A Word with Cynthia Steele

When you think of yourself as a young girl — what kind of world did you imagine for yourself? And how does that early sense of self tie into what EMpower has tried to make possible for girls?

I relate to Kierkegaard’s quote “Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards”. I didn’t have a grand plan as a girl but looking backward, I see the early seeds of my life’s work and purpose. I was a girl scout leader, in elementary school started learning French and was connected to the first Peace Corps project - building a school in Colombia. I identified as a feminist early on, in university became a volunteer counselor for sexual violence and a student facilitator of a women’s studies class. Deep roots, lifelong passion about other cultures, girls and women’s rights. I want for all girls the opportunities and support I have been fortunate to have.

As a young woman stepping into leadership and purpose, what shaped your ideas about opportunity, fairness, and agency? And how did those beliefs find their way into EMpower’s DNA?

The words “agency” and “equity” weren’t part of my working vocabulary when I was young but I have always believed in and acted for fairness. Which as a concept undergirds equity and justice, and argues for objective facts and reasoning. Opportunity and agency belong with active verbs – things we actively create for others as well as ourselves, and seize. Fortunately, many others at EMpower share these core values and they are woven into how we operate and aim to hold ourselves accountable. 

Over the years, how have you seen our work with girls evolve from the early focus to today’s lens on wellbeing, livelihoods, and voice?

In the early years, and inspired by some of our first, and phenomenal, girl-focused partners, we were keen to ensure all the work we supported embraced a gender lens. Historically, “youth” programmes, like much else in the world, were designed without thinking about the particular obstacles girls face, which meant that their participants were largely male as girls had household responsibilities, parent’s concerns about their safety etc. So we worked to change that and have girls’ lived realities shape the programs intended for them. From that has evolved myriad examples, ways and a bone-deep commitment to center girls’ (and other young people’s) voices and realities in everything we do – and to continue to recognise and respond to the fact that everything we work on, whether mental health or livelihoods, has gendered dimensions. One size fits all approaches simply won’t cut it.

What do you think your younger self would say to the Cynthia who’s been pivotal to our work with girls, and about our journey in this space? And what do you envision for the next 25 years of EMpower’s journey in advancing girls’ leadership?

My younger self might say “keep at it, more still to be done” – and I will. But mainly she would be so happy to see, know and celebrate the legion girls and young women who are speaking up and out, making change in their communities, and supporting their peers and sisters through the work that EMpower does. I also think my younger self would be glad I practice what I preach – I have deep female friendships and close colleagues and I treasure and nurture these.

I hope that in 25 years we don’t have to preface “leadership” with “girls” – that it is taken as a given that girls and young women lead. To that end, I believe in the power of example and of critical mass – hundreds of thousands more girls and young women speaking up, demonstrating success, being unapologetic about equal rights and working towards those for all – this will have huge ripple effects. And with many fierce girls’ advocates on EMpower’s staff, Boards and supporters – and with Nisha at the helm – I know that our strong commitment to advancing girls’ opportunities and platforms is rock-solid.