Idaho
From Idaho to Togo, this Boise woman was just named a CNN Hero for her nonprofit
Payton McGriff made a remarkable decision her senior year at the University of Idaho.
It was her final semester in the spring of 2017, and she turned down a job offer she had been dreaming of in a field she had been working toward her whole college career.
But an entrepreneur class project and a spur-of-the-moment spring break trip that semester to the African nation of Togo changed her perspective on the world — and the impact she could have on it.
The idea that was burning in her was to provide girls in Africa with school uniforms so that they could overcome a major obstacle to getting an education.
Meeting those young girls on that spring break trip to Togo in 2017 — girls who could be helped by her idea — made her decision to turn down the job offer an easy one.
“It was like, OK, these are no longer statistics, these are no longer stories,” McGriff told me in an interview last week at a local coffee shop. “These are real people that I have met, and I have now seen this challenge firsthand. And this problem is solvable.”
That was seven years ago, and today that nonprofit organization McGriff started fresh out of college, Style Her Empowered, or SHE for short, has helped 6,095 girls get an education and helped dozens of women earn a living.
For her work, McGriff, 29, now a Boise resident, was just named one of the 2024 CNN Heroes.
Her journey to this point is a truly inspiring story.
How it all began
It started with a book.
While McGriff, who is originally from Idaho Falls, was interning as a college student at the Idaho National Laboratory, she read “Half the Sky,” a book about the plight of girls and women around the world.
“What stood out to me in this book is just how important girls’ education is in reversing all of the gender inequalities that persist,” she said.
In her final semester at U of I, she took an entrepreneurship class, in which she had to come up with a project.
She remembered the book and recalled that one of the most cost-effective ways to keep girls in school is to provide free school uniforms.
So she started putting together a business plan to make it happen.
Spring break trip to Togo
A friend who read her business plan recommended that she talk to Romuald Afatchao, a professor of global studies at the University of Idaho who is originally from Togo.
She connected with Afatchao that March, and he liked the idea so much, he made a bold suggestion: He was taking a group of students to Togo for spring break in 11 days, and he invited her to go with them.
“So 11 days later, I found myself in Togo, and that’s when it really became more than a school project for me,” McGriff said.
There she met with local community members, administrators and, most importantly, junior high and high school girls.
She asked a group of girls a series of questions about barriers to going to school, and by far the No. 1 reason was the school uniforms.
She also met a girl named Elolo, who became her inspiration and her focus when developing her idea.
This embedded content is not available in your region.
Pitch competitions
McGriff came back to the U.S. and put together a business plan for the nonprofit and started pitching the idea at entrepreneurship pitch competitions.
Because her idea was a nonprofit among mostly for-profit business ideas, she didn’t expect to do well.
“So I’m like, I’ll get a little pat on the head and like, ‘keep going’ type of reaction,” she said. “But I was able to win all of those competitions, which raised about $35,000 to start with.”
At the same time, McGriff was getting ready to graduate from college and interviewing for jobs when she received an offer from what she considered at the time to be her dream job doing marketing analytics.
Accepting the job would have been the easy route.
But she turned it down.
She said her experience in Togo over that spring break convinced her to pursue her nonprofit idea.
After graduating, McGriff flew back to Togo to get the program up and running.
Day in the life
One of the most important things she did that summer was spend time with Elolo to see what a real day in the life was like.
It was eye opening.
They woke up at 3:30 a.m. to start preparing rice for Elolo’s mother, who sold rice at the market, the family’s only source of income. Then it was fetching water, cooking breakfast and cleaning the house.
“So I’m just beginning to see that literally every waking hour is dedicated to work for girls because they are expected to do 100% of the household chores,” she said.
The original idea for the school uniforms was for the girls to sew them themselves, but clearly that was not feasible.
“That was when I realized, OK, the first idea, no chance, like there’s literally no additional time for our girls to learn this skill,” McGriff said. “And it kind of felt like introducing an additional barrier and responsibility for them to get themselves to school.”
So the idea evolved into hiring local seamstresses to make the uniforms. That would have a double benefit: Make uniforms for schoolgirls while at the same time boost the economic status of local women.
Hiring the seamstresses, in itself, was a revelation.
“What I came to learn is this is one of the primary trades that families will put their daughters into because it doesn’t require a high level of literacy, and it’s kind of a last-ditch option,” McGriff said. “It really became clear to me this is what our girls who don’t get the chance to go to school, (this is) where they go. And so that was when we started looking at creating jobs for these young women.”
Empowering women
At the beginning, SHE employed two seamstresses who made uniforms for 65 girls.
Today, Style Her Empowered is in 21 communities in Togo and employs 34 women, including 22 seamstresses, and one man. SHE pays about 75% higher than minimum wage, McGriff said.
“You can just see the transformation of a woman who goes from having no income and no way to support herself to now becoming the primary breadwinner for her family,” McGriff said. “If you’re a seamstress, you’re kind of looked down in society. But now they say, ‘We walk around like kings. People know we work at SHE. We walk around very, very respected in the community.’”
Not only that, but McGriff and her team are working on making the venture self-sustaining by taking on work that they sell to the private sector.
SHE brought in about $178,000 in revenue last year, of which about two-thirds were grants and almost a quarter in donations. About 5% came from earned revenue in private sales, according to SHE’s latest annual report.
Today, there are about 1,500 girls in the program, and SHE is planning to increase enrollment to 2,000 this fall. In all, SHE has provided more than 6,000 education sponsorships.
Every girl in the SHE program receives a uniform, a full scholarship, school supplies, menstrual supplies, year-round tutoring and support in SHE’s after-school program.
Uniform that grows
One thing that struck me about SHE is that they make “uniforms that grow”; they’re adjustable so that a girl can keep wearing it as she gets bigger.
It reminded me of another local nonprofit, The Shoe That Grows, started by Kenton Lee, of Nampa. It’s the same concept: shoes that are adjustable and can be made bigger as a child’s feet grow.
McGriff had read about The Shoe That Grows before in an article her father had shared with her, but she had no idea that the similar nonprofit was just down the road.
SHE had experimented with an adjustable uniform, but early iterations didn’t work out. The idea was abandoned until McGriff met Lee, who later became a SHE board member.
The uniform can grow up to six sizes and 12 inches in length so it can be worn for years.
“I remember the first year we actually had our design, this young girl goes up and says, ‘I feel like the daughter of a dignitary,’” McGriff said. “She was so proud and so excited.”
SHE today
McGriff was SHE’s 21st employee. She volunteered her time for the first three years. Picking up jobs here and there and relying on her husband’s income allowed her to forgo a salary to make sure SHE was up and running.
And McGriff remains SHE’s only employee in the United States. All of SHE’s other employees are in Togo, including SHE’s administration, seamstresses and teachers.
Remember Elolo, the young girl McGriff met on that first spring break trip? She graduated in 2021 and is now SHE’s assistant director.
CNN Hero
McGriff said the CNN Hero award was a long time in the making. She said the vetting process was nearly two years and included extensive interviews with more than a dozen people.
But then word finally came earlier this year that she had been selected.
“I was just so honored,” she said, adding that the CNN producer acknowledged that McGriff’s story was different in that SHE is seeking to empower the local women to lead the program on their own. “So I think being seen for what we really intended was just such an honor because they had done so much to get to know us for what we’re really trying to build. It just felt like all of us.”
The segments aired on CNN last week, and the reaction has been tremendous, McGriff said.
“It’s been pretty overwhelming and spectacular,” McGriff said.
SHE has raised about $50,000 since that story aired, with donations from all over the world.
“We get messages every day from people from France, from Ireland who have heard our story, and it resonates with them, and they want to support us in some way,” she said. “So it’s been a pretty immediate change in opportunity and doors opening that allow us to move closer to the vision that we’ve been dreaming about for so long.”
Ever since that spring break trip in 2017.
What you can do
To learn more about SHE and to donate, visit www.StyleHerEmpowered.org.
Watch party
SHE is throwing a watch party from 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, July 31, at the Idaho Film Society, 1212 W. Bannock St., Boise. They’ll show the CNN Hero segment and then have a Q&A session after. It’s free and open to the public.
The May 19 primary election will have a big impact on Idaho’s Legislature, with moderate and hardline Republicans facing off across the state.
Over the past two months, Idaho EdNews profiled 14 of the most significant races for education policy. Here they are in one place.
Follow our coverage on election night, with real-time results and breaking news updates. Click here for information on how to vote and find your sample ballot.
North Idaho
- Who is running: Three-term Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, faces a fourth primary election against Scott Herndon.
- Why it matters: This matchup is one of the most expensive primaries this year. Woodward is a “middle of the road” Republican who sits on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. Herndon is a more hardline Republican who wants to eliminate property taxes.
- Who is running: Two-term Rep. Elaine Price, R-Coeur d’Alene, faces Christa Hazel for District 4 House Seat B.
- Why it matters: This race is a proxy fight in the war between the hardline Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (Price) and the moderate North Idaho Republicans (Hazel).
- Who is running: Three-term Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, faces Rep. Lori McCann, a Lewiston Republican who has left her seat in the House for a Senate run.
- Why it matters: Foreman is a hardline Republican who faced criticism from the right this year for holding in committee a bill to rein in teachers’ unions. McCann said she’s challenging him over his refusal to collaborate and communicate.
West Idaho
- Who is running: Four-term legislator Sen. Christy Zito faces a three-way primary with two former legislators in the district: former House Majority Leader Megan Blanksma and five-term Rep. Terry Gestrin.
- Why it matters: Zito is a member of the hardline Gang of Eight and sits on the Senate Education committee. Republicans in the House ousted Blanksma from leadership in 2024. She says Zito isn’t representing her district. Gestrin said he wants to get back into the Statehouse to solve problems for folks in the large, rural district.
- Who is running: First-term Sen. Camille Blaylock faces a rematch with retired Marine and former legislator Chris Trakel.
- Why it matters: Blaylock sponsored a $5 million high-needs fund for special education this year. Trakel sued the Idaho Home Learning Academy in 2025, claiming the virtual school discriminated against his constitutional right to free exercise of religion. A judge dismissed the suit.
- Who is running: Two young Democrats with backgrounds in education are running for the wide-open District 16 House Seat A. Megan Woller leads the Idaho Head Start Association and Jeffrey Watkins is a West Ada public school teacher and union rep.
- Why it matters: Watkins and Woller are running to replace Rep. Soñia Galaviz, a public school teacher and House Education member, in the reliably blue district. Woller said she has the diplomacy and negotiation skills to be a legislator. Watkins said Democrats need to be “incredibly vocal” in opposition to bills that harm Idahoans.
- Who is running: First-term legislator Rep. Chris Bruce, R-Kuna, faces a rematch with Melissa Durrant for District 23 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: School choice groups like the American Federation for Children are focusing on this race, supporting Bruce and opposing Durrant. Bruce believes state funding should follow the child whether they attend public, private or home schools. Durrant opposed an early version of the Parental Choice Tax Credit because there was no priority for lower income families.
Magic Valley
- Who is running: Two-term Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls, faces Twin Falls County Commissioner Brent Reinke.
- Why it matters: Zuiderveld is a prominent member of the hardline Gang of Eight and routinely opposes budget enhancements, including additional funding for the College of Southern Idaho. Reinke has decades of experience as a public servant and says Zuiderveld isn’t representing the district.
- Who is running: First-term Rep. Clint Hostetler, R-Twin Falls, faces attorney Alexandra Caval for District 24 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: In his first week as a legislator, Hostetler in 2025 introduced a $250 million private school tax credit bill. Caval said she hopes the primary election will be a “course correction” for the Magic Valley after Hostetler won two years ago.
East Idaho
- Who is running: Two-term Rep. Rick Cheatum faces a three-way rematch with day trader James Lamborn and Air Force veteran Mike Saville for District 28 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: Cheatum last year voted against the $50 million Parental Choice Tax Credit. Lamborn, a strong school choice supporter, said District 28 deserves a conservative, constitutional, Christian Republican. Saville has run for office as a Democrat, an independent and a Republican. He said he supports the country first, not the party.
- Who is running: First-term Rep. Ben Fuhriman faces a rematch with former legislator Julianne Young for District 30 House Seat B.
- Why it matters: Fuhriman sponsored the $5 million high-needs special education fund bill this year and opposed a bill to rein in teachers’ unions. Young is a social conservative who has worked on culture war bills, such as defining genders and prohibiting public funds for gender transition procedures.
- Who is running: Four-term Rep. Rod Furniss faces former legislator Karey Hanks for District 31 House Seat B.
- Why it matters: Furniss has worked on legislation to make it easier for districts to pass bonds and find funding to build schools. Hanks, a school bus driver, wants to get back into the Statehouse to protect children from the “woke” agenda. The two share similar views on social issues and support the transgender bathroom bill.
- Who is running: Four-term Rep. Barbara Ehardt faces a challenge from firefighter Connor Cook.
- Why it matters: Ehardt is a staunch social conservative who said the transgender community started the culture war, not the Idaho Legislature. Cook, a union member, says Idaho has “gone rogue” and is using social issues as a distraction from the budget.
- Who is running: First-term Rep. Mike Veile faces former legislator Chad Christensen in District 35 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: Veile, a former Soda Springs trustee, sits on the House Education Committee. He opposes private school tax credits and said Idaho doesn’t have enough funding to support multiple education systems. Christensen supports school choice and would like to explore school district consolidation.
A recent Idaho law could slow the process for some child custody disputes and even adoption cases, the Idaho Supreme Court found in a ruling this week.
The law, created in 2025 through Senate Bill 1181, means some Idaho parents who can’t afford legal representation won’t have state-provided defense attorneys in cases that could risk them permanently losing their kids, the court found.
In the opinion, the court alluded to an essentially unenforceable right to public defense in some parental rights termination cases brought by private parties, rather than the state Department of Health and Welfare. That’s because courts can’t require the state’s public defenders to represent parents in those privately brought cases, the Idaho Supreme Court found.
“This gap created by Senate Bill 1181 is vitally important matter that needs to be addressed by the Idaho Legislature. If constitutionally required representation cannot be provided in private termination cases, it will likely result in serious delays or even dismissals of cases affecting Idaho’s children and parents,” Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan wrote in the opinion published Tuesday. “It may mean that children awaiting adoption cannot be adopted.”
The decision comes more than a year after the Legislature passed the bill over the objections of child welfare attorneys, who warned about the bill’s impact on parents’ right to legal counsel. The bill was pitched as a way to control the workload of public defenders as the state overhauled its public defense system.
Attorney says this is the ‘conundrum’ she warned Idaho Legislature about
There are two ways parental rights termination cases can be brought: By the state — often initiated by a state Department of Health and Welfare, or by a private party, such as one parent wanting to end the rights of another parent.
For over 60 years, Idaho law gave parents deemed legally indigent — essentially those who can’t pay legal bills — and who were facing parental rights’ termination cases “with a categorical right to an attorney at public expense,” Bevan explained in the opinion.
But in 2025, he wrote all of that changed when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1181.
The bill was meant to control the workloads of public defenders as the state consolidated public defense from counties into one statewide office. But at the time, two child welfare attorneys warned the law might inadvertently end the right to legal counsel in privately brought parental right termination cases, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
One of the attorneys who testified on the bill, Mary Shea from Pocatello, said in an interview that the court described “exactly the conundrum” that she was trying to warn the Legislature about.
“It’s an invitation to the Legislature to fix this, and to provide some kind of a funding mechanism so that those private terminations and adoptions can continue to proceed,” she said. “Because we do have a shortage of attorneys in this state. It is very difficult for us to provide the low-income and pro bono needs for the entire state.”
Sen. Todd Lakey, a Nampa Republican who was the bill’s original sponsor, said in an interview that the Legislature could take up clarifications next year.
“I personally am reluctant to have the taxpayers fund legal costs in a private party termination,” Lakey said on Wednesday. “That said, I recognize that there is a certain situation where it’s constitutionally required, and I want to make sure we’re limiting the burden on the taxpayers to only those situations, where it’s fundamentally required constitutionally. I think as the court noted, that’s kind of a case by case basis, depending on the circumstances.”
Rep. Dustin Manwaring, a Pocatello Republican who also cosponsored the bill, said in an interview that he already has ideas for legislation to address that issue flagged in the ruling.
“When representation is appointed and is constitutionally required, then we need to clarify who’s picking up the tab for that. So, we will do that. And I will personally commit to taking that on and making sure we get that done,” he said.
How the Idaho Supreme Court ruled
The bill, Bevan wrote, requires the State Public Defender’s Office only to represent parents deemed legally indigent in parental rights’ termination cases brought by the state — not by private parties.
“That begs the question: if representation is constitutionally required in a private termination case, who would provide it?” Bevan asked.
Parents in private parental termination cases sometimes still have due process rights to public defense counsel, Bevan wrote, pointing to precedent in the U.S. Supreme Court. But since Idaho courts can no longer order the State Public Defender’s Office or counties to pay for that defense, he wrote that the courts effectively can’t appoint public legal representation in those cases.
“If neither the (State Public Defender’s Office) nor the counties can be required to provide representation, a private termination proceeding may fail to comply with the requirements of due process,” Bevan wrote. “The legislature has eliminated the options available to courts for appointment of counsel at public expense.”
Some parents who are entitled to representation won’t get it, he wrote.
“We have little doubt that, so long as the representation gap created by Senate Bill 1181 exists, at least some indigent parents who constitutionally require representation will not get it,” Bevan wrote.
Idaho State Public Defender Office spokesperson Patrick Orr said in a statement that the agency hasn’t been assigned any private termination cases since the court took up the case in October.
“Our view is the same now as it was last year. Our office provides indigent defense representation – and representation for parents in Child Protective Act cases where the state seeks to interfere with a parent-child relationship,” he said. But, he added, “we can’t provide legal representation in a private termination case.”
Copyright 2026 KMVT. All rights reserved.
From artisan jewelry to cowboy boot spurs, women silversmiths in Idaho turn raw metal into works of art. As part of a special Expressive Idaho series, we are revisiting a gathering of Idaho artisans called the “Cowgirl Congress.”
This story was made to be heard. Click or tap the ‘Listen’ button above for the full audio.
Transcript:
CERISE: I wanted every piece to be hand forged and individual and unique. It’s very rare that I make two pieces that are exactly the same. My name is Mary Cerise and I am the owner of Hanging Moon Silver, which is a silver company. I make fine and very wearable art out of sterling and fine silver. I am not originally from Salmon, but it’s been my home for 16 years and I really enjoy that little kind of nook of the world that is off the beaten path. And it is definitely a destination.
Arlie Sommer
/
Idaho Commission on the Arts
WANGSGARD: I’m Annie Wangsgard and I live in Milad, Idaho. And I’m a silversmith and I’ve been silversmithing for 12 years, I think, right around there. My favorite part about probably the whole process of anything that I make is the design, you know, the design process, and trying to come up with something that has never been done before, I guess I rate my success on whether I’m able to take the image in my brain and the idea and then bring it to life. And if I can do that, then it’s success.
CERISE: I use a lot of opals and turquoise. I’m very particular about my sourcing of stones, so I use very ethically sourced, I know all of my miners and my lapidary cutters, and that’s very important to me that I’m buying right from the guys who dig it out of the ground.
WANGSGARD: When I first got started, I was really drawn to rings. I, a little bit got branded as a ring maker, you know, a western ring maker, which is great, I’ll make lots of different things. I’ve made spurs. And I’ve made a bit. And um, it’s definitely a lot different than just silversmithing. Working with steel is a lot dirtier than working with silver.
Arlie Sommer
/
Idaho Commission on the Arts
CERISE: This Idaho Cowgirl Congress. And there’s something about being with other makers, even if they’re not silversmiths, maybe they’re not metal workers, they’re leather workers or fiber artists, fine artists. We travel along the same path a lot. I love the opportunity for collaboration, and I just want to continually learn. That’s my definition of success, is continually striving to learn more and push harder. Some of the hardest days give me the best pieces of work because usually those are the most beautiful times. We have similar difficulties with or challenges that we face, right? Having these businesses and being an artist. And we also have big successes, and those are the people that celebrate your successes. So I would say, it feels like coming home.
This Expressive Idaho episode was produced by Lauren Paterson, with interviews recorded by Arlie Sommer and edited by Sáša Woodruff. Music by Lobo Loco.
The web article was written and edited by Katie Kloppenburg and Lacey Daley.
Expressive Idaho is made in partnership with the Idaho Commission on the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts Program. This program is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
-
Indiana4 minutes agoIndiana gambling case, Bears schedule and McDonald’s Park | Week in Review
-
Iowa10 minutes agoTwo separate traffic stops leads to four arrests in Iowa County
-
Kentucky22 minutes agoKentucky Newsmakers 5/17: Congressional candidate Erin Petrey; Visit Lex President Mary Quinn Ramer
-
Louisiana28 minutes agoLive Results: Louisiana midterm state and congressional primaries
-
Maine34 minutes agoMaineHealth Maine Medical conference highlights trauma care challenges
-
Maryland40 minutes agoMargie’s Intention Repeats Maryland Magic in DuPont
-
Michigan46 minutes agoPolice release 911 calls and video connected to fatal shooting of Michigan State student
-
Massachusetts52 minutes agoPublic asked to attend funeral services for Massachusetts World War II veteran with no known family