The Girls Who Print Story…
Founded in 2009 by industry veteran Mary Beth Smith, Girls Who Print is an online community that outgrew its bandwidth and spilled over into real life. Organized as a simple LinkedIn discussion group in 2009, it resonated with women worldwide, and its members now number in the thousands. GWP Nation interacts on LI, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram via the hashtag #GirlsWhoPrint, making it the most popular chat channel in the world for women in the printing industry.
Here’s how MBS describes the early days:
“When I formed Girls Who Print on LinkedIn, I thought that maybe 20 people I knew personally around the country might join up, and we’d chat and gossip about people who WEREN’T in the group or reminisce about printing companies we’d worked for, and just stay connected across the miles and the years. There was no serious purpose or grand plan. It was my hands-on learning attempt at social media for business. By the end of the first week, I was dumbfounded to learn that nearly 100 people had joined, most of whom I did NOT know. I would have to take it a little more seriously – people were WATCHING – yikes!! When we hit 500 members before the month was out, I thought: “Wow! I guess everyone who is going to join has joined – awesome!” I had the same thought regularly over the next several weeks as we grew to 600, then 700, then 1,000. I realized that I had no idea how many Girls Who Print were out there. I accepted that I was just along for the ride.”
And what a ride it’s been…
Now numbering 11,000 members worldwide the GWP community is everywhere! A chance to partner with Deborah Corn’s Print Media Centr for the 2012 Graph Expo sent GWP into overdrive with the observation of the first Girls Who Print Day. This forever forged an alliance between MBS and Deborah that has united industry women around the world by celebrating Girls Who Print Day. Two years later, the GWP Day platform was enhanced by the announcement of the first official GIRLIE Award. The GIRLIE Award is now presented annually to a member who exemplifies the best that GWP brings to the industry and in 2021 we added the Girls Who Print Rising Star Award to our honors. In addition to celebrating and honoring the vital contribution of women to the industry, GWP Day uses this platform to highlight mentoring and education, with an emphasis on connecting women leaders with students and the media. Watch our event replays posted on the site.
The Future of Girls Who Print
GWP and Print Media Centr, merged in 2017 creating the largest network on the planet for women in the Printing and Graphic Communications industry. Our Initiatives increase and enhance opportunities for individual members, small companies, educational institutions, associations, and corporations to be more engaged with each other and the industry. These are golden times for Girls Who Print!
EMPOWER LONG AND PROSPER!
Sponsorship and Press inquiries: Deborah Corn deborah@girlswhoprint.net
