Our Courageous Beginnings
What Would You Do If You Were 1% More Courageous?
InHerShoes is a product of many fearful moments culminating in one courageous action
that becomes the tipping point for a whole new world of possibility.
Our Founder
Judith Martinez is an intersectional social impact advocate mobilizing girls, women, and their allies to live beyond fear and redefine their futures through one question: what would you do if you were 1% more courageous? Founder of InHerShoes, the modern woman's community for courage, Judith is redefining traditional standards of what it looks like to be a successful woman today.
Starting as a "silly community project" in 2014, Judith's vision for InHerShoes began as a Kickstarter campaign she started the fall after graduating from University and secretly declining her dream law school acceptance. A first-generation Filipina American, Judith's work through InHerShoes is an example of what is available when courage overrides fear: a whole new world of possibility. Selected by Mogul as one of the best places to work for Gen Z today, alongside household names such as Costco, Nike, and Skillshare, InHerShoes has impacted thousands of young girls, women, and communities in the pursuit of possibility, one act of courage at a time.
A staunch advocate for environment-centered design, Judith has worked with organizations at unique front lines of social impact such as Ashoka, GOOD Inc., Unreasonable Institute, and has shared her voice on behalf of youth at the United Nations Youth Assembly. Passionate about cultivating intersectional leadership and advocacy across generations, Judith has worked with global leaders such as former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta on activating leadership in youth and is the co-author of Students Lead Now, the first book written by students, for students, on student leadership in the higher education space.
She was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 nominee, has been featured in NASDAQ and Forbes, and amidst the national awakening for social and racial justice, Judith was most recently selected to be a United State of Women Ambassador representing the state of California, working with former White House Obama Administration in furthering gender equity and its intersection on racial justice.
Our Story
InHerShoes was founded on the belief that the lives we love are on the other side of fear.
In the process of getting to “that other side”, we redefine what it means to be a successful woman today. We become the catalysts for courage, the conscious leaders, our communities and the world need. One act of courage at a time.
For InHerShoes, this belief began when our founder, Judith Martinez, finally got the “yes” she was chasing her entire life - an acceptance to her dream law school. But what do you do when the very thing you said you always wanted happens, only to realize it had nothing to do with what you wanted at all? The reality of it was she was unfulfilled, living by other people’s definitions of success for her, and didn’t have the confidence, let alone the belief, that she could ever be who she really wanted to be: a social entrepreneur. After all, she had to wait until she was old enough, knew enough, good enough, qualified enough - to live a life she loves.
Judith ended up secretly declining her coveted law school acceptance. In the midst of feeling lost, depressed, and afraid, Judith couldn’t help but notice how quickly she was to diminish her own aspirations, yet so eager to celebrate the dreams of those around her. It was harrowing to see her own fear in action and catch herself in the act. She was finally enough with not being enough.
Over time Judith mustered up the courage to create what is now InHerShoes - a female-led, social impact-driven, global organization committed to unlocking the genius of a generation of women to live courageously.