Investing in Girls’+ Education: Amplifying Impact with The Estée Lauder Companies

For two decades, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF) have been Student Leadership Network’s longest-standing corporate partners, investing in life-changing opportunities for thousands of young women nationwide. Girls from under-resourced communities face significant barriers to college access and career readiness, and nationally, only 50% of students from high-poverty schools enroll in college immediately after graduation. Additionally, women earn just 12% of STEM college degrees nationally. Student Leadership Network works to close these gaps through our network of Young Women’s Leadership schools and affiliates, using a WholeGirl+ Education model of gender-responsive practices designed to transform school cultures and change the face of leadership nationwide.

Through a powerful and multifaceted partnership, our programming with ELC—including career exposure, college counseling, mentorship, and signature events like Open Doors and Project Beauty—reflects a deep and enduring commitment to advancing opportunity for girls+ and young women everywhere. Thank you for 20 years of partnership and for modeling what long-term investment in girls’ education can achieve.

In Beautiful Company: Discussing Good Works

With ELC’s support, students from The Young Women’s Leadership Schools (TYWLS) achieve nearly 100% high school graduation rates, 100% college acceptance rates, and graduate with four-year college degrees at double the rate of their peers nationally. Additionally, alumnae pursue STEM degrees at nearly twice the rate of women nationally.

Our Signature Partnership Programs

These outcomes are the direct result of ELC’s intentional investment in Student Leadership Network to support the education, professional development, and well-being of young women. Two eagerly anticipated annual events that demonstrate this partnership in action are Project Beauty and Open Doors.

They practiced public speaking and presentation skills for a pitch competition judged by a panel of volunteers, including Student Leadership Network’s newest Board member, Rashida La Lande, EVP & General Counsel of ELC. The results were impressive. Fellow Board member and longstanding champion, Phebe Farrow Port, put it simply: “This is the best Project Beauty I’ve ever seen.”

One of the most compelling measures of this partnership’s ripple effect is what happens after students walk through ELC’s doors. Lizbeth, a TYWLS Manhattan alumna, participated in ELC’s mentorship program while in high school and secured a summer internship at La Mer. A supportive relationship with her supervisor and mentor influenced her decision about what to select as her academic focus at Wesleyan University. Lizbeth shared, “Getting to learn at a woman-founded company was a special and meaningful experience, and it got me thinking about majoring in business or economics.”

Other Ways ELC Supports Girls’+ Empowerment

Strong schools depend on strong teachers, and investing in educators is a key strength of our WholeGirl+ Education model. Through broader support of our work, ELC and ELCCF’s support help make these programs and milestones possible:

• Our annual TYWLS Professional Development Day brought together a record 242 educators and school staff from across New York City for a teacher-led exchange of best practices. We also facilitated convenings for school principals, assistant principals, social workers, English Language Arts teachers, and other support staff throughout the year, providing dedicated spaces for problem-solving and ideation.
• We launched the inaugural Girls’+ School Leaders Cohort Series and School Leaders Summit, developed directly from educator feedback. The series connected principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from 13 schools and organizations across six states, creating a peer network to share strategies and collectively raise the bar for girls’+ education. One educator shared, “Leaders felt safe to be vulnerable and share their own journeys [here]. If we truly want our girls to be leaders and to be confident, we too need to create those safe places for our girls.”

• Our signature college exposure events for TYWLS evolved from two large events into ten tailored, school-based experiences shaped by student and teacher feedback. College Discovery Day for ninth-graders included an introduction to college application essentials at each TYWLS, preparing students to ask insightful questions at a subsequent college campus tour. At Jumpstart to College+, yoga and other wellness activities were brought directly into each high school for seniors to de-stress during the college application season.
• In-person and virtual Summer Enrichment Fairs have enabled our students to explore low- or no-cost STEM opportunities after school and over the summer, with scholarships offered to offset program costs as needed.

• College dreams are made possible through our comprehensive CollegeBound Initiative program, which places full-time directors of college counseling at each high school partner to support applications, college visits, financial aid, and more, making college accessible and affordable. Our college enrollment rate exceeds the national average for high-poverty schools by 29 percentage points, empowering students to pursue higher education and expand life outcomes.
• That pipeline for success extends to our affiliate schools across the country. Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW), Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington, NC, and Girls Academic Leadership Academy in Los Angeles achieved 100% college acceptance rates for their Class of 2026, with capacity-building support from our College Access Services team. Adapting the success of New York’s Cool Careers, Potential Paths framework, we supported BLSYW in holding its first career day to bring professionals into the school to expand students’ career awareness.

Twenty years in, the results speak for themselves. We’re deeply grateful for a partnership that continues to grow in scale, creativity, and impact. Thank you, Estée Lauder Companies, for your vision and your commitment. The lives you have transformed and the doors you have opened for thousands of promising young people build on your legacy in the most meaningful ways—truly making the world a more beautiful place!

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