The Challenges and Opportunities of Interning at the G(irls)20 Summits in Mexico and Russia

By Olivia Zed and Isabella Goldberg-Jussup

We are the only two people in the world who can say they interned at a G(irls)20 Summit. Why is this important to us? Because interning on a project which was thousands of miles away from home, (with an organization that is Canadian but active around the world) gave us a sneak peak at global issues surrounding women, navigating through different cultures, and doing business internationally.

As two young women who believe that we can pursue any opportunity we wish to, it was interesting to meet with 21 girls from around the world who have the same desire but may not have the same opportunities.

For example, being a female engineer in Canada is regarded quite highly in the professional world. This year’s delegate from Japan, Carmina Mancenon, is currently studying to become an engineer in the United States. However, being a female engineer in Japan is not as prestigious as it is in the Western World. We realized that despite her impressive career path, being a female engineer in Japan might not be as respected, which could deter Carmina from returning to her home country. Being from Canada, it was hard to imagine that being a female engineer would be anything less than respectable.

In terms of volunteering in a country we had never been to, here are some of our observations:

1) Being out of your comfort zone makes you think creatively. For example, the backdrop banner for the Summit room was being held at customs, and unfortunately we were told we were unable to get it in time for the Summit. Being outside of our comfort zone helped us be more creative, and our solution ended up successful!

2) It’s challenging going into an environment where the majority of people do not share the same first language as you. In order to overcome this challenge we had to resort to body language, translation, and our own makeshift sign language.

3) It’s important to go into the country with knowledge of their culture and customs.

4) Prepare as much as you possibly can before arrival, because the moment you step off that plane there’s no way of predicting how things will roll out.

Now, as we are working post Summit without the everyday interaction with delegates, one of the major challenges for us is successfully communicating with our delegates, regarding their thoughts and ideas. Thankfully, technology has made this challenge much less daunting.

In just over a week, we have both been in contact with all the delegates from this years Summit and previous Summits and have been able to discuss the initiatives that our delegates plan to put in place. You can already see some of their work if you visit http://www.girls20summit.com/the-summit/delegate-initiatives/.

And using a variety of social media tools such as Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Skype (https://plus.google.com/u/1/118079691460670584388/posts, https://www.facebook.com/Girls20Summit, http://www.linkedin.com/groups/G-irls-20-Summit-4301235, https://twitter.com/Girls20Summit, Skype: girls20summit) we can continue to keep in touch with the Ambassadors (former delegates) and help spotlight their achievements.

Even though this has been quite the task, the challenges are far outweighed by the opportunities we gained. We had the opportunity to meet girls from all over the world. We had the chance to listen and talk with our amazing panelists and speakers about the issues of the day and of the future. Even though we were not delegates, since we are both close in age we had a unique opportunity to learn about 21 young women’s experiences world wide and this helped us learn more about our own futures as social entrepreneurs.

The G(irls)20 Delegates may be small in numbers, but their impact is sure to be immeasurable.

Isabella Goldberg is currently a second year student enrolled in Arts at McGill University in Montreal, Canada http://www.girls20summit.com/about/staff/isabella-goldberg-jussup/

Olivia Zed is entering her first year in Arts at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. http://www.girls20summit.com/about/staff/olivia-zed/