What do you do when there’s an eclipse? Do you prefer to draw the curtains and keep your eyes shut? Or do you grab your special glasses and stare right at it?
Because life has eclipses too, moments of darkness that feel like forever, and if you aren’t prepared you could go blind.
I went from seeing my role model, Malala Yousafzai, give a speech at the United Nations’s Girl Up Global Leadership Summit, to becoming the youngest speaker at the same summit as her. My speech on intersectional feminism aired across 100+ countries and reached millions.
But after achieving my dreams overnight, there was a loud ‘what now?’ in my head. It was my first eclipse and I didn’t know what to do with it.
But the thing about darkness is that it's always temporary, and if you don’t have some darkness in your life how could you ever appreciate the light?
You don’t need the perfect timing, the perfect situation or the perfect life to change the world, because that will never come and you will be blinded by your eclipse.
My journey to this point began with an application to Kode with Klossy, a US based program by the supermodel Karlie Kloss that offers scholarships for a coding-intensive program. Like any other 14-year-old without any experience, I believed I wouldn’t get in, but, unfortunately for some, I did.
Attending virtually, I would stay up till late at night to learn coding, talk to advisors and even meet incredibly inspiring role models. As part of the program we were required to set a group project. While I was brainstorming with my friends in a different time zone, we realised we wanted our project for this program to be about raising awareness of global issues and they chose me as the leader.
I fueled my passion for justice with all the sexist comments I’d heard, as well as one of my teacher’s belief that I ‘wouldn’t get too far' (thanks for that).
I’ve stayed true to that mission, to prove that girls, especially young girls, deserve a seat at the table just as much as anyone. But now I’m not fueled by someone else’s opinion of me, I’m fueled by my ambition to change lives.
I’ve negotiated deals at 5 am on a school morning as the head of operations of a global non-profit, named She’s So Cool, and been in charge of their chapters in eight countries, impacting over 50,000 women through this initiative.
I’ve done research with NASA and King’s College London, advocated for the education of young girls in Nigeria, written for UNICEF, and given a speech at the United Nations General Assembly as a youth representative.
At just 16, I was named one of the top nine global girls in Gen-Ê by Être, and that title wasn’t just symbolic, it marked the beginning of a journey that has since reached hundreds of thousands of people across the world.
Recently I gave a TED-Ed talk in NYC as the sole representative of Australia, and then I went down to Canberra and debated at the Parliament House as part of the National Schools Constitutional Convention (NSCC) program and met many of our federal ministers.
Big moments like winning an award, giving a speech or being on the news all look great, but once it's done you don’t feel much.
For me, the true impact of my advocacy came after this - when girls from around the world reached out to say I had inspired them to start their own advocacy journeys.
I’ve met youth leaders, CEOs, young entrepreneurs, UN advisors and government ministers who’ve faced their own eclipses in moments of fear, doubt, and failure.
But what sets them apart isn’t avoiding the dark. It’s choosing to learn from it and remembering what you stand for.
Instead of waiting for the light to return, make a choice. Either shut the curtains and regroup, or put on the glasses and face the moment head-on.
World leaders don’t wait for the perfect timing, so if you wish to be one, then why are you?
