Spotlight Wednesday: Meet Shelley Tibbetts, GWR Online Community Officer
A core group of passionate “Renaissance women” make up the GIRLS WHO ROCK team. With diverse talent and well-rounded lives, they are working countless hours to produce an amazing event which benefits girls’ education, and we’d love for you to get to know them!
This week, meet Shelley Tibbetts, @shelleytibbetts, GWR Online Community Officer, talks about the power of social media, the connections she’s made through twitter, and how her sister Tammy inspires her.
How did you first connect with GIRLS WHO ROCK?
I first connected with GIRLS WHO ROCK through my sister Tammy, who is founder of She’s the First and co-founder of GIRLS WHO ROCK. She asked if I would help reach out to bloggers about the Class of 2011 and causevox campaign. I started emailing and tweeting away and the rest is history!
What’s your role on the GIRLS WHO ROCK team?
I am the Online Community Officer. I assist the PR & Social media teams by managing online communication for GWR. I use various online outlets to promote the concert – everything from emailing bloggers, tweeting to influencers on Twitter to messaging Meetup groups.
What’s your day job or professional/academic area of expertise?
I have a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and a minor in Advertising. I am fascinated by social media and prefer creativity over crunching numbers. GWR is an outlet for me to use the skills from my academic area of expertise and help change the world.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far while helping to produce GIRLS WHO ROCK?
How powerful social media is! I had a Twitter account before joining the team but I never really understood the point of tweeting to the world 140 characters at a time. My sister is a Twitter-holic and earlier this year she had told me how the purpose wasn’t to tweet at your friends but to make connections with people you didn’t know. I saw first-hand what she meant when I used Twitter to connect with others for GWR.
What’s the #1 thing you want people to know about what goes on behind the scenes of GIRLS WHO ROCK?
A passionate and hardworking team who are all working toward the same goal runs GIRLS WHO ROCK. The #1 thing I want people to know is that you don’t need much more than that to make a difference.
Five favorites of the moment (think fast!):
Female artist: Taylor Swift
Website/blog/app: Instagram. I wish they made a version for Droids so I could actually use it!
Restaurant in NYC: Vynl (it’s music themed- even down to the menus which are made out of old album covers!)
Book: I can’t think of one particular book. My favorite reading material is Glamour magazine.
Concert you’ve seen in NYC: I’ve only seen one in NYC — Rooney at Irving Plaza in 2008. My favorite concert was my very first and at Hershey Park Stadium in PA. I saw the Backstreet Boys during their Black and Blue World Tour.
What is a memorable story or fact you’ve learned about girls’ education in the developing world through She’s the First?
The fact that had the most impact on me is that of the 130 million youth who are out of school in the world, 70% are girls. It’s heartbreaking to think that girls around the world don’t have access to the same educational opportunities we do in the United States.
Give a shout out to a special teacher or mentor who shaped your own education, so that you can be where you are today in NYC, on this team.
It’s impossible for me to pick one person! The obvious answer would be my parents and teachers. However post-college life has taught me how valuable it is to have people in your peer group to look up to. Two others that deserve a super special shout out are my sister Tammy and friend Steve. I wouldn’t be where I am today without both of them there to encourage and challenge me. Whenever I need that extra push I can always count on them to be the ones who motivate me to keep going. Having people like that to turn to is just as vital to success as any teacher or mentor.
You are a twitter fanatic. What’s a memorable connection you have made through twitter for GWR?
That would most definitely have to be TheCollegeGrad.com! I tweeted at them letting them know I was looking for bloggers for the Class of 2011. They ended up retweeting me and I got them to follow She’s The First and GWR on Twitter.
Fill in the Blank: A GIRL WHO ROCKS is one who inspires others.
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