Stefanie Stanislawski nous parle de son parcours passionnant et du rôle de notre Génération dans les problématiques de mixité. Ambassadrice WoMen’Up au Mexique, Présidente de la branche Mexicaine de Vital Voices, une organisation non-gouvernementale créée par Hillary Clinton pour accompagner les femmes dans leurs projets et libérer leur potentiel, Stéfanie est une GenY à suivre de très près !
– Stefanie, tell us more about you…
I was born and raised in Mexico City. My father is Polish and my mother is Mexican, and I believe that’s probably the reason my education and mindset have always been quite different from the rest. I studied Industrial and Systems Engineering – quite uncommon for a girl in Mexico – and I’ve developed an expertise in Strategy and Human Resources. Both areas I consider key in every company.
– What has led you to commit to the advancement of women? What is the situation like in Mexico? Has this influenced your decision to get involved? If so, how?
I have a strong love for my country, it has given me many things, and I know it has the potential to become a World Power, but I also know that we have a lot of things we need to overcome to actually shine the way we could. One of those things is the lack of empowerment women have.
We need to act, we can’t just complain and expect things to happen. And I thought I could be a part of this change by helping those around me to challenge assumptions and promote equality through my own example.
As Millennials we’re supposed to have a fresh mindset, but I’ve realized that when it comes to women’s roles, we don’t. At least in Mexico, we still believe women don’t need to study or should study an “easy” non-related-to-math degree, that they should get married, have kids and dedicate their lives to their families. Considering their professional development and the involvement of men in house chores is unthinkable.
How can we change that? How can we show that we can now have it all? That women and men should be companions and help each other along the way? Those are the questions that led me to getting involved in fighting for women empowerment in Mexico.
And I must say it hasn’t been easy, sometimes women are the first ones to block the way.
– What do you mean…?
In my experience I’ve found two types of professional women in Mexico.
The first group belongs to those who don’t believe they can be a crucial part of change. They think they’ve achieved what they have because « they are lucky », and they don’t get involved with anything else.
And the second group belongs to the « busy busy busy » ones. These women have so many things going on that nothing else fits in their schedules. They don’t understand that we need them to continue what they’ve started.
– What are the concrete initiatives that you have undertaken?
Last year I started working with Vital Voices in Mexico, an organization founded by Hillary Clinton in 1997 which identifies, invests and brings visibility to extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate prosperity in their community. Vital Voices is totally aligned with my dream and is the perfect platform to “unleash” the power of women in Mexico.
I’ve been involved in the establishment of the chapter in Mexico, and I’m responsible for organizing the Mentoring Walk which convenes established women leaders and emerging women leaders to walk together in their community. As they walk, they discuss their professional challenges and successes to establish a mentoring relationship. The Global Mentoring Walk is an opportunity to highlight the importance of women’s leadership and to accelerate the impact of women leaders through mentoring.
Now I’m planning new projects and ideas always aligned to my dream of seeing Mexico become the great country it can be with the help of both their male and female citizens.
– People have said that Millennials – members of the Generation Y – are entitled and individualistic… What’s your view on our generation?
I believe every generation has its qualities, Boomers for example are very loyal and workaholics, the members of generation X are excellent when it comes to “building bridges”, us Millennials we are visionaries, we are idealist, we’re all ready to do things differently.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet wonderful people from Generation Y, with projects as ambitious as the sky; they all want to save the world, to do something for their community, always considering things such as work-life balance and recognition.
And from my point of view, things are starting to change; we have become agents of change, builders of a new world, where the individual has turned into the center of things, into something more relevant than what previous generations worshiped.
So, yes, in that sense we are individualistic, but it was time that someone realized that our own happiness is more important than anything else.
– Do you see differences – or similarities – in the way the GenY tackles issues such as gender diversity and women empowerment compared to members of the Generation X, women you have worked with?
From what I’ve seen, the difference is mainly the fact that we do it for the fun of it, things such as money and power have become less and less important to us Millennials, but not necessarily for X and Boomers who still look up to this things to feel satisfied.
When I’ve worked with Millennials in this sort of projects, we all knew we were not going to gain anything, we would probably lose, but we were happy about it. When the same thing happens with people from Generation X, they all want to earn something, and I believe this is one of the main reasons our generation has done more changes than any other before us, we just go for it.
– You are the WoMen’Up ambassador for Mexico: what has motivated you to join WoMen’Up?
The moment I found out about WoMen’Up I knew I wanted to become a part of it; their ideals are totally aligned with the way I think, the women and men that belong to it are people I truly admire, the passion behind is unbelievable, and to me these are pretty good reasons to become a part of something.
Empowering women from a new perspective, a fresh mindset that characterizes us Millennials, integrating instead of dividing; all of this things were very important to me when I decided I wanted to become the spokesman of WoMen’Up in Mexico. I probably came a bit too soon for things to happen as fast as I wanted, but I know we’ll continue to do things together, and I feel incredibly honored to be considered part of the team.
Morgane Viguet
Passionnée d’écriture et de voyage, de découverte et de partage, Morgane aime apprendre et explorer en permanence, découvrir de nouvelles cultures, de nouveaux espaces, de nouvelles façons de réinventer le monde qui nous entoure. Résolument curieuse, elle s’intéresse à des sujets très variés, allant de la culture à l’innovation, en passant par les ressources humaines et l’entrepreneuriat. Ancienne étudiante en histoire du genre, Morgane a toujours porté un regard particulier aux problématiques hommes/femmes. Tombée dans le Web autour d’un (heureux) hasard, la toile s’avère être un fabuleux espace de fouille, de recherche, d’échange et de créativité rendant possible une mutation des genres et des pratiques socio-culturelles. Informer, surprendre, enchanter, créer, co-créer… à l’heure de l’Open source, de l’économie collaborative, le champ des possibles est infiniment grand. Un tantinet aventurière, Morgane aime relever des défis et se dépasser. Avec son projet MétamorFaiseurs, elle est partie à la rencontre d'ambassadeurs du changement dans le monde autour de l'éducation, l'égalité homme/femme et l'environnement et se lance dans la réalisation d'un webdocumentaire. MétamorFaiseurs : un monde en mutation, des Faiseurs en action !