Mandela Washington Fellowship at the University of Notre Dame alum Beatrice Schultz gave an Ignite Talk at the Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit in Washington, D.C., in August 2023.
Following her six weeks at Notre Dame, Schultz and other cohort members traveled to Washington, D.C., for a summit where they forged connections with one another and U.S. leaders from the private, public, and non-profit sectors, setting the stage for long-term engagement between the United States and Africa.
As part of the summit, Schultz was selected to deliver a fast-paced, five-minute presentation where she offered her perspective on the importance of “shining together.”
Schultz says we must recognize the power of community, the power to demand respect for the faculties of our minds and the environments of our communities. We shine together, Schultz says, when we embrace our co-workers and colleagues and bask in the glow of each other's accomplishments.
Below is a transcript of Schultz's Ignite Talk delivered at the Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit in Washington, D.C., in August 2023
I was born in Ghana, grew up in Botswana, and am a Namibian citizen. I have had the opportunity of being exposed to different people with different beliefs and worldviews. I have friends who are Muslim family members who are German, Chinese, Christian, Jewish, atheist, and agnostic. And in all that, it taught me this simple truth. Our differences are what make us better together.
My name is Beatrice Schultz, and I'm an African child. I grew up in a world where it was seen as taboo to send a girl to school. I remember watching campaigns on television that encouraged parents to send their daughters to school. Why? Because it was seen as a waste of money to educate a girl. They will say she will grow up and get married. What is the purpose of sending her to school? With four daughters and two sons, my father sent all of us to school despite being ridiculed by his peers, and in that, he taught me the power of diversity and inclusion.
Today, I am an executive mentor, helping individuals, organizations, and governments achieve diversity and inclusion goals. And in the past few years, I have seen a boom in initiatives to empower the girl child. Trust me; I am at the forefront, striving, toiling, and sweating for equal pay and opportunities for the girl child. But a bird with one wing cannot fly. To achieve a shared future, we must empower and support everyone regardless of age, gender, ability, and ethnicity.
Members of states, ladies and gentlemen, and fellow African leaders, look at the fingers on your hand. They all have different lenses and sizes but work together to be the hand. Let us work together to create a future that allows for collaboration, inclusion, diversity, and equity. How? Understanding when the person next to you is shining means you are blowing, too. It is shifting your mindset to understand that we are a community and we were designed to flourish and work together as a unit. I am because we are different entities but have the same function. We are the hand with the lens and shapes. Now, will it be difficult? Yes, yes, it will be. But can we achieve it? Yes, we can. Echoing the words of Nelson Mandela, a real leader uses every situation, no matter how serious or sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate, we emerge stronger and more united than ever. Members of state, ladies and gentlemen, and fellow African leaders, be unapologetic about who you are because it is in the differences that make us spectacular. Together, we will create a world that progresses for all. As the old African proverb says, when we go together, we go further. Thank you.