Those LinkedIn connections who know me personally, would know that 2013 was a big year. It was one morning in July, I told my former boss that I wanted to venture out and do something different. Something that’s not about me. I was in search of some inspiration for a new perspective in life and an adventure that I can look back on one-day.

Shortly after this conversation, a good friend forwarded me an email about various global social impact opportunities abroad. Within two months of receiving his email, I found myself checking in for a 27-hour flight from Sydney to a sub-Saharan African country called Zambia.

I was heading to Zambia to join Technoserve's well-regarded Volunteer Consultant program and worked under USAID’s Thrive project to establish a marketing strategy for an innovative program aimed at improving the nutritional status of people living with HIV and developing new market opportunities for small scale farmers, local food processors and retailers.

During this trip, the team and I travelled around Zambia to survey almost 300 local Zambians to understand their everyday nutrition intake. Often these field trips could be very confronting.

I will never forget my brief encounter with two boys who couldn't have been older than 12 years old, taking their severely malnourished mother to a health clinic on a carriage drawn by a cow. She was so weak, that she couldn't even sit up straight. The clinic was located in the Eastern Province of Zambia where some patients travel almost a hundred kilometres to access the health facility.

The majority of the survey respondents were women and if they had an income at all it could be as little as 50 Zambian Kwacha’s ($10 USD) per month. Most earned their money through various informal sectors such as selling wild fruits and charcoal on the side of the road.





Without a doubt, my Zambia journey was definitely a very enriching experience. It gave me a new adventure, filled with great memories and new friendships. I know that one-day, the 70 year old me will look back at my time in Africa with no regrets.

The Zambian community of which I was a part took me in as one of their own. I went to give something to them, but so often I found myself receiving so much more than I had packed in my suitcase. I was reminded of this when a local Zambian lady from my church opened up her bag and took out a handmade dress she had personally made for me. She wanted to give me something that would help me remember our friendship and my time in Zambia.

As I slowly hugged each of my church friends goodbye, one lady gently whispered in my ear ‘when you step off that plane in Sydney, don’t forget what you’ve learned in Zambia’.





A lot of friends have asked me, what I was doing to remember my Zambia trip or how do I plan to apply the knowledge I gained during my time there to my life here in Sydney. It’s a tough one. Especially when you’re living in a big city and working in a very fast paced start-up environment. If you are not careful, you can easily engross yourself into a revolving cycle that’s all about yourself and your work.

So, several months ago, as I was looking for opportunities to apply my Zambia experience to my everyday life in Sydney, I came across the UN Women’s Knowledge Gateway for Women’s Economic Empowerment. It is an open platform that promotes collaboration, learning and innovation to advance women’s economic empowerment globally.





I strongly believe that by economically empowering women, we can bring about some long-term positive effects in our society as a whole. According to an article on Forbes, on average a man only spends 35 percent of his income on his family, a woman gives more than 90 percent of her income to support her family.

While in many first world countries, the issue of gender equality in your day-to-day life may not seem as apparent, for developing nations, the lack of support and opportunities for women at work, is definitely a concern that cannot be missed. There are so many examples of women in Kenya having to trade sex for fish or girls being denied an education that can ultimately help alleviate their poverty, exploitation and violence.

Statistically, economically empowered women can also improve workplace performance, raise agricultural productivity, increase household income, and raise healthier and better-educated children.

By 2023, one billion women are expected to enter the workforce and despite the fact that globally, 4 out of 10 workers are women, the majority of these do not have secure employment and earn on average 20 percent less than their male counterparts despite doing most of the unpaid work.

Recently, I was pleasantly surprised to be named one of UN Women’s Knowledge Gateway’s, Global Community Champions. This opportunity will allow me to work alongside 43 other Global Community Champions made up of a diverse group of dynamic and enthusiastic women and men from the private sector, civil society, academia and national and international organizations from developing and developed countries to support various women’s economic empowerment activities.

In the coming months, we will be working on various initiatives with the ultimate goal of facilitating improvements in women’s lives and their communities and help them build their businesses, farms and enterprises, successfully market their products and services, help improve their working conditions and get better paid.

But first and foremost, gender equality begins at home, and I am tremendously excited to announce that I have recently joined the Maestrano team as the company’s first female employee. I feel extremely grateful for the support and flexibility offered by a fledgling company that allows me to continue working on various women’s economic empowerment initiatives and at the same time growing my career and expertise in the world of start-ups, partnerships, and marketing.

Within a few days I have already started adding a splash of my signature ‘pinkness’ in the office and I am definitely looking forward to welcoming more ladies joining the team as the company continues to grow.

Visit UN Women's Knowledge Gateway for more information about how you can support women's economic empowerment: www.empowerwomen.org