Katlyn Grasso Visits Campus as Freshman Leader in Residence

2/16/2018

Chatham Hall

On February 13 & 14, Chatham Hall welcomed Katlyn Grasso as the 2018 Freshman Leader in Residence. Grasso is the founder and CEO of GenHERation, a network that connects young women and companies through their digital platform and national events.

In her role as CEO, Grasso has created the GenHERation Summer Leadership Series, developed original GenHERation digital content, and grown the GenHERation community to more than 60,000 members. Grasso is a Seventeen Power Girl and was also named to the magazine’s list of “Real Girls Doing Amazing Things.” Grasso was selected to participate in the 2015 Millennial Trains Project, a cross-country trip for 25 social innovators from around the world sponsored by NBC Universal. During the journey, she was named one of the “5 Innovators to Look Out for on the 2015 Millennial Trains Project” by Innovator’s Peak. After the trip, she was awarded a 2015 Impact Grant from NBC Universal to produce webisodes of the GenHERation Summer Leadership Series 2015 as one of the most innovative, socially-impactful projects that came out of this year’s journey. She was featured on the cover of Philly Biz Magazine as the youngest woman on the “Women to Watch” list. Grasso is a serial entrepreneur who has started two nonprofit organizations, the dance exercise program Tap for Tots, and a technology commercialization venture. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for the Advancement of Girls at the Agnes Irwin School. Grasso is a frequent television and radio contributor and has appeared on CNBC, NBC New York, NBC Washington, D.C., SiriusXM Radio, CBS Radio Los Angeles, and Kiss 104.1. Originally from Hamburg, New York, Grasso is now a bicoastal entrepreneur spending her time between New York City, Philadelphia, and California.

Her time at Chatham Hall was spent connecting with the students, with special workshops with the Freshman Class. Grasso addressed the entire student body with a spirited keynote that focused on the story of the development of GenHERation, emphasized the importance of visibility for women in leadership roles, and actively engaged students with a short “pitch fest” where girls from the audience were given 30 seconds to pitch ideas for social entrepreneurship. Grasso firmly believes that active engagement with young women is a critical facet of leadership development and underscored the importance of women’s visibility via her mantra “if you can see it, you can be it.”

Of her time on campus, Grasso said, “I’ve had such a great time being the Freshman Leader in Residence at Chatham Hall. What has been most striking to me has been spending the one on one time with the girls. They are so curious and engaged, and also very self-reflective. Last night we were going around in a circle, and I asked all the girls to say something they were proud of here, and they said things like, ‘I have used my voice in a very powerful way.’ 'I have defined to myself what it means to be a leader.' I have never heard anybody say that at any school I’ve visited before so I’m just grateful to be here to learn from the girls and I hope that they are able to learn something from me while I’m here.”

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