Around Town

‘Shine On’: New Canaan Mother-Daughter Found Scholarship Program at LiveGirl

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Libby O’Hare, a 2016 New Canaan High School graduate, truly discovered local nonprofit organization LiveGirl through her mother, Claire. 

Owner of her own fine handmade jewelry business based in New Canaan, Claire O’Hare had sponsored one of the organization’s annual “Impact Scholarships” through the business. And even after she sold the company, Claire O’Hare continued to support the scholarship program. Then last year, inspired by the work of LiveGirl and the young women involved in the organization, Claire O’Hare brought her older daughter in to learn more about it. For Libby O’Hare, who lives and works in New York City for Meta, what followed made an indelible impression. She attended a LiveGirl Impact Scholarship awards event with a friend and fellow Bucknell University graduate. 

“And then when my mom left the awards ceremony and she was like, ‘I want to do more and I want to do this together,’ it was just a perfect opportunity to tap into my network and ask if they wanted to be involved,” Libby O’Hare recalled. “And it just shaped really organically.”

What they developed—working with LiveGirl founder, CEO and Chairwoman Sheri West— was the “Shine On Women’s Giving Circle.” Led by an executive committee headed by Libby O’Hare and populated with her own friends from New Canaan and college, the Giving Circle raises funds for scholarships that support talented and historically underrepresented young women.