Fueling Youth Empowerment: My Journey to Advocating for Youth

Have you ever sat in a room and thought to yourself what on earth am I doing here? If you haven’t then consider yourself lucky because it is truly a unique experience – well unique in that so many people suffer from imposter syndrome and you are one of the few that don’t.

Throughout my career and education, I always asked myself the same question anytime I entered a meeting – where are all the young people?

Suffice it to say, I have spent far too many hours sitting in on meetings where people debated what was best for young people, or what they thought young people would think or how they would react. It would be one thing if these assumptions were accurate, but often it was as if they were all being pulled out of this box labelled ‘generic and negative things to characterize young peole’.

Young people have been made to seem apathetic, lazy, disloyal, noncommital and disengaged from society and their everyday lives.

But something about those assumptions never sat right with me. Never mind the fact that I don’t think it was remotely close to a description of who I was, but it didn’t resemble so many of the young people I had met along the way. Call me biased, but they got young people all wrong.

In all transparency, I didn’t have the confidence back then to speak up and change that narrative. I was scared of what their reaction would be. Would they see what I could see in young people?

This got me thinking, what actually characterized young people? What did they do? What did they believe in? Why did everything these people said in those countless meetings not resonate with me?

Maybe it is because of the countless young people I have met who are changing the world and their communities. It’s the passion, energy, and creativity that reminds me why I will continue to advocate for young people.

The simple truth is this: If organizations want to succeed, expand their reach, and continue to grow, they have no choice but to do so with youth at their side.

If you get the chance, I implore you to sit in a room with youth and just ask them a question about how they feel. Ask them how they feel about their workload, your organization or company, and how they can be better supported – talk to them. You have the opportunity to empower youth!

This is a out of the box concept to some because the idea of asking young people what they think just isn’t the norm. Asking one young person for their opinion does not mean you have a well-rounded idea of how an entire generation views or understands something. An young individual’s perspective is valid, but it is not reflective of every other young person's point of view.

Youth are invigorating, they are passionate, they care and they will stop at nothing to help the people they care most about.

I like to think that’s who I am as a person, and how other people view me.

But when I think back to that younger girl in those meetings who didn’t dare to speak her mind, I’m reminded that we have a long way to go.

After years of experience, trial and error and finding my voice, I decided that enough was enough. Young people deserve to be heard and deserve to be included in discussions that impact them. Somehow, I redirected my attention to youth empowerment.

I stumbled into youth engagement almost accidentally. I had just come off a contract that had burnt me out and was looking for a new role. Then I saw a youth engagement coordinator job posting and even though I’m no longer a part of it, that experience changed me forever.

There are so many things wrong in this world, but the stories I hear about young people are belittled, mistreated and cast aside because of their age and this stereotype that’s being held against them, makes me want to fight back just a bit harder.

So that’s why I’m here. I am here to work with organizations to help them realize the value youth have, and how much they can grow when they engage with youth.

The world keeps changing and if you want to adapt to it, the only thing you can do is have youth at your side that are already preparing for what tomorrow will look like and fighting to make sure that this world will be a better place.

You have no idea the power, strength, resilience and might you can bring to your team if only you take the time to sit down with the young people in your community. I can promise you that your organization and community will never be the same.