In the latest (and long awaited) installment of the Story Tellers Series, I introduce to you YasmineFofana, an individual dedicated to changing this world in every possible way. I have been honored to correspond with her, tweet with her, and connect on various levels. She is truly an individual after my own heart’s desires. A relationship that began on LinkedIn has blossomed into a beautiful international friendship and I am so excited to share her story with you.
Sometimes coming from a background unrelated to the nonprofit sector can be both rewarding and challenging. Most of the individuals I’ve come in contact with make the decision to switch sectors because of self fulfillment, the need to be in a position to ignite social change, and to see it played out on a daily basis. Other times, it can be because of an amazing experience working with an NGO or volunteering. Whatever the case may be, there are a number of things that go through a person’s mind as they are thinking about altering directions. Yasmine has graciously agreed to share with us her hardships and successes with being a young “sector switcher.”
YasmineFofana, born and raised in Ivory Coast from Guinean, Senegalese, and Malian parents, was immersed in thinking globally through her various experiences. Living abroad in the United States for 6 years and attending Mansfield University of Pennsylvania bolstered her experiences and pulled her even closer to the nonprofit sector and serving as a global citizen.
Staying in the United States for about 6 years represents one of the most incredible experiences I’ve thus far. Indeed, I had to chance to meet so many other “cultured creatures” and live in a cross cultural setting with more than 80 ethnically diverse students in the International House, in Harrisburg PA.
After obtaining a Bachelors in Business Administration, International Business concentration, she moved back home to Cote d’Ivoire. She has always had an innate motivation to act as a global citizen, and being at the heart of conflict caused her to come in contact with NGO’s on every level.
I was 14 years old when my native country suffered from a political coup, then followed 12 long years of a tense political situation that ultimately degraded itself into a civil war in late March-early April of the year 2011. My interest for the nonprofit sector really started while in College and during my post graduate years while engaging myself in volunteering activities within small institutions dedicated to the cause of refugees and more specifically their integration into their new community.
After witnessing the political coup firsthand, and the negative impact that came afterwards, then shifting her environment and volunteering, she was able to see how nonprofit organizations directly influenced the outcome of lives that were torn apart by the same situation she experienced. Through that discovery, her interest grew.
The nonprofit sector therefore seemed to offer countless opportunities for people in need, refugees from war. I felt as if I could DO something. As time went by, I also started to have the recurring feeling that something was lacking in my for profit experience…
Yasmine’s top priorities in her professional career are to ensure that she is at her “spiritual, social, and financial peek. These three elements are what I need to balance out my life and keep going.”
Even though her business management degree did not set the clear path into the nonprofit sector she “aspired to switch into the sector, while looking forward to the great challenges ahead.”
Now that I have introduced Yasmine, check in soon as she shares the criticism she received from her family when she decided to switch sectors, her favorite “career quote,” and her success in finding a job with a nonprofit organization.
I promise it will come in a timely manner 🙂
Cultured Creature 