Commitments and Insights from Women Emerging’s Expedition for Global Changemakers
When you meet people who have devoted their lives to creating change in difficult places, you can be sure they’ve done some deep inner work to build their resilience, tenacity, and zeal. The dream of driving change is not an easy one, only the brave take it on.
So, when we, Women Emerging began the Expedition for Global Changemakers, we knew we were journeying with some of the world’s bravest minds. Yet even the boldest among us carry questions, doubts, and hopes for growth.
Surprising Truths Beneath the Surface
For all of us, it’s not until we truly pause and reflect, sometimes alongside like minds, that we recognize what truly shapes and motivates us. For many changemakers, conversing with fellow changemakers from different areas of the world and in different sectors revealed unexpected truths about themselves.
Ridhima Pandey, one of the explorers, discovered that motherness is part of her essence, just not in the way she once thought. It shows up in her instinct to protect animals, communities, and nature, which now shapes her work as a changemaker. Similarly, Belai Lactania found that motherness is central to her identity, not in a traditional sense, but through the weight of responsibilities she’s carried and her instinct to take on burdens even when not asked.
Our essence not only reveals areas of weaknesses but opportunities for display of strength as well. Chiara Longo used to have a strained relationship with her body due to her stutter. But over time, she learned that her voice, though imperfect, is vital to her advocacy, and she has grown to embrace it fully. Just like Ghina Raihanah, embraces her ancestry and sees how the wisdom and education passed down from her father has fueled her passion for change today and the balance she needs as a changemaker today.
Jettisoning Vs. Reframing (What Has to Go?)
Our essence are also breeding grounds for prejudices that must be jettisoned (gotten rid of) or reframed in light of our current realities. During the expedition, Ridhima Pandey started to learn that she must balance her inner elements. While her mother, a forest ranger, had to unlearn the feeling of not being good enough, what Ridhima has a different challenge, she is learning to reframe what it means to be a good girl. As a girl who grew up in India, being a good girl was a shield, but she now uses it strategically to engage with sectors of society that will ordinarily dismiss her as rebellious. This allows her to enter spaces safely and to stand firm in her convictions.
In a conversation with her guide, Ines Yaba, who works along the Peruvian coastline, discovered how language shapes how she leads. Since she was forced to learn French when she moved to Switzerland, she finds it hard to assert herself in that language. Now, by blending her style of leading across languages and cultures, she opens new doors for her advocacy.
Beyond the Labels
For these global changemakers, the Expedition did not end with answers but with commitments. During a collective discussion, the explorers identified the need to reframe what they called the “1D perspective.” What does this mean? Women who lead are often pressured to present themselves in one-dimensional ways, either as the endlessly strong activist, the nurturing caregiver, or the intellectual voice. Over seven months, the expedition made space to resist that narrative. Together, they embraced a multi-dimensional perspective to themselves as changemakers: holding strength and softness, resilience and vulnerability, ambition and rest, all at once. The Expedition for Global Changemakers ended, but the work continues in each changemaker. We cannot wait to see how they keep leading with defiance against the stereotypes’ and with courage.
