Meredith Walker

Meredith Walker is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, the online community dedicated to helping young people cultivate their authentic selves. Since its inception in 2007, the organization’s website and YouTube channel have become destinations for inclusiveness, positivity, intelligence, and imagination. Walker travels near and far to promote the mission of Smart Girls, from serving as the journalism envoy for the U.S. State Department Bureau of Culture and Education’s mission to spending time at the Al Za’atari and Emirates Refugee Camps, to visiting remote primary-care clinics on delegations to Haiti and Malawi.

Walker began her television career under the mentorship of legendary journalist Linda Ellerbee at Nick News. As a producer of that show, she traveled the United States interviewing kids for the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series. The experience became the foundation of her deepening interest in the lives of young people. She went on to serve as the head of the Talent Department for Saturday Night Live, where she quickly became close friends with Poehler. The two later joined forces to create Smart Girls, the result of their shared vision of an online community that encourages and celebrates girls who are experiencing adolescence.

As co-creator and Executive Director of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, Walker has researched the lives of girls and learned first-hand what it takes for young people to actively participate in their own evolution. Walker’s experience on the front lines of female adolescence positioned her as an established expert in advocacy and a trusted authority on the lives of girls.

She was invited by the Obama White House to host the White House Champions of Change for Computer Science Education; to speak at the Obama White House: Breaking Down Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Media Summit, and to serve as the Journalism Envoy for the Obama Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs leading storytelling workshops at the Al Za’atari and Emirates Refugee Camps for Syrian girls and women in Jordan. Walker spoke about revolutionizing gender norms at the United State of Women Summit and at the UN Women Global Innovation Forum in addition to speaking on the subject of women in the media and online harassment at SXSW Interactive and Body Image and Gender for SXSWEdu. She has given keynote speeches and directed workshops for women of all ages at conferences and symposiums across the country.

Her appointments include the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders Advisory Council, the Common Sense Advisory Board for Gender Equality, the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change (GICC), and the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance.

She currently lives in Austin, Texas.