Press Kit

Gretchen Cawthon

Hi and welcome to Girls Can’t WHAT?! This site has been getting a lot of buzz lately so I’m trying to make it easier for everyone to find what they need. I hope this page can help answer some basic questions about Girls Can’t WHAT? and provide you with needed media materials. If you need additional information or would like to schedule an interview, please contact me.

Company Name: Girls Can’t WHAT? ™
Telephone Number: 217-413-7033
Industry: Fashion and Retail
Key Markets: Women and Girls
Number of Employees: Just me

The Dirt on Gretchen

Have you ever been told you can’t because you’re a girl? Gretchen Cawthon has and she has turned the phrase “Girls Can’t WHAT?” into a mantra for women who break through gender barriers. She’s formed a community whose primary purpose is to help women achieve their dreams and that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Growing up in a neighborhood of all boys, Gretchen learned to throw a football and race BMX bikes. She played Little League baseball every summer and in the 6th grade was one of two girls to make the boys basketball team. During high school she was involved in a serious car accident and doctors questioned whether she would ever walk again. Two weeks after having her vertebrae fused back together she was walking unassisted. Continuing to break gender stereotypes, Gretchen’s first year of college was also a challenging experience as the only female percussion major in a field dominated by guys.

If anyone knows what it’s like to be told you can’t do something because you’re a girl, it’s her.

These childhood experiences prompted Gretchen to create the Girls Can’t WHAT? website in 2005. It is here she shares personal experiences along with amazing stories and interviews from some truly inspirational women. Together, their purpose is to encourage women to pursue their dreams no matter what roadblocks they may encounter.

Girls Can’t WHAT? Creator Gretchen Cawthon

Today, all that hard work has paid off in merchandise sales that support the site as well as women’s charities and a spawned additional work for her as a freelance web developer. Girls Can’t WHAT? exists to challenge ladies from all walks of life to break through gender stereotypes and achieve their dreams. Visitors are encouraged to post personal stories to the site, subscribe to a bi-weekly newsletter and share an inspirational gift item from the shop. Girls Can’t WHAT also invests 20% of it’s monthly profits through the micro-lending program Kiva to help other women entrepreneurs around the globe launch their dreams into reality.

When not creating new material and products for Girls Can’t WHAT? Gretchen can be found working on freelance graphic and web design, drumming in her band, Four Wall Flight, or spending time with husband, Doug; daughters, Katelynn and Kirstynn; and Boston Terrier, Lola.

Who buys this stuff anyway?

The primary customers in the Girls Can’t WHAT? Gift Shop are women who personally relate to the designs. T-shirts in adult sizes are by far the biggest seller but children’s clothing makes a very close second. Oftentimes the consumer is looking for a gift for a friend or family member and is drawn to the site through a particular career or sport that the recipient may be interested in. Girls Can’t WHAT? products have been shipped to every US state, Canada, the UK as well as many other countries.