U4U was founded by Ila Panik Marchetta; a native of northern Nevada, prior professional dancer, MBA recipient, entrepreneur & builder.
The concept for U4U came about when Ila was a teen. She had a strategy session with herself to think through ways she could make the most positive impact on the world. She considered politics, business, not for profit & academics as vehicles and she considered children, teens, adults & seniors as targets. Her conclusion was to use business & its ability to quickly and vastly scale to target young ladies.
Teen girls possess such a high level of opportunity to make the world a better place- they go on to lead their communities, families and would greatly benefit the globe through higher representation in organizations & politics. YET teen girls are not being prepared/ positioned/ launched to reach their full potential and deliver the changes our world needs for improved mental health and earth health.
U4U was trial-ed with great success in the UK where 600+ teen girls participated in workshops and activities that were hosted at The Natural History Museum, Dermalogica Lab and the London Institute of Fashion. Publicity was ripe, and celebrities were even involved including 2 MTV hostesses. The trial proved to be a great success not only delivering rich content that better prepared the teens to lead, but also delivering in a way that attracted them, was fun & inspired them to be involved! There was every opportunity to keep building at that time, but Ila was keen on starting U4U in the US. So, the learnings were compiled and U4U got on the plane to land and launch in the US. Timing is everything. And considering how we not only need feminine ‘peace keeping’ in politics & for our planet more than ever, teen girls statistics around mental health are at an all time low.
U4U has been reconfigured to engage online & in person to foster further reach, scalability & tailored impact. The team is already very strong & growing with not only professionals, but also young leaders to ensure a rich & engaging community.
Join us in supporting teen girls through their challenges and toward their fullest potential!!