Girl Scouts | Cookies, Careers, and Civic Responsibility
“It may start with a cookie box, but it’s so much more,” said Lynne Fugate. “It teaches them how to speak to adults, how to ask for the sale, how to market the product, present themselves, and work as a team.”
Did you know that about half of all female C-suite executives in the U.S. are former Girl Scouts?
Lynne Fugate is a perfect example. She is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians and has served on the Knoxville City Council for the past five years. Formerly, she was a banking executive for decades, helping invest in businesses and fueling economic growth.
“We think of entrepreneurship as starting a business, but there is an entrepreneurial spirit that a girl gets from being a Girl Scout,” she said.
While Fugate said she’s never started her own ‘business’ per se, she has launched several initiatives in each of her roles where she’s “building something from scratch.” Most prominently, she led the “Nine Counties, One Vision” effort in the early 2000s, which was the largest citizen-driven long-range strategic planning effort in the southeastern United States.
Her career history and role in civic leadership come full circle with her participation in Girl Scouts at a young age. Fugate points back to her troop as being a key motivator in her early childhood.
A girl can enroll in a Girl Scout troop as early as kindergarten. This means that around the age of six, she can begin learning what it’s like to sell a product, make money, and be rewarded for hard work.
“It may start with a cookie box, but it’s so much more,” Fugate explained. “It teaches them how to speak to adults, how to ask for the sale, how to market the product, present themselves, and work as a team.”
She said the cookie booths are often the first indicator of potential future careers. For example, the Girl Scout approaching potential customers likely has an extroverted knack for sales and marketing. The Girl Scout who gravitates to the register is more likely to work in finance or accounting. And the one keeping track of the box inventory could end up in the supply chain or logistics.
Proceeds from the cookie sales go to the local Girl Scout council, which is then re-dispersed among the troops for activities throughout the year. Some of the funds raised go toward camps, staff support, materials, and programming. It also supports the relatively new “community troops” model, which is an after-school program for students who may not have the financial means or proximity to participate in a traditional Girl Scout troop.
Currently in the Knoxville area there are community troops at Western Heights, Sarah Moore Greene, Pond Gap Elementary, Norwood Elementary, the Wesley House, and Freedom Schools ( in the summer).
“The Girl Scout cookie program funds about 75 percent of the council’s budget. So we rely on it to fund most of everything,” she said. “That’s where the teamwork part comes in. We’re all working together to keep Girl Scouts as a broader organization operational.”
Since Fugate began leading the organization nine years ago, cookie sales have changed. What used to be primarily a door-to-door sales effort has now transitioned to include omnichannel marketing. Each girl can set up a website and film a video advertising the cookies. She then can turn to promote the page on social media channels – and with family, friends, office places, and schools.
“It broadens our reach even further than the door-to-door sales. It helps our girls learn digital marketing strategies and experience running e-commerce,” Fugate added, all of which are critical skills in navigating the current business landscape.
See a sample of the digital cookie page by Girl Scout “Dawn” here.
Through entrepreneurship has been a long-time focus of the Girl Scouts model, Fugate believes the organization instills something even deeper in its members: a strong sense of civic responsibility.
“We teach girls civic responsibility. We teach them to serve their community through projects and to be contributing community members, but we also teach them to be patriotic and understand that you have a responsibility to make things better,” she said.
In Fugate’s role in public service, she said collaboration and compromise are at the forefront of her daily responsibilities. She sees the ability to work across divides as an essential life skill, one that Girl Scouts emphasize through community service and leadership.
“I tell people we’re not red or blue, we’re Girl Scout green, and we teach girls that compromise is not a dirty word. Matter of fact, it’s the only way anything ever gets done,” she said.
For Fugate, the entrepreneurial and civic lessons girls learn as Scouts build not only great future leaders but also great future employees.
“If you ever run across any woman that’s been a Girl Scout, she’s probably going to be a great employee,” she said. “She’s learned discipline, goal setting, business ethics, and soft skills with dealing with people—all of which are required in business.”
Girl Scouts, Fugate believes, is building the leaders of tomorrow—young women who will create, innovate, and serve their communities with confidence.
“Yes, we’re building entrepreneurs; yes, we’re building STEM-educated women; yes, we’re fueling creatives. But I think at the core of it, we’re creating good citizens,” Fugate said. “And, that mission is critically important.”
The Girl Scout cookie season runs through March 16, so make sure to support the organization by buying a box!
If your business or organization is interested in sponsoring the Girl Scouts this season, learn more about the “Corporate Gift of Caring” initiative. With six sponsorship level options, the donation will allow the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians to donate cookies to local food banks, local first responders, active-duty military personnel, and/or other nonprofit organizations. Learn more about corporate sponsorships here.
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