It’s Cookie Season. Own Your Magic!

From the desk of GSSNE CEO, Dana Borrelli-Murray:

Did you know that axolotls are neotonic? This means they never outgrow their larval stage.

Did you know that axolotls can completely regenerate lost limbs and organs?

What does any of this have to do with Girl Scout Cookie Season, you say?

So much!

Welcome to Girl Scout Cookie Season 2024, the world’s largest girl-led entrepreneurial program! For the next two months, you will eat Thin Mints, which will fuel youth to be decision-makers as they plan, fundraise, and execute their Girl Scout dreams. What a delicious mechanism for authentic girl empowerment.

I am a Girl Scout CEO, and also a Girl Scout parent. My kids LOVE Girl Scouts, especially the cookie program. While our wise-beyond-her-years 11-year-old can rattle off ingredients to strangers, our very adorable and silly 7-year-old lands perfect cartwheels at cookie booths. She sells more cookies. But- her math skills have improved dramatically- especially counting by 5s.

So I spent last winter at my kids’ cookie booths and many, many other cookie booths. (Use the cookie booth finder- it’s fascinating!) Everywhere I went, I bought cookies. And then I went home, and my spouse would remind me that we had cookies to sell ourselves, and also, didn’t I have the keys to the entire cookie kingdom? Yes and yes.

Last year, I talked about my transformation into a cookie convert, committed to an annual sustainable revenue source that feeds (literally) our mission’s work with a product that people actually want! I think about the radical role cookies have played in Girl Scout history, dating back to times when women couldn’t open their own bank accounts…or divorce their husbands, attend most private high schools, colleges, and universities, play sports - our product program has been our Movement’s ticket to self-sufficiency.

This year’s cookie season theme is “Own Your Magic”- and the mascot is a pink axolotl. And while I’m still struggling to spell the word ‘axolotl’ without spellcheck, I am fascinated by this mascot choice. Regenerating limbs (along with a wide spectrum of color-changing and camouflage abilities) seems like the holy grail of adaptation- what a great life skill! Axolotls are also highly resilient. They are also super cute. And never outgrowing their larval stage- is this a metaphor for staying young at heart?

Maybe that’s a stretch.

I’ve said this a bunch- we are laser-focused on ensuring that Girl Scouts is the most relevant, engaging, youth-centered, and inclusive leadership development program available. The Movement is designed to help youth discover their personal best and prepare for a positive future, connect with others in an increasingly diverse world, and take action to solve problems and improve their communities.

This cookie season, know that you are magical. Own your axolotl-ness. Your cookie purchases change lives. Thank you in advance!