Welcome to the team Olivia!

Introducing Olivia, our newest team member joining Komera! Olivia joined Komera as a scholar in 2014 and, after finishing her undergraduate degree, will be joining us as the ICT Officer. She’ll be working with our PSTP students on their computer and English skills. She is most excited to start working with the scholars to show them what their futures after Komera can look like!

How did you first hear about Komera? 

Olivia as an undergraduate at Davis College - Akilah Campus

The first time I heard about Komera was in 2014 when I was applying for the Komera scholarship. I was selected to be one of the Komera scholars and was with them until I graduated from college at Davis College Akilah Campus in Information Technology. The years I spent with Komera as a scholar brought me so many insights on what Komera is, and does, in the lives of younger girls and women in the community.

What made you want to join Komera full time?

Komera has been inspiring me through all the hard work, efforts, and activities they do to bring a great change and transformation in the community, but more especially, in the lives of young women from vulnerable families like me. Komera's mission and vision of developing self-confident young women through education, community development, sport and health is the great revolutionary commitment that made me want to be part of.

What projects are you most excited to dive into and support the team with?

Currently I am running the program called post-secondary transition program that empowers high school graduates and Komera scholars in identifying their next steps career wise. Through this program, scholars receive Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) training. They learn the English language to help them improve their fluency and their public speaking skills. They get to learn business skills that would help them in future, and they receive career guidance for them to be able to make well informed decisions when it comes to the majors they want to take at university.

We also discuss potential work or business opportunities they would want to start with the support of Komera. Komera inspires all scholars to be independent and strong women financially, mentally and physically. I am very excited to dive deep in this program! I have another small program of training the team on the use of Google services such as the use of Google Drive. I have seen the gap and I believe learning these things as well as other skills would contribute a lot to the team’s productivity.

What is your favorite part of the Komera program or mission that inspires you? 

One of the things that inspires me about Komera is that everyone here believes that young women have the right to lead change in their communities. Komera’s mission of empowering women to bring the changes they want to see and live by in communities, is something that inspires me the most.

A big piece of Komera’s mission is female empowerment through sport and health wellness. What is your personal favorite way to sweat and how do you practice self-care? 

My personal favorite way to sweat is doing my weekly mountain hiking; I usually do it every weekend. I love going to the mountains and feeling the freshness, and the relieving part of it. I practice self-care through eating healthy, drinking a lot of water, like two liters per day, and I’m now on my self-awareness journey which is also another big part of self-care and self- love. In my self-awareness journey I do weekly meditations at least two times a week, daily affirmations, and journaling.

What is a fun, unique or weird fact about you:

One weird thing about me is that I believe that it's okay sometimes to not be understood by everyone even if they mean a lot to you or they are close to you. Sometimes people may not understand you or your view on certain things and it's not your business to dry yourself up trying to convince them to get your point. It's a great time for you to focus more on what you believe in, and let your actions speak for you.

Inspirational quote or mantra you live by:

The inspirational quote I live by is by Paulo Coelho and it says “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

Click the link to learn more about the Post-Secondary Transition Program scholars Olivia will be working with!