UCF History grad Lindsey Turnbull is selected for this year’s 30 Under 30 Award. The award recognizes alumni making significant impacts within their professions and communities while still in the early stages of their careers.
“This year’s 30 under 30 class is a group of trailblazing young alumni,” said Mike Kilbride, chair of UCF’s Young Alumni Council.
Turnbull was chosen for her advocacy and founding of MissHeard Media. The organization provides young girls with a space to discover their own voices and develop important life skills through workshops and magazine publications that cover topics relevant to young women.
One of the main focuses of the MissHeard workshops is to foster empowered, girl-positive communities by encouraging empathy. The organization’s magazine acts as an extension of that mission by addressing issues submitted by its teenage readers like body positivity and maintaining parental relationships. One of Turnbull’s most pressing goals is to allow young girls to realize their full potential and help recreate the narrative for women that is often negative.
“I always wanted to work with teenage girls,” said Turnbull. “They’re often portrayed as frivolous, silly and catty and not the deep, curious, bright and wonderful people that they are.”
Huffington Post featured Turnbull in a 2015 article highlighting four organizations working to change the global narrative for women. MissHeard aims to expose teenage girls to meaningful community that also develops their potential.
In addition to her advocacy through MissHeard, Turnbull has also worked to empower young girls through speaking engagements with numerous schools and organizations. Her message of empowerment and confidence has helped to facilitate personal growth in a number of students across the country.
She began working with girls through the Young Women Leaders Program during her time at UCF. It was while working on her Master’s degree that Turnbull began to discover that women have played a significant role throughout American history. It was the first time she was exposed to a history that was inclusive, which Turnbull says is the case for most women. Many of the girls Turnbull worked with began to express an interest in learning more about women and their contributions, but weren’t being taught in school.
“I thought it would be so cool if girls could see themselves in History,” said Turnbull. “Girls should get to meet these women before grad school.”
While her leadership skills play a crucial role throughout her workshop experiences, she says that the skills she learned while working on her Master’s in Public History have been a crucial foundation throughout her work and ability to better appreciate the significance of different perspectives.
“What I learned in the History Department really helped me. Learning how to research was so important,” said Turnbull. “Working on my thesis helped me to better understand how other people’s lives look different than mine.”
In addition to taking MissHeard workshops across the country, Turnbull also has her eyes on other projects aimed at empowering young women. She hopes to use MissHeard to train other adults who plan to work with teenagers while better equipping leaders who already do. Turnbull says that if she can share what’s she’s learned with other people who have the same heart for young people, then everyone is better as a result.
To find out more about MissHeard publications, live events and more, visit: https://missheardmedia.com