagline, “Born to Lead.”  Rachel began her nonprofit in high school, grew it as a Cornell undergrad, and now, in her early twenties, she plans to double the size of GlamourGals in the next two years. Check the post below for information about an upcoming GlamourGals event in NYC.

Future Leaders in Philanthropy (FLiP): What is your top tip for someone starting a nonprofit?

Rachel Doyle (RD): Being resourceful is key – we all know you recognized the need, raised the money and figured out a name – now it is time to execute.  My first Advisory Board conference call was held in a broom closet in between classes on the Cornell campus.  My first donation of makeup came from a cold call to a cosmetic company and my first employee was a college intern paid through a scholarship program.   

FLiP: Who have been your biggest supporters?

RD: When I started GG it was really my family – my mom, dad, and brother have been incredible pillars in expanding the organization.  We’ve grown from three volunteers to almost 1,000 in seven states with fifty volunteer chapters.  I definitely could not have done that without them.

FLiP: What is a day or week like for you?

RD: It is a mixture of calls, emails and writing to chapters from my laptop; this week communication is focused on our upcoming event, Glamour in the City.  Depending on the day I can start as early as 6am and work as late as… well…very late.  Working from home, you can just keep working – there is no traffic to beat!  This week I am flying on Thursday evening to West Palm Beach, Florida for a MegaMakeover.  At MegaMakeovers I speak at a youth conference, hold an interactive leadership workshop in the morning, and then in the afternoon the students (100+) blanket the city nursing homes with makeovers! 
FLiP: Tell us more about GlamourGals.

RD: GlamourGals is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that creates compassionate teen leaders through service with the elderly living in nursing homes.  We organize teens to give complimentary facials and makeovers to women living in the homes.

FLiP: When did you start the program and why?

RD: I started the program seven years ago in Commack, NY as a high school sophomore.  I had three volunteers who took part and we had a great time…not to mention lots of press including the New York Times at our first makeover!

FLiP: Wow - the New York Times covered your first makeover?  How has the press played a role in GG’s expansion?

RD: The press has been vital.  The New York Times article led to Oprah profiling GG on her show at the same time that CosmoGirl! chose me as its first CosmoGirl! of the Year. CBS read about that, and we got coverage there.  By then we finally were able to get a website up (www.glamourgals.org) – we just redid it by the way!  Through the website, people from around the world connected with us.  It was really remarkable to see the interest.  Also, we didn’t even have our tax exempt status yet, so Oprah carried us through those years.

FLiP: You mentioned you have an event coming up that you are focusing on – Glamour in the City?

RD: Yes, Glamour in the City is one of our three annual events (the other two are our Leadership Training Institute in November and our Chapter President Board meeting in February).  Our 3rd annual Glamour in the City is on May 17, 2007 at the Loews Regency Hotel in NYC and is an evening to raise funds for the GlamourGals program.  This year it is going to be bigger than any other! 

Maybelline New York is sponsoring mini makeovers for guests as well as our volunteer awards called “THE GLAMMYS!”  THE GLAMMYS! will be hosted by Tracy Smith, Saturday Morning Show Anchor and National Correspondent for the Early Show on CBS.  The evening features a 12 foot dessert table from Sweet Street Desserts, live music, raffles and open bar!  We’ll also have special guest Nikki Blonsky from the new movie Hairspray.  You can register at www.GlamourGals.org.  It’ll be a good time for a good cause.

FLiP: What does the future hold?

RD: We are constantly looking to make the program more efficient, especially as we plan to double in size yet again to 100 chapters over the next two years.  We want to create the model for nonprofit-chapter social networking.  We created GGChapters, the beginning of our GG virtual community for volunteers to connect, with a grant from the The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation.  We want to take it to the next level and allow our volunteers to communicate with one another in this community. 

FLiP: Networking is such a buzz word but very important in this sector – especially when you are trying to get a project off the ground.  What are some tips you can give to other FLiPs about networking?

RD: Definitely – here are three strategies that worked in the past as well as at a conference I spoke at last week at Cornell University.

• SMILE!  People who smile are much more open and engaging, which means that the person you are dying to talk to will possibly approach you;
• Start with a thank you.  Figure out how to thank someone and go from there and I bet your conversation will be 20 minutes longer than expected; and
• Be curious and document your meetings.  Don’t know a thing about the person you are talking to?  That’s ok.  The person might not have any relation to you at that moment but if you ask and find out what they are passionate about and what they do and log it in your database for later, you might come across a critical question that you can consult them about for the answer.  They will be flattered that you remembered what they mentioned at your first meeting.

FLiP: Any fun facts about you that you’d care to share?

RD: I played the violin for 13 years.  I love traveling.  I attended Cornell University.  My email is Rachel@glamourgals.org.  I have a five year scalability and sustainability executive summary for GG that I would love to share with anyone interested.  ;o)

Attention NYC-area FLiPs: stay tuned for more information about Glamour in the City!