All current and former Girl Scout staff are invited to come say hello to old friends or meet the Girl Scout Staff Association (GSSA)! Join us for hot topics and fellowship.

Ring in the new year by connecting with friends and colleagues across the country. Our special guest speaker will be Aariella Houston – part-time Girl Scout staff member, senior Chemistry student at Bennett College and junior Chemical Engineering student at North Carolina A&T State University, and busy entrepreneur serving as both CEO and Creative for Zage Apparel.

Get inspired hearing Aariella’s personal story about the impact Girl Scouts has made on her life and join in lively discussions in work affinity groups. Participants will share best practices around: Product Sales Inventory Control, Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers, Membership Growth, and Camp Staffing.

About Aariella Houston

Aariella is from San Bernardino, CA, and a dual degree student. This honors STEM major is a senior Chemistry student at Bennett College and a junior Chemical Engineering student at North Carolina A&T State University. One of the reasons Aariella selected Bennett was because of their unique opportunity to earn two bachelor’s degrees at the same time and Aariella was awarded the Bennett Presidential scholarship allowing her to pursue this amazing opportunity. Since arriving in Greensboro in 2017, she has been active in several organizations on both A&T and Bennett’s campuses often serving in leadership roles. At Bennett, she has served as President of Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society, Treasurer of the Chemistry Club, Freshman Class Secretary, Public Relations Specialist for Sisters of Service, and the President of the Zeta Xi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. At A&T, she is a member of the Society of Women Engineers and the American Society of Chemical Engineers. While her course work keeps her thoroughly engaged, this is only half of what keeps both sides of Aariella’s brain engaged. She lives out her passion and has been an entrepreneur since 2015 and her business has gained local and national recognition. Aariella is the CEO and Creative for Zage Apparel. She creates original artwork, designs various products, markets her products, oversees her online store & and manages inventory. Her business currently focuses on two things: collegiate apparel; especially for college girls that’s inclusive to all women while being cute and comfortable to wear and building custom apparel for other small businesses. Aariella started her company when she was just 15 working for her local Girl Scout Council, GSSGC, in California and believes without this opportunity she wouldn’t be where she is today. Aariella’s business was so successful last year that she was able to donate nearly $500 in profits to the #StandWithBennett campaign. And over $500 to multiple BLM organizations and causes. Aariella will tell you that being a full-time honors student and running a business is not easy, but she wouldn’t want it any other way. She plans to continue on this path and is currently set to graduate with honors from Bennett and NCAT. She hopes to expand her business enough to run her own physical Custom Apparel store in California. But her major goal is to open a nonprofit STEM center in her hometown so that those underserved in her community have the same opportunities to learn to love and conquer STEM subjects that she had growing up.

The national Girl Scout Staff Association (formerly AGSES) gives our members skills, tools, and connections to achieve their current goals and further their professional growth and advancement. We support ongoing professional development and career direction through learning opportunities, mentoring, and networking. The Girl Scout Staff Association serves as a valuable partner to councils by enhancing their efforts in staff inclusion, development, and retention.