Caitlin Figueiredo, Founder and CEO of Jasiri Australia on the importance of emerging leadership

This episode, Shadé Zahrai interviews Caitlin Figueiredo, Founder and CEO of Jasiri Australia. She is also an Australian Youth Development Index Expert Panelist of the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Board Member and Vice Chair of Australian Youth Affairs Coalition and Ambassador of Alannah and Madeline Foundation. She was named Young Leader of the 100 Women of Influence in Australia, an Obama White House Changemaker and a Queens Young Leader. Some of her other past roles include, Head of Technology and Data for the Australian Red Cross, Task Force Member for the UN Women, Representative to the UN Annual Youth Assembly, Australian Director for The Global Resolutions Project, Founder and State Director of World Vision ACT.   Valuable Discussion Points (01:26) What is the story of Caitlin’s leadership journey and what is her experience of leadership at such a young age?   For Caitlin, leadership is not defined by age. She started pretty young, and that was mainly because of her grandparents and parents who taught her from a young age that leadership and supporting your community has to start from the time that one is young. So it's always been very natural for her to be a leader. When her family came to Australia from Kenya, a couple of years after the White Australia Policy ended, they found it really difficult in the beginning to fit in. They faced cultural prejudice and racial discrimination. When Caitlin was little, they learnt that the whole part of themselves was to give back to their community, to serve their community and to leave where they live better than they found it.   (04:10) What is Caitlin’s main program, Girls Takeover Parliament?   Jasiri Australia, the organisation founded by Caitlin, runs the Girls Takeover Parliament programme. Essentially, it's an experiential education initiative to create pathways to politics for young women both across Australia and around the world. The whole purpose of Girls Takeover Parliament is to open the closed doors to young women everywhere so that they can be shapers of democracy, so that they can see that even though they're not represented, they can be and that's why Caitlin and Jasiri Australia partner young women with politicians. They’ve recently had one of their first alumni actually run for office. The program has young women who work in the most senior ministerial offices in the country. They also have alumni go on to create similar programmes in India. The programme aims to create the next generation of politicians and what Caitlin likes to say, creating the next generation of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.   (09:14) Has Caitlin ever experienced imposter syndrome?   One example where she experienced imposter syndrome was when she had just won the Young Leader category of the 100 Women of Influence in Australia. She had just turned twenty-one. She thought to herself that she had barely done anything in her life to win and deserve the award. She remembered just absolutely shaking, not having any courage, but she knew that she had to use that moment to overcome imposter syndrome.   (22:43) What does Caitlin’s mantra, everywhere is an opportunity, mean?   There are infinite possibilities in life and that it's up to us to not only find them, but to use it. So what I'd like to tell young women everywhere is that if they have an idea and people tell them no, just keep working until you get a yes. If you don't get that, yes, straight away, find a back door and persist because there is always a way to overcome a problem and make your idea become a reality.   Key Learnings For women who hold back from speaking up in meetings, from applying for roles to moving into politics, Caitlin’s advice is simple, to just do it, to just start. Don't wait until you think you have the finances or if you are at a certain age in life, if you see that you have the passion behind you and that you want to make a difference, then just do it. From the time we’re little, we live in a life o