The Girl Scouts' Woman

Sylvia Acevedo is a former entrepreneur and NASA rocket scientist. Now, as CEO of the Girl Scouts, the lifelong member wants every girl to know how to access—and create—opportunity.

- Stephanie Schomer

Sylvia Acevedo is used to being the only woman in the room. The engineer and rocket scientist spent the bulk of her career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, along with stints at Dell and IBM, but she never doubted herself in those rarefied settings. That’s something she credits to lessons learned at a very young age, taught by passionate leaders at the Girl Scouts. Now, as the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, she’s working to increase and expand STEM activities among members, improve outreach to minority communities, and build strategic partnerships that will help set up Girl Scouts to become the entrepreneurs of the future, long after they’ve sold their last box of Samoas.

You joined the Girl Scouts when you were 7, and the organization clearly left a lasting impression. What felt so special about it at the time? 

I grew up in rural New Mexico. Girls like me weren’t really getting into science and math. On a Girl Scouts camping trip, my troop leader saw me looking at the stars and explained constellations and systems. Before, I just saw twinkly lights. She later encouraged me to earn a badge in science, which required you to make a model rocket. It took me several tries before I got that rocket to launch, but it was so informative because it didn’t just teach me about trial and error; it taught me that I was good at science and, more important, that I liked it.

How did the organization teach you to harness that interest and talent?