Freakonomics Radio

What Do Nancy Pelosi, Taylor Swift, and Serena Williams Have in Common?

They — along with a great many other high-achieving women — were all once Girl Scouts. So was Sylvia Acevedo. Raised in a poor, immigrant family, she was told that “girls like her” didn’t go to college. But she did, and then became a rocket scientist and tech executive. Now she’s C.E.O. of the very organization she credits with shaping her life. Acevedo tells us how the Girl Scouts are trying to stay relevant, why they’re suing the Boy Scouts, and how they sell so many cookies.

Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Girl Scouts of the USA

What do Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have in common? All three female secretaries of state — Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, and Madeleine Albright — have this same thing in common, too. Also Taylor Swift, Meghan Markle, and Queen Latifah. Melinda Gates, Venus and Serena Williams, and nearly every female astronaut who’s ever been in space.

All these women were once Girl Scouts.