Alum Spotlight: Anjali’s Courage to Curate Her Own Path
When girls are educated and empowered to lead, the world changes. Research shows that access to education, mentorship, and leadership opportunities propels girls to pursue higher education, hold leadership roles, and champion change in their communities. At Girls Inc. of Greater Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey, we believe empowering girls isn’t charity — it’s a strategy for lasting social change.
Few stories capture that belief more powerfully than that of Anjali R., a Girls Inc. alumna who has transformed curiosity into scholarship, creativity into leadership, and opportunity into global impact.
Anjali’s Girls Inc. journey began in the fourth grade, when she joined programs that opened the door to hands-on learning and exploration. Through the organization’s Out-of-School Time programs, she discovered fields she might never have otherwise encountered — engineering, architecture, window-making, law, and computer science. Each new experience built her confidence and showed her how wide the world could be. As she grew, she advanced through the Girls Inc. continuum, joining Rising STARS, the leadership program for middle school girls, and later Ambassador Club in high school, where she honed her advocacy skills and deepened her sense of purpose.
From nine through twenty, Anjali says she has been intentionally engaged with new opportunities because of the strong community of women who invested in her growth. Even now, she continues to draw on that network — a safety net of mentors who remind her that exploration and risk are part of becoming strong, smart, and bold. During summer 2024, she completed both a law internship and a music-production fellowship — experiences she credits to her connection with Girls Inc. and the relationships that continue to open doors in her life.
Now a student at Howard University, Anjali is pursuing a double major in Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Humanities (Ancient and Modern) with a concentration in Art, Language, and Archaeology, and a minor in Sociology. Her academic path reflects a mind unafraid to question, connect, and cross boundaries. She is a Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellow, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center Scholar, and Women and Gender in Global Leadership Global Changemakers Student Fellow, distinctions that highlight her intellectual curiosity and commitment to social impact.
From June to July 2025, Anjali served as an intern on the National Science Foundation’s “Exploration of Maya Marketplaces in the Three Rivers Region of Northwestern Belize” project, contributing to the Maax Na Archaeology Project under the leadership of Dr. Eleanor M. King. Her work examined rainforest urbanism, landscape symbolism, and pre-Hispanic Maya economic systems — a rare undergraduate opportunity that deepened her passion for archaeology and the humanities. At her core, Anjali is a thinker, artist, and leader — fascinated by how history, culture, and creativity intersect to shape the human story.
For Anjali, one of the most defining moments of her Girls Inc. experience came not in a classroom, but on a stage. During the Girls Inc. Film Festival, she was invited to speak about her activism and perform on piano — something she had never done publicly before. That single event rekindled her relationship with music and helped her rediscover a part of herself that had been waiting to shine. What began as a nervous performance evolved into a lifelong passion. She began teaching herself jazz piano, interning at a jazz radio station, and composing her own music alongside peers at Howard University. Music, she says, has become one of the most important parts of her identity — a bridge between intellect and emotion, discipline and expression. Her story reminds us that leadership doesn’t always begin in a lab or a lecture hall. Sometimes, it starts with a song — and the courage to share it.
Even as she thrives in college, Anjali remains connected to the mentors and peers who supported her journey. She describes Girls Inc. as both a launching pad and a community that continues to lift her up. The relationships she built over a decade ago remain a source of encouragement and belonging — proof that empowerment is not a moment, but a continuum. For Anjali, those pathways have led from curiosity to courage, from opportunity to impact.
Originally from Southwest Philadelphia, Anjali carries her roots proudly into every space she enters. Her academic and creative pursuits — spanning archaeology, philosophy, Black studies, political economy, and the arts — reflect a deep commitment to understanding how people create, learn, and connect across time and culture. She has grown from a middle-schooler exploring architecture and law through Girls Inc. workshops to a scholar uncovering ancient civilizations and composing her own music. Her leadership, empathy, and intellectual drive represent the heart of the Girls Inc. mission: developing girls who are not only prepared for the future, but ready to shape it.
Anjali embodies what it means to be strong, smart, and bold. She is proof that when girls are encouraged to explore, question, and lead, they rise — and they bring others with them. Her story is a testament to what happens when a community invests in girls’ education and leadership. It’s a reminder that opportunity, mentorship, and belief can change the course of a life — and, through that life, the course of a community.
When you support Girls Inc. of Greater Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey, you invest in the next generation of innovators, leaders, and changemakers. Help us continue to reach more girls — across ten counties and beyond — with programs that ignite curiosity, confidence, and courage.