Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Fellow, Vanessa Charles, Reflects on her Placement at Girls Empowerment Network
Meet YLAI Fellow, Vanessa Charles
My name is Vanessa Charles. Born and raised in Haiti, I grew up in a modest family of four children. I hold a degree in Economics and I am credited with numerous diplomas in the fields of entrepreneurship, management, leadership, and communication. My main hobbies are making good food and listening to music.
I have always loved working with peers and friends to share my knowledge, so I always take great pleasure to be part of teams. I always feel comfortable around older people. They indeed have the experience which they can share with the younger generation. I can learn a lot from their strengths and their weaknesses, their fears and their deep aspirations.
In fact, I think that all social categories have their role to play in the process of change in my country. It is for this reason that it is absolutely necessary to create spaces for discussion in order to encourage everyone to break down barriers, to express themselves, to understand each other... in short, to help each other and to work in synergy. Very early on I discovered this gift, this ability to work transversally with the youngest, the adults to create bridges for better communication.
I have many positive dreams for my community and I am committed to them on a daily basis to better understand their needs and make my contribution to building a better future.
I have a relatively rich associative life. I get involved thoroughly, because I consider associations as real spaces of socialization in which we transmit collective values while strengthening our own capacities to act positively on the global society.
Spending the summer working with Texas girls
The Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Fellowship Program is currently my ray of sunshine. Launched in 2015, the program is powered and fully sponsored by the United States Department of State, it enables emerging entrepreneurs in the Western Hemisphere to realize the full economic potential of citizens in the region. YLAI promotes positive business models and values, facilitates commercial, entrepreneurial and academic exchanges while encouraging job creation, wealth creation and building sustainable networks between young entrepreneurs and business leaders around the world.
My fellowship activities have taken me since June 10 to Austin, Texas, along with 10 other brilliant fellows from various industries. The University of Austin at Texas is our co-host for the cohort. We also work extensively with DELL Technologies, one of the largest ICT companies in the world.
During my fellowship I had the privilege of participating in many events with young people. It's so fascinating to meet these young girls! Discussing their dreams, their expectations was one of the highlights of the program. Furthermore, the scholarship holders of the Mandala Scholarship Program have a tremendous impact on me. The exchanges, the dreams, the connections, the stories, the passion... everything blew my mind.
In Haiti, with our partner TSF, the essential work of LEV'ELLES UP is to continue to train women and girls. The main objective is to contribute to the empowerment of women because we strongly believe that women can achieve any goal, that they are intelligent, strong, resilient and dedicated to succeed. In Haiti, my work with girls mostly consists of training in self-esteem, civics, empowerment, citizenship education, and art and creative industries. With adult women, the training consists of educating businesswomen in the informal sector through financial education, the basic skills to leverage their entrepreneurial skills and their abilities to grow financially.
Experiencing the magic of Summer CAMP at Girls Empowerment Network
The week of June 20 was one of the most significant for me. I indeed had the privilege of working as a facilitator at the Girls Empowerment Network Summer CAMP. Without a doubt one of the most unforgettable events of my YLAI experience. As an adult, it was my first time as a team camp leader, and I worked as a camp leader in the yellow team with Mallory who is an amazing woman.
According to the schedule, we had to carry out the DO, LEARN, MAKE, COMMUNITY CARE. All this in an atmosphere full of creativity, good humor, power and commitment. I deeply love my colleague team camp leader's passion for helping and empowering girls and making them unstoppable. During all these activities I was impressed and fascinated by the great determination of the girls. Above all, for me the “Power Chats” was a great experience to bridge the generations. And how important it is to maintain this intergenerational dialogue, to build these bridges that I consider to be one of the best ways to accompany girls in order to project them with confidence towards a fairer, more equitable, and united future. I am mesmerized by the strengths of the girls - they are energetic, confident and powerful. The challenges for young girls are certainly different, but they are all called to be autonomous and independent.
Left to right: YLAI Fellow, Vanessa Charles & Girl Experts Mallory Lehenbauer & Elena Lopez
“They are different girls, from different cultures and backgrounds... but all driven by a keen sense of creativity, strength, spirit of sacrifice and openness to a changing world. ”
They are different girls, from different cultures and backgrounds... but all driven by a keen sense of creativity, strength, spirit of sacrifice and openness to a changing world. Driven by a feeling of exploring, to know more about this world around us but also to make their contributions in order to face the many challenges that lie in wait for us.
Reflecting on the similarity between girls of Haiti and those of Texas
Different girls, different challenges, different environments... but the same unwavering determination. The similarity between the girls of Haiti and those of Texas, it is the energy, this passion which is seen in their eyes wide open on a brighter future. Without a doubt, this constitutes a great inexhaustible source of motivation, fills me with joy and happiness and gives me great inner strength.
I am truly honored by this experience, the sharing of experiences and good practices and policies that will lead to the adaptation of new strategies to carry out this advocacy for our girls.
Huge thank you to YLAI Fellow, Vanessa Charles for contributing to our blog! We are always looking for talented and passionate individuals to join our cause. For more information on internship placements with our organization please visit our careers page.