How Dana Marlowe Overcame Self-Doubt and Built a Global NGO

The IT professional is the founder of non-profit I Support the Girls, which distributes bras and menstrual products to homeless individuals.

Dana Marlowe / Courtesy of Dana Marlowe

Here at SI Swimsuit, we love nothing more than seeing women thrive. And sometimes, that means encouraging individuals to overcome self-doubt, imposter syndrome or the opinions of others in order to succeed. We recently sat down with social entrepreneur and philanthropist Dana Marlowe, who is all too familiar with pushing through similar feelings.

The founder of I Support the Girls, a non-profit organization that distributes bras and menstrual products to those in need, started her organization with no background in non-profit management. What began with her personally donating 16 bras to a local shelter in Washington, D.C., has grown into a non-profit that has donated more than 34,000,000 products to homeless individuals since it was founded in 2015. Today, the organization has a network of more than 50 affiliate chapters throughout the world that are actively helping to restore dignity to those in need.

Dana Marlowe / Courtesy of Dana Marlowe

Marlowe, who is also the president of Accessibility Partners, a company that makes websites and apps accessible for those with disabilities, says she experienced far more imposter syndrome in her mid-20s as an IT professional in a male-dominated industry than she does today.

“I think I’m willing to take up space particularly for others, because I walk in and I have a lot of privilege,” Marlow explains. “I am a middle class white woman with a roof over my head who does not worry about food insecurity, who has a car and a family, and I recognize I have a lot of privilege. So I’m willing to take up space, not for myself, but for other people who don’t have a seat at the table and bring those people to the table. I think using your voice is a really powerful mechanism for change.”

However, that doesn’t mean Marlowe is unfamiliar to feelings of self-doubt. As a full-time IT professional and mom, fear of the unknown didn’t stop her from jumping into the non-profit space and learning along the way.

I Support the Girls collections / Courtesy of Dana Marlowe

In addition to her own tenacity, having a group of trusted friends and family to bounce ideas off of has also been hugely helpful to Marlowe, so she suggests leaning on community. She urges women who are interested in creating a non-profit to jump right in and start by doing their research. She suggests breaking down an idea into smaller, more approachable chunks and reaching out to those in a similar space for advice to get started.

“ I think self-doubt is a real powerful enemy to trying to move something forward, but I would also be remiss if I didn’t recognize that self-doubt exists,” Marlowe adds. “ ... So how do you get over that? How do you get yourself out of the way? I think that’s the biggest inhibitor of success of an idea, is getting yourself out of the way.”

Learn more about how to help I Support the Girls and the non-profit’s mission of bringing dignity to the homeless population here.

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