Today is International Women’s Day, a day celebrating the achievements of women across the globe while also a call to action for greater gender equality. Today as we celebrate the amazingness of women, we wanted to share the story of how two females born at different times and on different continents inspired us to release The Groundbreaking Volcanologist this month. We’re talking about volcanologist Katia Krafft and 5-year-old Ellie.

For us, the story starts in July of 2018. Ellie’s mom, Danielle, emailed us asking if her daughter could send us a letter. We love hearing from subscribers, so we said she could absolutely write to us. To be honest, we were pretty much over the moon at the idea that one of the kiddos who receives our crates wanted to reach out to us. We expected that she wanted to tell us something she’d learned in her latest box about that month’s featured fearless female or share a story about an activity. What we didn’t expect, though, was that Ellie would be the one to introduce us to a fearless female!

Ellie told us the story of Katia Krafft and how her love of volcanoes inspired Ellie. She shared of Katia’s bravery, her resourcefulness, her drive, and more. Then, using her own brave voice, Ellie asked us to do a crate about this amazing woman. It was evident from the letter that this was a woman who’d really touched Ellie’s young life. And that really touched us. Here was a young girl in Arizona whose young life was marked by the life of a woman who’d lived in France, studied volcanoes all over the world, and died before Ellie was even born. Katia’s life and work made an impact on Ellie. And in turn, Ellie’s letter made an impact on us. We wanted to learn more about Katia.

So, I (Kristen) did what I do. I researched. I began to read more about Katia and her life. I watched videos, studied others’ writings about her, and learned about how she not only revolutionized the way we look at and study volcanoes, but also her drive to make sure those living around them were safe and well-educated about their danger. I, too, was thoroughly impressed by Katia Krafft and the legacy she’s left. My research definitely left me wanting to do a crate about this fearless lady.

We plan our crate schedule about a year in advance, so we couldn’t add Katia in to our upcoming rotation. But then, inspiration struck! Every year in October, our anniversary month, we hold a contest asking for crate ideas. The winner’s suggested female is then celebrated during Women’s History Month in March. Instead of a contest for 2019, though, we decided to take Ellie’s suggestion. This is why we’re celebrating Katia Krafft this month. Yes, she should be celebrated because she’s amazing, but we are also celebrating Ellie. She took Katia’s lesson in bravery to heart and asked for what she wanted. She used her voice and we wanted to honor that. It’s such an incredibly powerful lesson for our girls to learn and understand—-their voice matters, it is important, and it has weight. It can make a difference. We wanted to help Ellie to know that her voice matters.

So, there you have it! Though separated by time and distance, two females have brought us to The Groundbreaking Volcanology crate/mini-mailer. Not only are we celebrating Katia, but we’re also celebrating Ellie with an interview with her in this month’s activity book! Subscribe today by March 15 to learn about these two inspiring females!

I guess the takeaway from this and from International Women’s Day is this: girls and women are powerful when they use their voice, gifts, and talents to make our world a better place. Happy International Women’s Day from us at GIRLS CAN! CRATE!

Join the club that celebrates women’s history all year long! Subscribe today at girlscancrate.com.