“When Jackie Rotman was 14, she had a dream about creating a dance outreach program for underserved youth. Others had told her she was too young to make it happen, but she was determined, and contacted Julie McLeod for help. Julie said, “Let’s go, Jackie!” With Julie’s mentorship and guidance, Jackie created Everybody Dance Now!, an after-school program where teens teach free dance classes to Santa Barbara youth, instilling self-esteem and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
Today, EDN! has its own nonprofit status and offers more than 80 classes per week in 8 cities. EDN! has served more than 20,000 youth across the nation and has offered programs in 25 different cities throughout throughout EDN!’s history. EDN! has been featured on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew. Jackie was highlighted as one of Glamour Magazine’s “Top 10 College Women” and has spoken at TEDx Stanford and other venues. She is a scholarship graduate of Stanford University and has been the Executive Director of Spark, a millennial philanthropic network focused on women and girls’ causes. Jackie is currently a concurrent graduate student obtaining her Masters in Business Administration at Stanford and Masters in Public Administration at Harvard.
Jackie says, “I am so grateful for Julie and her incredible mentorship and friendship. Julie’s mentorship has had an exponential impact, and tens of thousands of students’ lives are now being touched through the work she helped foster.”
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