Foundation For Girls

Shreya co-founded Foundation For Girls (FFG) with her sister in 2014. Encouraged by her parents to find a way to give back to their community, Shreya discovered that Charlotte, North Carolina, suffered from a serious lack of community resources for young women and single mothers despite being the second largest banking hub in the US. The same year FFG was founded, Charlotte was ranked last for economic mobility out of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country. FFG seeks to address this problem by helping vulnerable young women develop the knowledge and skills they need to begin a process of multi-generational change.

Shreya found the 2019 One Young World Summit in London to be one of the most impactful experiences of her life, and the One Young World Community has become a useful sounding board for her work irrespective of the direction it takes. FFG has developed a strong network of coaches, consisting of young women executives who are committed to investing in the programme long-term. As a partner-based organisation, FFG does not have a physical site of its own but has grown rapidly through word of mouth and now has a presence in 9 US states.

Since its founding, FFG has worked directly with 2,500 mothers and 466 children. Its work focuses on holistic economic empowerment, giving these women the knowledge and behavioural patterns they need to make the best decisions possible for themselves and their dependents. FFG’s 4-pillar programming in Financial Well-Being, Career Journey, Digitally Forward, and Circle of Care equips women with the resources they need on their journey to economic mobility. In 2021 alone, FFG invested in 207 women and 99 children via 3,510 coaching hours, 6,903 care hours, and 12,702 care packs. Through knowledge transmission, FFG builds economic resilience in communities across the US.

"The diversity of thought and leadership and how people approach situations was a huge learning for me at One Young World. It’s always in the back of my mind that One Young World is there as a resource and as a Community, and it's really comforting to know we have support like that."