The International Day of the Girl is coming up later this week and a young woman from North Bay is one of 30 in Canada taking part in Plan International Canada’s ‘Girls Belong Here’ initiative.

It’s a day-long ‘seat share’ with CEOs, Presidents and business leaders.

Cindy Karugia will be shadowing the President and CEO of Manulife on Wednesday.

She’s excited to offer her thoughts to the company, especially as a woman of colour.

“Just to be in there and have them hear my opinion I think is super empowering and I’m excited. I hope we can get the message across so a little eight year old me, when I think back, can dream of these places,” she says.

Young women and girls ages 14-24 will be leading meetings, participating in important conversations, contributing to critical organizational goals and demonstrating the value in their unique perspectives.

Karugia says this is not a take your kid to work day, pointing out she was really impressed with the work Plan International has put into this.

“They took us down to Toronto, they trained us in media training, getting your message out, just the key things by empowering us because they really want us to enter those spaces and tell them what we think,” she says.

This is the fourth year of the initiative, which started September 10th and wraps up on Thursday.

Companies taking part include banks, major retailers, music labels, and consumer packaged goods organizations.

Filed under: girls-belong-here, international-day-of-the-girl