Outside Greenwich Country Club, it’s a crisp winter evening in a long season of biting Northeastern nights. The valet attendants are racing back and forth from a packed lot. Upon entering the grand clubhouse, the temperature shifts. The buzz from the distant ballroom extends down the hallowed halls as far as the check-in table in the foyer, where young women with impeccable posture direct the guests. They convey warmth and confidence. They do not seem at all out of their element, despite not coming from this privileged world. Maureen Polo, CEO of Hello Sunshine and this evening’s Girls With Impact gala honoree, has lived in Greenwich for 15 years, but she also did not grow up in country club ballrooms.

Hello Sunshine, for those who don’t know (and just think it’s something we hoped to say more often last winter), is the media company founded by Reese Witherspoon, which is devoted to putting women at the center of stories across film (Where the Crawdads Sing), television (The Morning Show, Big Little Lies, Daisy Jones & the Six …), books and podcasts. It is built on the belief that storytelling can change the way women walk through the world.

Girls With Impact, the Greenwich-based nonprofit founded by Jennifer Openshaw to provide business and leadership prep to underprivileged teen girls and women, does that, too.

The new regional board members will help propel GWI’s growth from having prepared 20,000 young women and girls for the workforce to more than 50,000 by 2030 with a focus on its home base of Connecticut and neighboring New York.

“Luani and Loren bring exceptional commitment, energy, and expertise to helping GWI scale its reach and level the playing field for women in business,” said GWI’s Chairman & Founder, Jennifer Openshaw. “Together, we’re making sure every young woman has a chance to reach her potential while building a strong talent pipeline for our communities and America’s future.”

Women often outperform men in leadership effectiveness, they are less likely to identify as leaders. This isn’t just about modesty or impostor syndrome; it’s an invisible misalignment between competence and identity that powerfully skews the leadership landscape.

Seeing oneself as a leader is often a preliminary step to being seen as a leader by others, yet this identification process is more fraught for women than for men, particularly in the workplace.

Greenwich’s most influential women philanthropists gathered over tea to hear how Greenwich-based Girls With Impact is driving change as the non-profit leads the charge nationally on women’s equal opportunity in business.