After graduating from Stanford with a national championship under her belt, she arrived at the senior national team as one of the most anticipated defensive prospects the program had seen in years. At center back, she reads the game early, wins the ball cleanly, and distributes with the confidence of someone who has already decided what comes next. The San Diego Wave took her first overall in the 2022 NWSL Draft, she won Olympic gold in Paris in 2024 playing every minute, and in January 2025 Chelsea signed her for $1.1 million, making her the first women's player in history to cross the $1 million transfer threshold. She did it as a defender, which said something about how thoroughly she had reordered expectations for her position.

Off the field, Girma has been deliberate about where she puts her name and her time. She has spoken publicly about her support for United Women of East Africa, a San Diego nonprofit focused on health services, education, and mental health advocacy for East African immigrant communities, work she has described as directly connected to what her own family navigated. She is still early in a career that has already made her the most expensive women's player ever signed. The story is not close to finished.