For many Americans, Girls Scout cookie season means rushing to buy boxes of delicious treats. But for the Girl Scouts themselves, it means so much more than helping to satisfy an annual craving.
During cookie season, as Girl Scouts are planning, selling, taking orders, distributing and delivering, they’re also gaining fundamental knowledge in economics, entrepreneurship, people skills, the value of hard work and more.
Whether it’s the cookie program or one of the other many community activities in which they are involved, these Girl Scout “Cookie CEOs” are learning the value of goal setting, decision-making, money management and business ethics. All these are a part of what makes the Girl Scout experience so unique and particularly important in setting girls up for lifelong achievement.
“Girl Scouts gives girls the tools to fuel their ambition and build skills, confidence and experience,” said Dawn Prasifka, Girl Scouts — Diamonds president and CEO.
Lifelong learning and achievement are the foundation of the organization, and many successful leaders — CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs — got their start as Girl Scouts.
On the pages that follow, we’ll meet five Arkansas leaders who represent Today’s Cookie CEOs. These women serve as strong examples to young girls of the role Girl Scouts and its many programs can have in their future successes.
Dequeshia Prude-Wheeler
Attorney at Law
Prude Legacy Law Group
What lessons from your Girl Scout days do you incorporate as a woman leader today?
As a Girl Scout, I was introduced to girls from all different backgrounds and learned very early how to connect with others. I have always been introverted, so being a Girl Scout helped me to step out of my comfort zone and be okay with doing things that make me uncomfortable.
In what specific ways does participation in Girl Scouts foster and develop leadership traits?
Being a Girl Scout instills confidence in you that gives you the courage to speak with authority when leading. I can recall working in small groups with my troop several times and taking the initiative to lead an activity. Those skills have very easily translated into my law firm, where I lead team members every day.
What is your favorite memory as a Girl Scout?
Earning new badges! I am very competitive, so I wanted to get as many badges as I could and collect more than any other Girl Scouts in my troop.
Dequeshia’s Favorite Cookie: Trefoil
Michelle Van Schenck
Executive Director,
Total Rewards
Arvest Bank
What lessons from your Girl Scout days do you incorporate as a woman leader today?
As a woman leader in these unprecedented times, I think it is important to focus on resilience and kindness. I also seek out mentorships to support young women joining the workforce and to pass on these lessons.
I was never afraid to interview for a job, as I had the confidence and experience in achieving my goals from Girl Scouting. If I didn’t get the position, I had the perseverance and resourcefulness to seek out an even better opportunity. Never be afraid to try; you just might get everything you worked for!
In what specific ways does participation in Girl Scouts foster and develop leadership traits?
Girl Scouts places girls in positions to become self-sufficient, take initiative, set goals and work with a team. It gives them the freedom to grow their personal strengths, try new things and find their passions and causes. I love that Girls Scouts is “girl-led.” This fosters open-mindedness, consideration of the opinions of others, teaches girls to speak up because their opinion matters and supports leadership opportunities in a safe environment.
Girl Scouts provides experiences with goal setting, time and money management, project management, learning to deal with difficult and unexpected situations, emergency preparedness and risk management, sustainability, working with diverse people as well as respecting and appreciating different cultures and supporting ethical leadership and inclusion. Girl Scouting can tick all the boxes you are looking for in business leadership and management.
What is your favorite memory as a Girl Scout?
It is so hard to pick just one. I had such wonderful experiences getting to travel on Wider Op adventures to Michigan and Alabama, paging at the Oklahoma State Senate and House of Representatives, studying about Egypt and Russia on World Thinking Day, summers at camp as a camper and as a counselor, singing songs around the campfire, lifeguarding, water-skiing, camping… the list goes on. All experiences that I had from Girl Scouts. It’s all about having fun, learning life lessons and meeting people who became life-long friends.
Michelle’s Favorite Cookie: Toffee-tastic
Cathy Owen
Chairman, President & CEO,
State Holding Company
Chairman, Eagle Bank and Trust Company
What lessons from your Girl Scout days do you incorporate as a woman leader today?
A lot of life skills are learned when you work as a group with goals. It is similar to playing sports and other group activities. It is not only about working to achieve a goal, but also about learning to work together to achieve the goal within the allotted timeframe.
Girl Scouting taught us when to listen, when to act and when to encourage and help others, along with the sense of fulfillment that comes from exercising a combination of these powerful tools. More importantly, this sense of fulfillment empowered us and gave us confidence to believe in ourselves to achieve future successes.
My participation in Girl Scouts started with Brownies and continued into high school. I believed in Girl Scouting enough that I encouraged our daughter to get involved, and she went on to obtain her Gold Award. I served as her troop cookie mom for nine years.
In what specific ways does participation in Girl Scouts foster and develop leadership traits?
The Girl Scout cookie program helped nurture a sense of business in me. It certainly fostered sales, marketing and organizational skills at an early age. Through the years, I learned to file away my cookie order forms each year so that I was certain to contact next year those who had purchased cookies in the current year.
We learned the importance of relationship building, creativity and decision making in order to achieve our goals. We also learned we wouldn’t gain the respect and trust of others without exhibiting dependability and integrity.
What is your favorite memory as a Girl Scout?
I recall making Bunsen burners in coffee cans, decorative Christmas trees from Reader’s Digest magazines, learning to knit, going camping, singing at nursing homes, whittling a stick with a pocketknife and learning to put soap on the bottom of pans to make them easier to clean after cooking over a fire. More than anything, I recall my wonderful Girl Scout leader and having a lot of fun with the other Girl Scouts, who were also my classmates. We would walk from school to our leader’s home, where she and her family hosted most of our meetings on their large front covered patio. I also loved earning badges, which my mother sewed on my sash and I wore proudly.
Cathy’s Favorite Cookie: Do-si-dos
Ebonye Green
Lead APP for Inpatient Neuroscience Service Line
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
What lessons from your Girl Scout days do you incorporate as a woman leader today?
Empowered decision making, tenacity, perseverance and self-confidence. There were multiple times that being a Girl Scout taught me that you can accomplish anything in the world if you work hard and set your mind to it. This was so important to hear as a young girl. Every activity you participated in, every badge you earned, reminded you that you are an intelligent and capable young girl. Bettering my community while bettering myself in the process was one of the most empowering experiences as a youth.
In what specific ways does participation in Girl Scouts foster and develop leadership traits?
Being a Girl Scout teaches you how to be an upright citizen, of not only your country but of the world, and an example of dignity and altruism to the entire community. It teaches you that it costs nothing to be a genuine, caring person and that in the long run you would love yourself more for doing so. The morals and values that are instilled upon you early on are irreplaceable. You not only learn how important it is to have respect for yourself, but also for your peers and higher-ups.
Showing everybody a certain level of courtesy is one of the first lessons taught in Girl Scouting, and it remains one of the most valuable. Being polite and complaisant is another lesson you can attribute to Girl Scouting. One of the most important lessons you will take away from being a Girl Scout is how to be a true friend. Some of my closest friends are the ones who were a part of my Girl Scout experience. There’s such a comfort in knowing that you have life-long friends to turn to always, no matter how far away you might be from each other or how long it’s been since you last spoke. There is no greater gift in this world than true friendship.
What is your favorite memory as a Girl Scout?
I have two! My troop was always compared to the movie, Troop Beverly Hills. So, more glamping than camping. We would always take trips with the money raised from our cookie sales. One year we went to Washington, D.C., and went sightseeing, shopping and, of course, swimming in the hotel pool!
My second favorite memory is from my one of my International Wider Opportunities (Now called Destinations) to Denmark to attend Blu Somer (Blue Summer) Camp. I spent a summer in Denmark with a host Scout family and attended a wilderness camp, where we built living quarters out of logs and made hammocks and dug holes to keep our food cool. It was a great experience that I reflect on frequently.
Every girl should be given the opportunity to be a Girl Scout and learn lessons that will shape her into who they are today, tomorrow and for a lifetime.
Ebonye’s Favorite Cookie: Thin Mints (frozen)
Anna Dickinson
Owner and Lead Designer
PERCEPTION by Anna Dickinson
What lessons from your Girl Scout days do you incorporate as a woman leader today?
The Girl Scout motto is “Be prepared.” In the 1947 Girl Scout Handbook, the motto was explained this way: “A Girl Scout is ready to help out wherever she is needed. Willingness to serve is not enough; you must know how to do the job well, even in an emergency.”
I am always overly prepared these days, due to my Girl Scout experience.
In what specific ways does participation in Girl Scouts foster and develop leadership traits?
Try new things; be yourself; be prepared; change the world. These are the things that Girl Scouts taught me. All of these things go into play in my adult life and my career. There is never an obstacle too big to take on. Especially trying new things… the sole reason I have a successful company.
What is your favorite memory as a Girl Scout?
I remember getting together with friends and making arts and crafts. It was always the highlight of our meetings!
Anna’s Favorite Cookie: Samoas
