Featured picture by Alice Chen
Final fall, at a retreat within the hills of Santa Fe, New Mexico, I met Dr. Tererai Trent. We had 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 youngsters 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 offer again — preserving women at school and constructing sustainable futures locally the place she grew up.
That lit a spark in me. Once I returned dwelling, I started just about volunteering along with her nonprofit, Tererai Trent Worldwide (TTI). They had been elevating an endowment and wanted assist with storytelling — a ability I exploit every single day in my govt communications position at Cisco.
We determined to provide a video for his or her web site and donors. We had 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 night time, with butterflies in my coronary heart, I pinged my supervisor on Webex to ask if this may very well be doable — and expressed my concern about leaving the workforce short-handed, particularly after only some months as a full-time worker.
Her quick sure — mixed with Cisco’s Time2Give paid volunteer time (80 hours a yr along with our trip day without work, satirically, the precise variety of days I’d be away) — was surreal, exhilarating, and stuffed me with gratitude.
It wasn’t nearly day without work. It was the belief and the idea that who I’m outdoors of labor issues simply as a lot as what I contribute inside Cisco, and that uncommon sort of assist blew me away.
Three quick weeks later, I used to be packing my bag and heading to Africa.
Photographs by Alice Chen
At every college we visited, the challenges had 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 lecturers whose tales confirmed the influence 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 after we visited her household, they spoke with such satisfaction about how her achievement is reworking their high quality of life, exhibiting how alternatives ripple outward, touching many lives.
One other girl used her scholarship to grow to be a instructor 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 faculties with sources to incorporate youngsters of all talents in courses quite than preserving them at dwelling, mirroring the sort 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 total class, she left college for a yr. 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 — reworking 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 lecturers, and a group intent on rising. Clear water feeds college gardens that nourish youngsters and generate earnings, and stitching collectives give ladies dignified work and actual selection 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 seemed much less like a title and extra like getting proximate, being attentive to what actually issues, and seeing how every part connects.
Right here, at Cisco, I assist leaders talk with readability, authenticity, and coronary heart. My time in Zimbabwe strengthened all these muscle tissues — giving me real-world examples of how programs pondering, good questions, and deep listening, mixed with endurance and empathy, enhance outcomes. That video Tererai and I first dreamed about is now coming to life — for gratis to her group — utilizing the abilities and contacts I’ve present in my position. That alignment between influence and craft is one motive I #LoveWhereIWork. Cisco doesn’t simply speak about Function; it makes room for us to dwell it.
My recommendation is straightforward: increase your hand, anticipate the sudden, and say sure to the moments that stretch you. At Cisco, we’re inspired to comply with alternatives that generally really feel greater 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 the planet.
In Shona, Zimbabwe’s native language, there’s a phrase: We are able to — it’s achievable. Cisco’s Function is straightforward: to Energy an Inclusive Future for All. Collectively, we will make it doable.
Able to make a worldwide influence, an actual distinction on the planet, and dedicate time to causes you care about, supported by packages like Time2Give? Be part of us!
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