Blocks from the post-Thanksgiving glow of midtown Manhattan, Katie Meyler (shown above) captured the attention of a standing-room-only crowd with her energy and honesty.

Invited to lead 125-plus dental professionals on a journey fueled by inspiration, the New Jersey native who last year spent more than 70 percent of her time in Liberia working to use education as a catalyst for social change for every girl in there, did that and more.

Insightful and ardent, the More Than Me CEO and Founder who spends the other 30 percent of her time fundraising in the U.S., spoke openly of her passion to help attendees at the inaugural Lucy Hobbs Meetup ignite theirs.

Attendees at the inaugural Lucy Hobbs Meetup in NYC on November 28 expressed their motivation for life via an interactive mural.

Named to honor a pioneer of the dental industry, the Lucy Hobbs Project empowers women in dentistry to drive change and deliver success through networking, innovation and giving back.

As host of the November 28 event at Loft 29 that featured Katie Meyler as keynote speaker and Dr. Pamela Marzban as a featured presenter,  The Lucy Hobbs Project aimed to offer the Greater New York Dental Meeting guests with a new arena for creating connections and gaining knowledge.

Earlier in the evening, Dr. Marzban (shown above) presented “Networking, Innovation, Giveback: What It Means to Be a Female Entrepreneur.”  She challenged those in attendance to “make a date with yourself… be raw and honest and know what your core values are.”  Dr. Marzban posed a few questions to begin the process:

• What do I want to be remembered for?
• How am I going to set myself apart?

When Katie Meyler later explained the motivation behind her commitment to the young women of Liberia (in 2014 she was named among Ebola fighters as a Time Person of the Year) the discussion of giving back came full circle.

“My dream is for their dreams to come true.”

During the event, the Benco Family Foundation announced a yearlong sponsorship of  two young women in Liberia through More than Me. This will include one year of schooling, including uniforms, medical care, psychosocial care, family planning, access to tech, two hot meals a day.

Find out how you can participate at this level, sponsor a teacher, or fund a school clinic.

Or learn more about how you can join the Every Girl Collective, a passionate community invested in supporting every girl’s dream to go to school. There, your donation of $11 a month sends a child to school for an entire year.

Check back at TheDailyFloss.com for an upcoming interview with Katie Meyler.

Join The Lucy Hobbs Project today.

View more images from the November 28 Meetup on Facebook.