Hear it from Zehra

By Zehra Kayi (TPF Intern)

On Thursday, July 18^th, Dayle Haddon, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and founder of Women One, who has teamed up with Turkish Philanthropy Funds to support girls education in Turkey, gave an inspirational and insightful speech at the United Nations to World

Information Transfer Interns and other students. Haddon spoke of her trials and tribulations in the beauty industry throughout the years, and explained how she created her organization “Women One.” Her encouraging words proved that anyone who is motived enough, could make a difference in the world.

Initially a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Haddon had seen the misfortunes of the world outside of the beauty industry. After this initial spark she gathered her resources and created her own non-for profit organization, Women One. Picking two countries a year, this year, she has been to Kenya and Turkey, creating schools for girls in both respective places. However, this is only a start as Haddon hopes to continue her success with raising awareness about the mistreatment and lack of opportunities for girls and women that live in disadvantaged parts of the world.

Visiting five different cities within Turkey, Dayle reflected back onto the inspiring women she had met and told her their stories in hopes that she can make a difference. From the women of Van, to the little refugee girls of Hatay, Dayle saw that despite what they had been through, there was still the possibility of a new and promising life through education and skill training.

Dayle’s stories of Turkey were something that I was very familiar with; the little girls she had mentioned seemed like they could have been my distant relatives. Coming from a Turkish family, I personally experienced seeing girls that didn’t have the opportunity to continue their education.

This misfortune alone is something that alone motivates me everyday to continue my education, so that one day my success can change the lives of the next generation of girls. Working as an Intern at Turkish Philanthropy Funds, I have been given the gift of learning many new things in the sector foundations and civil society; but most of all I can directly see the benefits that single-handedly change the lives of thousands of women and children. When I go into the office at TPF, I don’t see it as “work,” I see it as building myself into a better and more knowledge.
Moving us with her experiences in the field of creating her own organization, she conveyed the theme of success and failures to everyone.; motivating the students to continue with their goals even if they drift into failure in one sense or another. Dayle concluded her speech with the message that through willfulness and the strength of character, one can accomplish what they set their mind to. With the words “No isn’t a no, it is a maybe that they are not ready for” she bid her farewell leaving us all with a sense of purpose and tenacity no matter what age, race, or gender we are.