GIRLATION...it is an amazing event...Teens do not want to miss it...please help spread the word!!

Our greatest update since I last spoke with you is:

Girlation has moved to the Natural History Museum!!! The event is going to take place in a huge, beautiful Gallery!

due to the larger space we are releasing more tickets for sale! So please do help spread the word!

more updates of what is to be found at Girlation ::
- -Otesha, highlighting their fantastic youth engagement tools, cycle tours,… http://otesha.org.uk/

-Environmental Justice Foundation…this film is fantastic: http://www.ejfoundation.org/page248.html

-Pants To Stop Poverty…contributing to the Make Poverty History movement… http://pantstopoverty.com/about/the-pants-story/

-jewelry swap...girls can bring their old accessories, and trade them for something new to them...a chance to update their style sustainably

-An introduction to U4U, a brand new initiative, as a members club for girls aged 11-18…with four pillars: fitness (mental and physical fitness), Kindness (compassion, effective communication, …), Culture (appreciating differences), Environment (advocacy for sustainability)… These four pillars are in line with supporting girls from a positive I, Us, Us All, Us all on this earth perspective…

So, please do help spread the word... Tickets can be found at www.U4Uk.co.uk

and for group sales, please email: ila@u4uk.co.uk

for Charity group fund raising ops, please email as above

Girlation Is hitting the streets...

On Sunday, 5th April at the lovely London Business School we had our Girlation team meeting.

It is quite phenomenal how our team has grown. As I looked around the room full of 20, young, gorgeous and passionate ladies I was so inspired to realise how much potential U4U has, and how much support there is for the mission. It was a great afternoon of aligning, bonding, building, fun and pizza.

(keep an eye out on the streets for this phenomenal team of ladies, kitted in fantastic Girlation T-Shirts, in all the best teen hang-out areas...distributing 5000!!! Girlation flyers...woo hooo!!)

Amidst all of the excitement and growth, I experienced one of the most challenging weeks I have had in a long long time. I suppose that is how things go...a roller coaster! and sure enough, despite the fact that in the moment it does not seam possible, the outcome is great!! More details in the next post on this one!

Well, thats all for now...

X4U

p.s. please spread the word about GIRLATION :: 17 MAY 2009 :: LONDON :: 12-4

WWW.U4UK.CO.UK

p.s.s. we are getting the word out to the press as we want to share Girlation and U4U with all of the UK/London...please do let me know if you can help in this mission!

'Girlation- a celebration of U' *updates*

Press releases have gone out-
PR agencies are calling-
And great updates are to be shared-

1- Girlation will be hosted by:: Carole Machin and Kate Edmondson of MTV/Gok Wan's Programs/Euromillions/BBC Teen News/and more..

2- Models 1, Europes #1 modeling agency who does Britains Next Top Model will be at Girlation, giveing the girls tips on poise and confidence and their model scouts will be roaming the crowd

3-Great organisations will be there and are supporting...such as: Pinapple Dance, Lush, Think Style, Sulfridges, V&A, G-Wiz, Pants to Stop Poverty, Scorpion Shoes, Funky Moves Dance, Rococo Chocolates, Covey's 7 Habits of Highly successful teens and others!!

4- There will be nutrition, ethical style, fitness, dance, inspirations, music, career, environmental and so much more enrichment

A great day to be had by all...

If you know any 11-18 yr old girls in the London area, please send them to
www.u4uk.co.uk

and have them email info@u4uk.co.uk if they are interested in entering the art sculpture contest, short story/poem writing contest, being in one of the fashion shows, or if they have a performance group (dance, music, theater)

X4U

Pitch Pandemonium...yeaaaaaa

Wow, what fun!

I was given the opportunity to pitch for 3 minutes in front of a great audience of entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, Foundations, PR agents and others... As the event started, and I realised how large the crowd was, I thought 'Why on earth did I ever sign myself up for this? Was I in my right mind?!?' But as I walked off the stage, I realised, it was a phenomenal opportunity to share about U4U and practice my pitch. It was the first time I spoke about U4U to a crowd, and the first time I pitched for funding, so two firsts out of the way! AND, as it was kind of a pitching competition, the other great bit of news is, I won :) so that means I will get to share what I am sure will be an insightful lunch with Polly at 15 restaurant...great!!

Do you have 1 min to read my pitch? Here it is:
Girls face many challenges in their teen years…
- 1 in 8 teen girls suffer from depression
- 1/3 of the UK’s teen girls have tried self harm
- Anorexic girls admitted to the UK’s hospitals rose by 80% in the last decade

Yet girls hold a world of potential,
As a recent Nobel Prize winner and Nike proclaim, the potential to change a culture lies in a girl
- A man will reinvest 35% whereas a female will invest 90% of her income into her family

And from a business standpoint,
- teen girls represent a 7 billion pound spending power

I would like to introduce you to U4U, a social solution and business opportunity…a members club for girls aged 11-18 which supports their challenges and unleashes their potentials

Members
1. attend weekly meetings
2. engage in team activities
3. peer mentoring
4. building small enterprises
5. and can access professional coaching

U4U is built around four pillars, fitness, kindness, culture and environment
- Fitness relating to physical and mental fitness
- Kindness, ability to relate to others with compassion and confidence
- Culture relating to wide tolerance and appreciation of differences
- Environment relating to environmental consciousness

-2-
U4U is a totally new concept which distinguishes itself through the business model, service offering and commercial appeal…
- The business model effectively makes use of franchisees
- Parents, whom reports show in the UK spend on average 19 minutes per day with their teens, find comfort through U4U and so shall support their daughters attendance
- And,
- No other competitor offers such a high quality, holistic and global program which also has an exclusive brand and curriculum which girls love and want to be a part of

-3-
I am working full time on U4U and have a team of 5 passionate professionals collaborating with me.

U4U will launch on May 17th at the first annual U4U, exclusive event for girls, called ‘Girlation-a celebration of U’ which will be hosted by Carol Machin and Kate Edmondson from MTV/Gok Wan’s Programs/BBC Teen News/and more

A 4 week pilot program will run from mid June
and
A full launch will take place with the start of the school year in Sept

We are building toward presence in 7 countries, revenues of 3 million and membership of over 20,000 by 2013

I am currently seeking investment of 150K for start-up costs

to support the worlds teen girls in becoming dynamic future leaders of the new economy, their families and their communities….because the potential to change a culture comes through a girl

Girlation Girlation Girlation (posted 9 March 2009)

Girlation just might turn out to be one of the best events for teen girls, that London has ever had!!! FINGERS CROSSED ;)

Things are coming together really well!

What is Girlation going to be all about, you might ask, well here it is::

BASIC EVENT DETAILS:
Participants and Sponsors include great huge and small companies like LUSH, Pineapple dance, Selfridges, Rococo Chocolates and many others …JUST IN, Model 1 (europs top agency) will be joining to talk about confidence/poise, AND celebrity guest Carol Machin will be joining...
Date: 17 May 2009
Location: Baden Powel House (South Kensington/Chelsea)
Time: 12-4pm
Attendees: up to 600 girls (plus another 1500 viewing online)(plus some of their parents)
Press: hopefully lots of press will be in attendance…15 press offices are following U4U…
Purpose: improve the world through developing our youth
Website: http://www.u4uk.co.uk/

5 components to the event which will all be going on continuously throughout the event:
1. entertainment :: inspirational speakers, dance, music,...all promoting some elements of the four pillars (fitness, kindness, culture, environment)
2. trade show of our favorite companies :: 15-20 tables highlighting only companies which appeal to young ladies
3. pamper corner :: massages, manicures, … free pampering for the girls
4. high heel boot camp :: a circuit of 6 professionals (style, speech, environment…) where a girl can go through the circuit and sit down for personal advice with each of the professionals for a 3 min session
5. promoting girls :: art sculpting and writing competition (to be hosted by leaders from London’s favorite modern gallery and a top selling teen magazine)

BEYOND THAT.....

Last i had reported we had made the first cuts of a couple business plan competitions...well, I am so pleased to report that we made it even further (though not all the way :() we were basically placed 6 out of 70entrants in one of them and an honorable mention in the other... top 8 out of over 100...for this one we win an in kind prize of over 500pounds!! yahooo... The best part of it was getting feedback and talking to some key investors. Was extremely exciting to hear how interested the were in U4U and I was extremely honored to hear some very good feedback on the strategy/professionalism/team/results so far....

Well thats all for now, back to the phone to finalise the rest of the great companies who will be joining us in CELEBRATING TEEN GIRLS!!!!!!!!

Time is like...well time is like... Gone...

Where does the time go? I always thought organisation/prioritization and all that was my strong point!! I am efficient, I get a lot of things done and all that! Yet, day in, day out I feel like I need to get 10 more things done...but it always seams to be 11pm and my eye lids are falling. I am starting to realise the responsibilities of an entrepreneur are like a river...never stopping! I need to learn to build dams!

That said, I feel very like we have made a ton of progress and a lot of really exciting things are about to happen.

-we have completed a very strong business plan and financial model. the beauty of this is in being able to apply for business plan competitions, send info to potential investors, and have completed a lot of strategy

-the conference is well on its way to being a super fun event...with a few sponsors solidified, some tickets sold, many of the guest speakers confirmed...I am feeling like the hard work is paying off (though the list is still many rows long)

-I am already embarking on phase two of the website which will enable U4U to start accepting registers of interest for membership!!! Yeee hawwww

-Though I have not been looking for investors, I have fallen into a few chance meetings with investors and been able to test the idea on them...have gotten some great feedback and quite a bit of interest!

-the team is coming together really nicely, allowing me to break off roles into respective groups (core team, youth advisory board and business advisory board)..the support and interest in being a part of U4U is really possitive

Ok, well back to sponsor/advertising finding I go...the fact is we need to still raise some dough to feel confident with the budget for Girlation...

If I may ask for your support,

**please let me know if you have any contacts who might want to sponsor/advertise with Girlation...we will make sure to make it worth while for any companies that support us

**please send all young ladies aged 11-18 to WWW.U4UK.CO.UK to get their tickets!!!!

XO Ila

Back on the Race Track...

Coolio, I am back in grear and moving right along!

Had a great bit of news last week, I found our that U4U made it to the second round of a global business plan competition (amongst 30 other plans out of over 100, not too shabby!!). Further, I submitted the plan in the Global Social Venture Competition which is another even larger game. Just getting the required documents in feels like a huge achievement! And the cool part is, it is going to force me to complete all components of the business plan by the end of this month (and that it forced me to put together some very solid statistics on the benefits of U4U which will be great in promotional materials).

Further, I have established another promotional event for U4U, a launch to academia, media, government and others. I am arranging a discussion of the topic ' Challenges schools face in instilling confidence, resilience, resourcefulness and other leadership skills in girls.' Nigel Nicholsom, an aclaimed professor from London Business, who is an expert and well published on multiple topics related to leadership will be one of the key note speakers.

I feel this event will really contribute to U4U's introduction in combination with 'Girlation.' The event for young ladies. Through these two launch events U4U will make its presence known amongst all of our (start-up related) target markets.

OH, AND, YAHOOOO! The WEb site is live!!! Check it out: www.U4Uk.co.uk

(please be understanding though, I put together this site in ppt and it is only surving the purpose of deliving enough info so that girls can sign up to the conference. I am still in the process of trying to find a partner who is an expert in web/media who will lead everything across the technology front.)

As it stands, I am apealing to one and all for support and focusing on the following areas:
1-finding a partner whom has experience in entrepreneurship, youth, and/or has a huge passion for the mission of U4U (Im looking for a true partner who would want to invest 6-12+ hours per week and would of course take shares in the company)

2-finding a partner whom has web/media experience and is has a huge passion for the mission of U4U (Im looking for a true partner who would want to invest 6-12+ hours per week and would of course take shares in the company)

3-sponsorships for the Girlation event...any company whom would like to raise awareness amongst girls aged 11-18 and their parents...

4-GIRLS to sign up to GIRLATION...I am apealing to everyone to please pass around the website to all you know to get the word out to gals and their parents

1,2,3,4 that is what im looking for
5,6,7,8 thanks for reading, you are GREAT

XO i