ChickSpeak

Whether it’s finding the perfect prom dress for a girl that can’t afford one, providing positive advice for girls celebrating their prom or their quinceañeras, fundraising and working towards a tuition-free school in Liberia, or finding ways to continuously assist and empower Liberian youth, Tammy Tibbetts is constantly on the move.Tibbetts is the web editor for MisQuinceMag and DonateMyDress ,but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Along with being the web editor, she is one of the founders of DonateMyDress.org, an organization aimed to help young girls who can’t afford a dress find one. Sound like a lot to take on? We’re not done yet. She’s also the director of the MacDella Cooper Foundation, an international non-profit organization devoted to empowering Liberian youth.

Luckily, she took some time out of her busy schedule to let us know more about her and the organizations she supports as well as offer advice and where she finds inspiration.

ChickSpeak: Tell us more about the MacDella Cooper Foundation. What purpose does it serve? What does it hope to accomplish?

Tammy Tibbetts: MCF is an international non-profit devoted to empowering Liberian youth, especially orphans and abandoned children, by providing education and the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. We’ve grown from an organization that collected and shipped products to war refugees, to one that renovated orphanages and sponsored students’ tuition at local schools and universities. Now, our focus is constructing the first tuition-free academy in post-war Liberia, which will open in 2010.

What I love about MCF is that it’s an inspiring movement of young people donating their time and talents to help the founder MacDella Cooper, who is a Liberian war refugee, give back to Liberia. Liberia is a country of incredible hope — under the leadership of the first democratically elected female president in Africa, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, it is making a strong recovery from the war. Not only do I enjoy working with our volunteer team, but I also love that our fundraisers celebrate fashion with philanthropy, style with substance. Our last two fundraisers, in Manhattan and the Hamptons, both had a fashion show component, celebrating African designers.

CS: What made you get involved? What are your current responsibilities and projects?

TT: When I was a senior journalism major at The College of New Jersey, I had an independent study project for my Interactive Journalism class. I could do a reporting project on any subject, and my professor recommended MacDella Cooper, whom she dubbed “Liberia’s Angel,” as a subject. I met up with MacDella in New York City, where she lives, after my internship at Ladies’ Home Journal, and I interviewed her about her life and mission. When you meet her, her passion and determination completely captivates you. She invited me to join her on her annual December trip to Liberia, where she throws a party for hundreds of orphans on Christmas Day. Once I met the children MCF supports, the rest was history.

At the end of 2008, I became MCF’s director, tasked with helping MacDella and the Board manage all of our projects, structuring our staff of volunteers, and now working with the administers of the Academy on everything from designing the school logo to securing donated books and materials. I’m returning to Liberia this fall for two weeks to orchestrate our groundbreaking ceremony and the set-up of a new Monrovia office.

CS: There’s also Donatemydress.org. What part do you play in it?

TT: DonateMyDress.org is the first national network of local dress drive organizations that collect prom and special occasion dresses to distribute to girls who can’t afford them. I was one of the founders, along with editors from Seventeen.com, CosmoGirl.com and our Public Relations team at Hearst. I now update the site, do media interviews, and maintain relations with our dress donation chapters — we have more than 60 and are continually growing.

CS: What has being an integral part of each organization taught you about yourself?

TT: I’ve learned the truth in what is now one of my favorite quotes, attributed to Margaret Meade: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” The volunteers who surround me, and their devoted leaders — be it a full-time humanitarian like MacDella or a teen juggling her service with schoolwork, a job, and her social life — continually motivate and inspire me. Through them, I’ve learned to become a better leader myself, to delegate tasks to people I trust, rather than try to do it all myself, which was my default reaction before.

CS: There must be so many rewarding moments for all the work you do. What are some of your favorites and why?

TT: Oh my goodness, yes, there are so many! I keep a folder of the heartfelt emails that girls send me when we help them find the perfect prom dress, and those mean the world to me. I also treasure each of the handwritten notes that I see our children in the MCF Program send their sponsors. I appreciate those moments but I don’t rest on them. I keep my focus on the girls who still need our help. And the boys too, especially with MCF — we are a co-ed education program. But for me, outreach to girls is where I want to personally dedicate my extra mile; it’s good to know your niche and strategize how best to use your talents to fill it.

CS: Your career and a lot of your work inspire many young women. Are there any female influences in your life? How have they inspired and influenced you?

TT: Absolutely. Besides MacDella and other strong mentors I have in the magazine and communications industry here in New York, I am perpetually inspired by Ruth Whitney, the legendary editor of Glamour magazine. I won a scholarship from New York Women in Communications in her memory when I was a sophomore in college. I learned she was an editor whose mantra was substance and style, who brought hard-hitting issues to a glamorous fashion magazine, leading Glamour to win an ASME Award, the industry’s highest honor. My life mission is to continue carrying out Ruth’s vision for giving women and girls what they need to feel good about themselves, not just what they are wearing.

CS: Even in your career you’re helping young women! What makes your job so special to you? Did you always planned to have a career aimed at helping others?

TT: If I’ve learned one thing for sure this early on in my life and career, it’s that you can’t follow plans — follow a passion. I always wanted a career that would make me happy, which definitely comes from helping others, but I never envisioned myself as a prom web site editor. Ironically, I didn’t even go to my own prom in high school. If I was who I am today back in high school, I might have been class president, but instead, I was the girl they voted Most Shy, so you never know how a good opportunity will manifest itself. Don’t think of what anyone else expects you to become. Like Audrey Hepburn once said, just do your own thing. I couldn’t tell you where I’ll be in two years, because two years ago, I never saw myself where I am today: reality has exceeded all my expectations. And I believe it always will if you leave yourself open to possibilities. I love that my job has given me the freedom to be entrepreneurial and to explore.

CS: What advice do you have for young women interested in charity work? What’s the best way to get started?

TT: I try not to define my work as charity. Charity can suggest giving handouts, which makes the recipients feel helpless and dependent. A far better model is non-profits that support sustainability and are seen as a partnership among people of all walks of life. Don’t put too much thought into finding a cause — just let it happen organically and find you. Talk to people you enjoy being around and see what they’re involved with. I would have never thought Liberia would be the cause to capture my heart; it was all a matter of meeting MacDella and becoming so connected to her life story and those universal truths in it: the power of strong women, the ability to walk the line between the poor and the privileged, all in the pursuit of one end goal: to empower the next generation of leaders.

CS: You do so much! How to you balance your career, the organizations and a social life?

TT: Good question. There is no one answer, and of course it’s trading little sleep for lots of caffeine. But rituals like running a 5k every morning, picnicking in Central Park with my weekend New York Times, and hosting little themed parties with my best friend and roommate definitely keep me sane. Once a year, she and I also have a tradition of hopping on a plane and taking a totally random, spontaneous weekend trip, which is a blast.

CS: Now that we know about your superhero side, tell us about personal Tammy. What are you currently reading? What music would we find on your I-Pod? What do you do for fun?

TT: Right now, I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. I read lots of non-fiction, usually memoirs. One of my recent favorites was Three Cups of Tea. The top of my iPod playlist is almost always my latest iTunes downloads, so I’ve got some Black Eyed Peas, Rob Thomas, Colbie Calliet and Cobra Starship on there now. I consider both my day job and MCF great fun, but in addition to that I’m launching a blog called “52 Parties” with my roommate.

CS: Pretend you found a genie in the bottle who could grant you three wishes. What would those wishes be?

TT: Fun question!

1. I wish that I could be like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and point my finger at myself to transport myself places. I’d be all over the place! I’m hoping to soon revisit Salamanca, Spain, where I studied abroad in college, but for the next two years, I’m dedicating my big travel trips to Liberia.

2. I wish I had a better memory. I’m horrible at remembering numbers or any sort and names the first time I hear them. I wouldn’t want to be like Jill Price, “the woman who can’t forget” even the bad things, but I would like my mind to be a little more sticky to certain details.

3. I wish for more wishes? I think that’s against the rules. I wish that every teen girl realizes the power she harnesses to grow into a woman who can change the world.

CS: What kinds of accomplishments or new projects can we expect from you in the future? What exciting things will the MacDella Cooper Foundation and Donate My Dress bring next?

TT: Well, for MCF, DonateMyDress.org, and all the prom initiatives over at Hearst Magazines, expect success and growth on epic levels! Next spring, I’ll be celebrating the third Ultimate Prom with a lucky high school in the US, and in the fall, I’ll be with MacDella and our MCF “dream team,” opening the MCF Academy to its first class of students. I’m also launching a media campaign later this year called “She’s the First,” which you can liken to the message of The Girl Effect, mixed in with a strong call to action that drives you to an online directory of schools, including MCF Academy, where you can sponsor a girl’s education, individually or with friends. The message: Give underserved girls worldwide the means to break barriers through education sponsorship. Promote the skills, awareness, and education needed to realize her dream, even if it has never been done before in her family or world history. She can become the first. So can you — what are you the first to do, or what will you be the first to achieve? I’d love to hear.

Tweet it at me! @tammytibbetts