Student Ambassador Haniya Wasim, Pakistan, is the founder of Leading Lady Empire, a nonprofit that works to increase access to education in Pakistan. By providing skills training, vocational training and curriculum development to young people in marginalized communities, Haniya’s organization is making a difference in the lives of thousands of people. In a conversation with Girl Rising, she shares more about her passion for education, her inspiration for starting a nonprofit, and advice to other young people who want to make a difference.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your education and who inspired you?
A: I am from Lahore, Pakistan but I grew up primarily in Dubai, and spent a long majority of my life over there before moving to Pakistan. I have a degree in business administration from University of Wollongong in Dubai and started a pre-masters program at MIT in economics. I'm also the founder of Leading Lady Empire, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access to quality education in underserved communities across Pakistan.
I’ve always been deeply passionate about education rights and empowerment, which is one of the reasons I became a Girl Rising Student Ambassador. I really found myself aligning Girl Rising’s mission, and how you use storytelling to create change. I think I've been primarily inspired by the women in my life - my mother and my late grandmother. They were the ones who encouraged me to pursue my dreams, and one of my dreams was to start a nonprofit organization.
Q: Can you tell me more about Leading Lady Empire’s mission, and what motivated you to start your own non nonprofit at such a young age?
A: So my inspiration really came after seeing the devastating impact of the floods in Pakistan two years ago. It meant millions of people couldn’t go to school. And in many cases the floods completely ruined schools. During that time I felt really inclined to do something to help the vulnerable and those individuals who were unable to attend school. The whole period fueled my desire to create some sort of substantial impact, which is when my nonprofit was established to tackle the lack of education accessibility, especially within marginalized and underdeveloped communities across Pakistan. In terms of our mission, it is to increase access to quality education, and vocational training, empowering women and girls to overcome barriers and also their full potential. This is done at Leading Lady Empire through combined effort by conducting research to develop a free curriculum that can be taught in schools to children as well as short courses for young women to improve their leadership skills that are delivered through our partnership organizations that distribute technological devices for learning and teach children for free.
Q: What are some of the challenges you've faced in starting and running your own nonprofit?
A: Some of the challenges I faced initially related to gauging the right audience and attracting people towards this cause because there are so many other organizations and nonprofits that are doing something similar. It took some time to develop our audience. But we knew it was worth pressing on because the statistic of around 22.6 million children being out of school is alarming. I think that we need to really do something as a collective society in order to reduce this number. I've been fortunate enough to have more than 18 volunteers on my team. They have really increased awareness about the barriers to education and about my nonprofit through their social networks. This has helped us to grow and scale our impact. Today we reach more than 6,000 people and this number is continuing to grow.
Q: Can you share a moment that made you particularly proud of the work your nonprofit is doing?
A: So a pivotal moment for me was announcing the search for volunteers along with a manual guide which outlines what my organization does. After reading this guide a lot of people reached out to me saying they felt very inspired by my work, and agreeing there was a tremendous need for such a project to tackle educational accessibility. So within 2 to 3 days, we had a team of over 18 volunteers. It grew overnight. So that made me very happy to see so many people are actually interested in this volunteer opportunity.
Q: How has being a part of the Girl Rising community influenced your work?
A: Being a part of the Girl Rising community has had a profound impact both on my personal growth and my work. It has really broadened my perspective on the global challenges that women face and encouraged me to adopt a more nuanced approach to leadership and advocacy. The connections I've made through Girl Rising with like-minded individuals and organizations has also really developed my understanding of the various strategies that are used to create meaningful change.
Q: What advice would you give to other young people who share your passion?
A: I would say that for young people who are passionate about making a difference within their communities, it's important to start small and begin with manageable projects. I believe that a lot of success comes from being passionate about what you are doing and the results are just a bonus. When you have the passion, you can scale indefinitely. Also vitally important is building networks. The growth that my organization is experiencing is mainly due to networking and reaching out to a lot of people who may be able to provide feedback, even if they can't directly support you at the moment. And I also think that people should celebrate the small successes they achieve along the way to stay motivated and acknowledge progress. Celebrating the successes helps to keep the passion alive and sustain your efforts through different challenges. Most importantly, lead by example. Demonstrate the values and the actions that you hope to see in others.
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