State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is one of the world’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors including investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading. We commissioned Fearless Girl in 2017 in celebration of International Women’s Day and continue to serve as her proud guardian, committed to keeping the statue accessible to the public and expanding her platform to inspire the next generation.
Fearless Girl has an undeniable power to inspire people who visit her. What does it feel like to stand beside her today?
Listen to this story • 3:09
Lower Manhattan is a place where big things happen. The streets are narrow, the buildings tall, the energy constant — there’s a sense the world is always in motion. And somewhere in the middle of it all, there is a bronze statue that has been stopping people in their tracks for nearly a decade.
She is easy to miss until you are right in front of her. Just four feet tall, bright in spots where many hands have made contact, she catches the light differently depending on the hour. Up close, her details are precise: feet planted, hands on hips, her dress caught in a permanent gust of wind. Her gaze is lifted toward whatever is ahead of her — the buildings, the sky, the future beyond that.
Fearless Girl first appeared in 2017, installed overnight, a small bronze figure facing down Charging Bull on the eve of International Women’s Day. She became a cultural flashpoint almost immediately — a headline, a viral image, a moment that felt both overdue and electric. People had strong opinions. But something else happened too, something quieter and more lasting: people came to stand beside her. And they felt something, and they kept coming back.
Today, nearly ten years on, they still do.
A child, no older than seven or eight, walks straight to her without hesitation and plants her feet, chin up. An older man quietly squares his shoulders with acknowledgement. A woman holds the pose a beat longer than everyone else, registering her own journey to this place, this moment. Others come in groups, linking arms as they step in beside her, proof that whatever power we embody doesn’t belong to one person, that it expands when shared.
Over time, Fearless Girl’s meaning has grown larger than any single statement or story. She has become something shaped not only by what she represents but by what people bring to her. For some, she is still about empowerment. For others, resilience. For others still, she is simply a place to gather, to mark that they were here. Millions of people have stood beside her. And millions more photographs have carried her beyond Lower Manhattan, her pose replicated in offices and living rooms and school hallways around the world.
The world she stands in today is not the world she was born into. It is louder, faster, harder to read. The challenges people face when they stand beside her have changed too — but her impact has not. There is something in her pose that the body understands before the mind catches up. Something that doesn’t require explanation or context or history. You don’t need to know her story to feel it. You just need to stand beside her, and show up with your own.
Discover more real stories and perspectives on Instagram at @fearlessgirlofficial or by searching #fearlessgirl.
Stay fearless
Be first to hear about special events, exclusive releases and all things Fearless Girl.
You can opt out or change your preferences at any time.