This past week in Kigali, Rwanda leaders from across the globe gathered at the Transform Africa Summit. During her address First Lady of Rwanda Jeanette Kagame urged attendees to close the gender equality gap long before the stated Sustainable Development Goal of 2030.

Rwanda is ranked among the countries with the fastest growing rate of economic development worldwide – but it hasn’t always been this way.

Resonate founder and CEO Ayla Schlosser will attend the Unreasonable Global Institute in Boulder, Colorado this July and August. Selected from hundreds of applicants around the world, Ayla will be among 13 innovative entrepreneurs who will be joined by 75 mentors and over 100 funders to grow their organizations and catalyze lasting social change.

We are very excited to announce that Claire Uwineza is joining the Resonate team as the Operations Manager. Claire comes to Resonate with an impressive academic and professional resume.

We arrived in Rwinkwavu just before 9am. The dusty moto ride from the bus station to the countryside brought us to an open field where young women in white t-shirts were already gathering. Feelings of excitement permeated the still cool air as the young women began to sing and dance in circles. We soon found ourselves a welcome part of …

For Asifiwe, a 18-year-old girl, being young isn’t an excuse for not earning a small income. Her dream of becoming a doctor was born with her dad’s support. Unfortunately, he died when she was still in primary school and her mother couldn’t afford to send Asifiwe and both her brothers to school. Yet Asifiwe didn’t let the shocking moment of losing her father and her family’s limited resources ruin her future. Instead she worked hard and showed her mother that she deserves to go to school.

Brandon Stanton, a photographer and creator of Humans of New York, set out in 2010 to document the lives of New Yorkers – but his interactions with the strangers he photographs doesn’t always end with a click of the camera. Early this year he raised more than $1 million to send a group of sixth graders from one of Brooklyn’s most crime-ridden neighborhood’s to visit Harvard.

One of our first partner organizations was the Akilah Institute, a college that offers a unique model of market-relevant education empowering graduates for success in careers and leadership roles.

Last November I had just moved to Rwanda to launch Resonate. As I prepared to teach my first ever Storytelling for Leadership workshop in country, I reflected on how fitting it was that my first group of students would be the graduating class of Rwanda’s only women’s college. As a Smith College graduate, I know firsthand how inspiring it can be to study alongside other dedicated, smart, passionate women.