Featured picture by Alice Chen
Final fall, at a retreat within the hills of Santa Fe, New Mexico, I met Dr. Tererai Trent. We have been two midlife girls, speaking between periods about what lived in our hearts. She shared her story: rising up in rural Zimbabwe, married with 4 youngsters by 18, escaping abuse, coming to the U.S., and in the end incomes her PhD. What stayed with me wasn’t simply her beating the percentages; it was her unwavering mission to offer again — preserving women in class and constructing sustainable futures locally the place she grew up.
That lit a spark in me. After I returned dwelling, I started just about volunteering together with her nonprofit, Tererai Trent Worldwide (TTI). They have been elevating an endowment and wanted assist with storytelling — a talent I take advantage of every single day in my govt communications function at Cisco.
We determined to supply a video for his or her web site and donors. We have been discussing filming remotely when she talked about an upcoming journey to Zimbabwe. I half-joked, “It’d be a lot simpler if I simply got here.” Fifteen minutes later, I used to be checking flights and realizing it would really be possible.
That evening, with butterflies in my coronary heart, I pinged my supervisor on Webex to ask if this might be attainable — and expressed my concern about leaving the staff short-handed, particularly after just a few months as a full-time worker.
Her rapid sure — mixed with Cisco’s Time2Give paid volunteer time (80 hours a 12 months along with our trip day off, paradoxically, the precise variety of days I’d be away) — was surreal, exhilarating, and stuffed me with gratitude.
It wasn’t nearly day off. It was the belief and the idea that who I’m exterior of labor issues simply as a lot as what I contribute inside Cisco, and that uncommon type of assist blew me away.
Three brief weeks later, I used to be packing my bag and heading to Africa.
Photographs by Alice Chen
At every college we visited, the challenges have been plain to see: school rooms with out dependable water, electrical energy, or meals; buildings in pressing want of restore. We filmed scholarship recipients, dad and mom, and academics whose tales confirmed the affect TTI is making on the bottom.
I met Sarah, who graduated with assist from TTI and now works in communications within the capital metropolis of Harare. She sends cash dwelling to assist her dad and mom and youthful siblings, and once we visited her household, they spoke with such delight about how her achievement is remodeling their high quality of life, displaying how alternatives ripple outward, touching many lives.
One other girl used her scholarship to change into a trainer centered on youngsters with disabilities in a tradition the place these moms, like herself, are sometimes stigmatized. She is working to problem that stigma, offering colleges with assets to incorporate youngsters of all talents in courses fairly than preserving them at dwelling, mirroring the type of inclusion we expertise at Cisco and work to offer the world.
What Florence shared has stayed with me the longest. After being humiliated in entrance of her complete class, she left college for a 12 months. A scholarship helped her return, graduate from college, and at this time she helps different women keep away from the identical destiny by stitching and distributing reusable interval pads — remodeling her hardest second into dignity and alternative for others.
Photographs by Alice Chen
All over the place I went, I noticed dedication: keen college students, dedicated academics, and a neighborhood intent on rising. Clear water feeds college gardens that nourish youngsters and generate earnings, and stitching collectives give girls dignified work and actual alternative of their futures. Listening to these girls inform their tales in individual, I used to be deeply moved — humbled not solely by their resilience, however by the reminder of how a lot we are able to accomplish when somebody helps and believes in us.
I noticed firsthand that Tererai and her staff aren’t simply operating a nonprofit; they’re constructing an ecosystem. Management appeared much less like a title and extra like getting proximate, listening to what actually issues, and seeing how every thing connects.
Right here, at Cisco, I assist leaders talk with readability, authenticity, and coronary heart. My time in Zimbabwe strengthened all these muscle tissue — giving me real-world examples of how techniques considering, good questions, and deep listening, mixed with persistence and empathy, enhance outcomes. That video Tererai and I first dreamed about is now coming to life — for gratis to her group — utilizing the talents and contacts I’ve present in my function. That alignment between affect and craft is one motive I #LoveWhereIWork. Cisco doesn’t simply discuss Goal; it makes room for us to reside it.
My recommendation is easy: elevate your hand, count on the surprising, and say sure to the moments that stretch you. At Cisco, we’re inspired to observe alternatives that generally really feel larger than our job descriptions. Once we do, we not solely develop — we discover ourselves a part of one thing that’s making a distinction on this planet.
In Shona, Zimbabwe’s native language, there’s a phrase: Tinogona — it’s achievable. Cisco’s Goal is easy: to Energy an Inclusive Future for All. Collectively, we are able to make it attainable.
Able to make a world affect, an actual distinction on this planet, and dedicate time to causes you care about, supported by packages like Time2Give? Be a part of us!
