LSU’s chapter of the Smart Girls Group has one goal in mind for its second semester on campus — recruit and empower LSU women.
The Smart Girls Group is a national organization focused on empowering and inspiring ambitious women and girls, according to the group’s website. It was founded by Emily Raleigh in January 2012 after she created a digital magazine, the “Smart Girls Guide,” to help her little sister through high school.
Biological engineering senior Amy Braud founded the chapter after Raleigh, a family friend, contacted her about sharing the guide with smart women at LSU. Braud enlisted her two friends, biological engineering senior Alicia Pierse and mechanical engineering senior Gabby Triche, to get the group up and running.
LSU’s chapter began in January, though it held only one meeting near the end of the spring semester. This semester, however, the women are holding regular meetings in Middleton Library.
“Back then, in 2012, it was a very new and very small company,” Braud said. “It has grown so much. The process through LSU took a really long time, but we’re here in 2015 getting things going.”
Triche said she loved the idea of an LSU chapter when Braud brought the idea up. The club is still growing, but it will eventually evolve into a mentee-mentor program where older members will advise new recruits and teach them the ins and outs of campus, Triche said.
The national organization has more than 20 chapters across the country, according to its website. The program is broken into three key tenets called “pillars”: seminar, service and sisterhood.
The LSU chapter currently has about 20 women signed up, Braud said. When it gets more members, Braud says it plans to hold philanthropy events and sisterhood functions. The organization’s philanthropy, She’s the First, provides scholarships to women in low-income countries to facilitate first-generation graduates.
Braud said a normal meeting will focus on ways to prepare younger members for life, such as advice on dressing professionally or building a resumé. At the end of their meetings, they will give tips on living around campus, such as the best places to eat.
“We not only want to foster girls to succeed after college but also give them how-tos and tips on how to survive in college,” Triche said. “It’s all about fostering these girls to succeed in college and then eventually go out and become leaders in their career.”
Triche said the word “smart” in the group’s name does not just stand for “school smarts,” but for any young woman who wants to succeed. Many of the women were looking for something to do and a way to get involved on campus, Braud said.
“It’s a great organization to get started in,” Braud said.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Emily Brauner

University biological engineering senior Alicia Pierse (left), mechanical engineering senior Gabby Triche (middle), and biological engineering senior Amy Braud (right) lead a new organization on campus, Smart Girls Group, created to unite, empower and inspire ambitious females.