Welcome to Our Smart Girl Stories Journey!
A note from Hannah & A note from Dad
Hi, I’m Hannah!
Welcome to Smart Girl Stories!
I founded Smart Girl Stories in 2020 when I was just 11 years old, with my father’s help. When the pandemic hit, I wanted to do something to help other girls like myself who were separated from friends and family and looking for inspiration. I made this website where girls can connect with like-minded girls who want to make a difference. We can share our stories, learn from each other, and support each other as we work together to improve the world.
Hearing these stories inspires young girls to achieve great things themselves. I love learning about people throughout history who have made a difference in the world, and I am excited to share my knowledge with you on Smart Girl Stories!
I enjoy playing the piano in my spare time and am currently learning to speak Spanish. I also love riding horses and playing soccer with my teammates. On weekends, you can usually catch me reading or watching movies about inspirational female figures or hanging out with my fellow smart girls.
I would love it if you would join me and some of my amazing writers on my quest and follow Smart Girl Stories by adding a bookmark to my website. If you have any questions on our site, please contact me here, and if you’d like to submit your own smart girl story, please contact me here.
Thanks for stopping by Smart Girl Stories, and don’t forget to like us on Instagram!
Hi, I’m Dad – Neil Fennessey.
I remember the day vividly. There was so much leading up to that moment, with Hannah sitting on the stairs in our village home in Skaneateles. It was late winter, and we were both mentally exhausted from all the drama in our lives. We’d baked everything, and she was just lost. I said, “You have to do something; learn how to code.”
As someone with 30 years in technology, you want your child to jump up in the air and high-five you, saying, “YES, I WANT TO LEARN PYTHON DAD, TEACH ME PYTHON.”
That didn’t happen.
“No, I hate computers,” she replied.
I collapsed onto the floor, pounding the oak with my fists, screaming “why me, why me, where did I fail my child. But stem…stem, the future is in the stem.”
Kidding. There’s a massive push now for the humanities. Who knew?
“Okay, well….you love to read, why don’t you blog?”.
“About what.”
“I don’t know, you read about all those women in the books I buy, go blog about them or something. Do like a female role model thing”.
These words will be immortalized in digital stone – do a female role model thing. And so she started her journey into blogging.
In early 2023, Hannah was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. One requirement was to volunteer with a local non-profit. Hannah and I donate a lot to the Vera House and other dv and children’s advocacy programs because its mission is near and dear to our hearts, as we are both survivors. But volunteering isn’t necessarily allowed.
Hannah needed an outlet for volunteering, so we started bouncing ideas around. I suggested blogging about someone at a Non-Profit. She thought about it and came up with the idea of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. And we had our first partner!
With the site’s content growth, Hannah became more creative in her promotions. We pushed our stories more on Facebook and Instagram. One day, one of our posts locked down a thousand likes and 100 followers in Kenya. At that point, we knew we had something.
With the demands of high school upon her, she knew that it was time to bring on board more and more writers. We opened the site in February to advocates, guest bloggers, and pr agencies. And so far so good.
