#push girl

Born without a fibula in her right foot, basketball and volleyball champ Katie Holloway became an amputee before turning two … and discovered her love for sports soon after. Recruited by Cal State Northridge for her talent at shooting hoo

Alice Walker sees the world differently, and not just because a childhood accident left her blind in one eye. This civil rights firebrand and talented novelist is famous for penning “The Color Purple”, but she’s also focused on pushing over the status quo, one prejudice at a time. Read her work, and you’ll get true Push Girl inspiration.

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This sharp-witted lawyer, activist and writer, Harriet McBryde Johnson, once described herself as a “disabled, liberal, atheistic Democrat,” but like any Push Girl, her incredible achievements defied categorization. As a very public face of the disability rights movement, she regularly blew minds and challenged assumptions - helping people to get their Social Security, standing up for Congress in the public battle over Terry Schiavo, and speaking up against the “pity based tactics” of certain charity organizations. This wheelchair using Push Girl may be gone, but her fire still burns bright! 

Tell your friend she’s got a little Harriet in her. Reblog now to give her a little push.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevitch would just be another three punk rockers playing to small crowds if it weren’t for a little thing called Free Speech. These three members of a Russian protest band called Pussy Riot have become international symbols in the fight against repression. Just sentenced to two years in a labor camp for criticizing the government, these women have never given up on their beliefs. And they have done it all with their own unique style. For taking the Push Girl revolution to Red Square, for speaking up where others remain silent, and for making the balaclava the must-have fashion accessory of the season … we proudly join you with our fists in the air.

Rosa Parks proved that sitting down can be a stand-up statement. While history may depict her famous refusal to get up from her bus seat as a spontaneous protest, this incredible woman had activist credentials that stretched well beyond. But, it was her famous 1955 act of civil disobedience that became a watershed event in civil rights activism and forever changed America for the better. It is for this uncompromising spirit in the face of repression that Rosa Parks takes her rightful seat in the Push Girl Hall of Fame. 

Josephine Baker was a singer, dancer, spy, activist, paragon of beauty, and member of social circles that included luminaries like Langston Hughes, Pablo Picasso, and Ernest Hemingway. Not bad, eh? She wowed audiences in her adopted France, worked for the resistance in the WWII, and returned back to the States to integrate concert halls and fight in the civil rights movement. If you think she sounds like a busy lady, wait until you hear about her 12 kids! This Push Girl was simply amazing.

Tell your friend she’s got a little Josephine Baker in her. Reblog now to give her a little push.

We love the Olympics not only for the amazing feats of athleticism on display but also for the personal triumphs over adversity that bring the athletes to the games. Wilma Rudolph is a legend for both. At just age 16, she won a bronze medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and then took home 3 golds four years later in Rome. But even to compete at all was a victory for Rudolph. A sickly child, she survived premature birth, whooping cough, chicken pox, scarlet fever, measles, and infantile paralysis caused by the polio virus. Who knew this girl with a brace on her twisted leg would become the fastest woman in the world and an international star? 

Tell your friend she’s got a little Wilma Rudolph in her. Reblog now to give her a little push.

Love, money, and sex … Helen Gurley Brown saw no reason why a modern woman couldn’t have all three. In fact, she had some pointed advice on how to get them. As editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Gurley Brown forwarded the sexual revolution and helped many women redefine their lives on their own terms – just as she did going from ad agency secretary to one of the nation’s highest paid copywriters to the guiding force behind Cosmo. Unafraid to take a stand and a champion of progress and innovation, Helen Gurley Brown made being a Push Girl a way of life. And on her death, we celebrate the confidence, style, and intelligence she inspired in us all.

Tell your friend she’s got a little Helen Gurley Brown in her. Reblog now to give her a little push.

What happens when you combine a once-in-a-lifetime voice with an unstoppable, uplifting spirit? Well, that’s easy … you get Joan Baez. Since 1959 Joan’s music has been heard around the globe - pushing for social change, inspiring the down

When Kayla Harrison stood on the podium to accept Team USA’s first gold medal in judo, you wouldn’t have guessed that this Olympian - who so easily dispatched her opponents - had even greater personal obstacle to overcome. Molested by her c

Actress Sally Field won an Oscar for her portrayal of this textile factory worker who spun her belief in workers’ rights into forming a union…much to the chagrin of her higher-ups. Norma Rae was based on a real person–union organizer Crystal Lee Sutton, who agitated for better working conditions for her fellow workers at the J.P. Stevens textile plant in North Carolina during the 1970s. Sutton’s fictional counterpart introduced the worker’s rights cause to moviegoing audiences across the United States, and “Norma Rae” remains a classic underdog story interwoven with a timeless social message.

Nick Vukicic doesn’t need limbs to show the world what he’s made of, which is why he’s our first honorary “Push Guy” in the Hall of Fame. Born with a rare condition called tetra-amelia syndrome that left him without arms or legs, Nick defie

It takes a lot for a woman to push all the way to the top in a male-dominated industry like rap. Her 1994 Grammy Award winning song “U.N.I.T.Y.” reminded listeners that “I bring wrath to those who disrespect me like a dame.” She empowers women and girls with her music and life story, helping them take the reins in their own hands. She also supports charities like HIV/AIDS groups and women’s organi

Some push girls rise from the bottom, and some lead the way from the top. Born into privilege, never saw her station in life as anything but a platform to help others. Completely redefining the role of First Lady, she pushed for civil and

Sandra Day O’Connor pushed through the highest legal barriers when she became the first woman on the Supreme Court in 1981. And she continued to don the robes of justice for 25 more years - even working through a 1988 breast cancer diagnosis. This conservative judge with a steel-trap mind participated in some key legal decisions of the 20th and 21st centuries - blazing her own path amidst the push and pull of politics. After stepping down from the bench, she kept right on at it, famously noting: “I need to retire from retirement.”

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Erin Brockovich fought The Man … and won. A lack of legal education or training didn’t stop her from successfully taking down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in court – which goes to show you just how far you can go when you believe 

Being a double-amputee hasn’t held Jessica Long back. This splashy athlete’s swimming skills have propelled her to over 20 Paralympic gold medals since her debut in 2004 (plus just a little ol’ thing called the ESPY). This freestyling Push Girl has made waves both in and out of the Paralympic sports world, and for that, we take our (swimming) caps off to her.

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Bullet through the sleeve? No problem for this push girl nicknamed “The Angel of the Battlefield”. Clara Barton led a life that few others can match. She founded a school, held government posts in a male dominated era, fought for women’s suffrage, pushed for civil rights, bravely risked her life in giving medical treatment to soldiers, consulted foreign governments, and founded the American Red Cross. Phew! We’re tired just writing all that. Clara Barton, we dub you a Push Girl.

Tell your friend she’s got a little Clara Barton in her. Reblog now to give her a little push.

Movie studios may be able to manufacture stars, but they can’t manufacture what it takes to be a push girl. When Demi Lovato sought treatment for eating disorders and cutting, therapists also discovered she suffers from bipolar disorder. But while most starlets would attempt to cover this up, Demi has shared her troubles with the world in a very raw, honest way. And she didn’t let her problems derail the debut of her album “Unbroken” in Billboard’s top five. Maybe her next feat will be to sing a Push Girl anthem.

Tell your friend she’s got a little Demi Lovato in her. Reblog now to give her a little push.