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 ladies, speaking between periods about what lived in our hearts. She shared her story: rising up in rural Zimbabwe, married with 4 kids by 18, escaping abuse, coming to the U.S., and finally incomes her PhD. What stayed with me wasn’t simply her beating the chances; it was her unwavering mission to provide again — maintaining women at school and constructing sustainable futures in the neighborhood the place she grew up.
That lit a spark in me. Once I returned residence, I started nearly volunteering together with her nonprofit, Tererai Trent Worldwide (TTI). They have been elevating an endowment and wanted assist with storytelling — a talent I exploit daily in my govt communications position 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’d really be possible.
That evening, with butterflies in my coronary heart, I pinged my supervisor on Webex to ask if this could possibly be attainable — and expressed my concern about leaving the workforce short-handed, particularly after just a few months as a full-time worker.
Her instant sure — mixed with Cisco’s Time2Give paid volunteer time (80 hours a 12 months along with our trip time without work, satirically, the precise variety of days I’d be away) — was surreal, exhilarating, and stuffed me with gratitude.
It wasn’t nearly time without work. It was the belief and the assumption that who I’m exterior of labor issues simply as a lot as what I contribute inside Cisco, and that uncommon sort of help blew me away.
Three quick weeks later, I used to be packing my bag and heading to Africa.
Images by Alice Chen
At every college we visited, the challenges have been plain to see: lecture 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 residence to help her dad and mom and youthful siblings, and once we visited her household, they spoke with such satisfaction about how her achievement is remodeling their high quality of life, displaying how alternatives ripple outward, touching many lives.
One other lady used her scholarship to turn into a trainer centered on kids with disabilities in a tradition the place these moms, like herself, are sometimes stigmatized. She is working to problem that stigma, offering faculties with assets to incorporate kids of all skills in lessons fairly than maintaining them at residence, mirroring the sort of inclusion we expertise at Cisco and work to supply 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 present 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.
Images by Alice Chen
In all places I went, I noticed willpower: keen college students, dedicated academics, and a neighborhood intent on rising. Clear water feeds college gardens that nourish kids and generate revenue, and stitching collectives give ladies dignified work and actual alternative of their futures. Listening to these ladies inform their tales in particular person, I used to be deeply moved — humbled not solely by their resilience, however by the reminder of how a lot we will accomplish when somebody helps and believes in us.
I noticed firsthand that Tererai and her workforce aren’t simply operating a nonprofit; they’re constructing an ecosystem. Management regarded much less like a title and extra like getting proximate, listening to what really issues, and seeing how the whole lot connects.
Right here, at Cisco, I assist leaders talk with readability, authenticity, and coronary heart. My time in Zimbabwe strengthened all these muscle groups — giving me real-world examples of how techniques pondering, 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 — without charge to her group — utilizing the abilities and contacts I’ve present in my position. That alignment between affect and craft is one cause I #LoveWhereIWork. Cisco doesn’t simply discuss Objective; it makes room for us to dwell it.
My recommendation is straightforward: increase your hand, count on the sudden, and say sure to the moments that stretch you. At Cisco, we’re inspired to comply with alternatives that typically really feel larger than our job descriptions. After we do, we not solely develop — we discover ourselves a part of one thing that’s making a distinction on the earth.
In Shona, Zimbabwe’s native language, there’s a phrase: Tinogona — it’s achievable. Cisco’s Objective is straightforward: to Energy an Inclusive Future for All. Collectively, we will make it attainable.
Able to make a world affect, an actual distinction on the earth, and dedicate time to causes you care about, supported by packages like Time2Give? Be a part of us!
