RALEIGH, N.C. – Girl Scouts of the USA made history this week, naming Judith Batty as the first Black CEO in the organization’s 108-year history.

Batty began her Girl Scouts career as a Brownie and as of Monday, worked her way up to interim CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. The move has had a profound impact on Girl Scouts across the country and in North Carolina.

“Just to see Judith Batty become the interim CEO for Girl Scouts USA was huge, it meant a great accomplishment for all Black girls out there to know that you can accomplish anything regardless of your race, whether you're white, Black, that you can do it. That just gave us so much confidence to know that if she can make it, we can make it too,” says Yolanda Tate, Marketing and Communications Director of Girl Scouts North Carolina Coastal Pines.

“I was really proud for her. I was so happy to hear that there's another Black woman in such a high position like the one she's in. It feels good to see another woman be really successful, especially when they look like you and represent you…108 years seems like a lot, but as long as we've taken the step now, then at least we're making progress. So even if it did take this long, I'm so glad that it did happen,” Girl Scouts Senior Loreta Quarmine of Fayetteville says.

Girl Scouts says that in the coming months, Batty will embark on a listening tour with staff and council leadership where she will hear directly from the field about how to advance the mission of the organization to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.