Union County high school students start nonprofit to empower girls to become future leaders

WAXHAW, N.C. (WBTV) - Two Union County high school seniors who created a nonprofit to help young girls build leadership and entrepreneurship skills are now expanding the organization worldwide.

Starting Girls With Power

Ria Vaishnav and Eleri Pratiknjo co-founded Girls With Power in May 2025, when they were sophomores at Marvin Ridge High School in Waxhaw.

“Our mission was really to get more girls involved in leadership where they didn’t have people who maybe believed in them or confidence in themselves,” said Vaishnav, co-founder and project manager of the organization.

Pratiknjo, also a co-founder and operations manager, said the pair saw an opportunity to provide mentorship to young girls.

“We just saw some gaps in our community where girls were kind of struggling to find leadership or find role models that they could see in careers, in leadership, in business,” Pratiknjo said. “And so we wanted to be able to work with young girls in the community to bring that to them.”

Workshops and scholarships

The teens host interactive workshops for elementary, middle, and high school girls to help them build confidence, find purpose, and gain new experiences.

Pratiknjo said one workshop had girls make vision boards to set goals about their futures.

“We also brought in some guest speakers from passion-driven careers and different entrepreneurial women to get them to speak to the young girls in our local area,” Pratiknjo said.

Vaishnav said meeting the girls in person is a key part of the work.

“It’s really great that we’re able to actually meet with them and connect with them face to face and help them see their potential and what they can do if they put in the work and see all those opportunities right now,” Vaishnav said. “I think it’s really important, especially for girls, just considering the past, like social structures and things like that. It’s really important for us that girls are going to be financially independent in the future and be able to lead other people and have confidence in themselves to be able to go out and do those things.”

The organization also offers $500 Future Leaders Scholarships to young women pursuing higher education or leadership roles.

Global growth

The founders said the organization has grown from a few teens in North Carolina into a global mission with more than 40 chapters of Girls With Power worldwide, according to the group’s website.

“We also do have an ambassador program with over 200 girls from all over the globe, and they really focus on mentorship,” Vaishnav said.

Pratiknjo said working with the girls has affected the founders as well.

“I think we definitely have an immense sense of pride from doing that,” Pratiknjo said. “Just being able to work with girls face to face and even being able to see their transformation or their growth and confidence within one workshop. It’s very empowering for us as well.”

How to get involved

Girls With Power is looking for more students to participate in the workshops or to volunteer. More information is available here.