NOVEMBER 2011 GIRL ON TOP OF THE MONTH

FEATURING LAUREN SEGAL-AVENNA

November marks the beginning of the holiday season, also known as a time for giving.  Girl On Top is eager to do our part by featuring the founder of the NextAid charity, Lauren Segal-Avenna, as our November 2011 Girl On Top of the Month.  We are not just featuring Lauren and NextAid, we are donating 10% of all online sales through January 1st, 2012 to the NextAid charity.  So, without further adieu, let’s learn more about Lauren, NextAid, and how we can participate in the vision.  Lauren is the Co-Founder and Director of NextAid, a Los Angeles-based organization supporting sustainable development projects that serve vulnerable youth and women in Africa.  Once inspired by LiveAid (the first global concert for Africa), Lauren later found an ideal niche’ for NextAid by harnessing the power of electronic music and tapping the next generation of potential change-makers.  During NextAid’s seven years, she has coordinated over 100 events, several benefit CD projects and dozens of fundraising campaigns, earning NextAid the role of the leading activist organization in the dance music industry.  Former Girl On Top of the Month, dance music artist DJ Rap, has contributed to the NextAid cause.

LAUREN AND DJ RAP

Lauren also oversees NextAid’s current international development projects that target unemployment in urban Nairobi, Kenya and maternal health in rural Sierra Leone. In addition to managing all sides of NextAid, Lauren is on the advisory board of the Foundation of Sustainability and Innovation and the Coalition for a Sustainable Africa. In 2009, she was honored by the African Goodwill Awards.

NextAid’s empowerment projects benefiting girls and women include a Youth Enterprise and Eco-Construction training at Kawangware Vision Centre, in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya; establishing critical maternal health programs and a Birth Waiting Home for girls and women in Sierra Leone; and supporting free high school education for the most vulnerable adolescent girls in Kenya's Kibera slum. More information about these projects can be downloaded here.

In the final months of this year, NextAid is working hard to fundraise toward the completion of the Kawangware Vision Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Funds raised from the sale of Girl On Top shirts will go toward helping NextAid reach this goal. Learn more here:

http://www.nextaid.org/kawangware.htm

You can also make a greater donation, by clicking the DONATE button below.

Take a moment to watch some informative videos about NextAid and their projects:

General video about NextAid https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150170343211934

Pictures of this Kawangware project and a video created for my nephew’s Kids for Kenya fundraising campaign is here.

Lauren also recommends checking out: http://www.girleffect.org

We encourage everyone to count your blessings.  Don’t let this holiday season pass you by without giving to the less fortunate.  We are very grateful to have the opportunity to give back!

Girl On Top is delighted to feature Lauren Segal-Avenna, founder of the NextAid charity, as our November 2011 Girl On Top of the Month.