Strong, powerful and intelligent. A real role model for the next generation of female leaders. The story of Sara Minkara is both, inspiring and empowering. Last year Sara Minkara has been included into Forbes «30 Under 30» in the Social Entrepreneurs Division. She is a dedicated leader, who is working hard to transform social stigma against disabilities across the world.
Sara became legally blind at the age of 7. Today, she is a graduate of Harvard University and the Founder and President of Empowerment Through Integration (ETI), a nonprofit that works on inclusion and empowerment of young people with visual impairment in the Middle East-North America Region. Since it’s foundation ETI has reached over 3,000 individuals across Lebanon and the United States.
Ms. Minkara, your experience as the leader of the ETI is so inspiring! You once said: “Believing in yourself, believing in your potential, will take you far. ETI is about supporting that belief.” It is a very powerful statement, indeed. What is the most challenging aspect of your work at ETI?
There’s a variety of different challenges. For any non-profit, it is always a challenge to fundraise, to generate income and funds for the organization. But there are other challenges. Often times, when global community sees disability, they still see charity. It’s so hard for us to interact with them without them seeing the charity aspect. And I think that’s been very challenging. I don’t like to hear the word «healthy». We are not here to help the blind. We are here to empower the community to be independent. So even with our donors, I become very strict. We don’t accept donors, donations from individuals that see it as a charity and that’s tough because that limits our donations, but we need to be standing strong with what we are speaking for.
So what is your strategy for fundraising then?
We apply for certain grants. We have certain donors that know me and believe in me. But now we’re establishing an income generating program in the US. We do training for corporations, universities and government entities, we charge a fee for these trainings and then those fees allow us to generate funds to make us sustainable as an organization.
Where does your inner strength come from?
I think it comes from a few different things. I think the first is my parents, especially my mom, they were very intentional in terms of having us. I’m Muslim. And I practice. I believe in my faith very strongly. I think they embraced that religion in our home in a loving way. My mom would always say: “Allah God had a purpose behind you. We are going down that path, see the beauty behind who you are, and see the strength and believe that God is never going to put you down, make you in a way that he doesn’t like”
So he’s the one who created me. And I think that in itself, knowing that I have a purpose, there’s a reason behind who I am. I think that has given me and still gives strength. Now my challenges are much different, so many political challenges. I constantly feel like I’m facing so many obstacles.
Trusting that things will work out and that things are meant to happen in a certain way. And I am, I am just blessed with a huge support system: my parents, my family, my friends and my staff.
Are you a natural born leader?
I think so. I think first of all there are two answers to that. I was a shy, timid girl for many years until I got out of college. Then I’ve started to explore who I am. And I think only when you really explore who you are and you start investing all of who you are, that’s when you start really getting some confidence.
I think a lot of people see leadership in a very linear and very boxed way. We need to rethink what leadership is. I think any of us can be leaders, to be honest. And people think leadership means authority. In my opinion, a leader is someone who can sit and listen and strategize and bring people together and then lead.
Girls and women of all ages and of any form of disability are among the most vulnerable in the society. What would your advice be to a young girl with disabilities in Central Asia?
I would always say that yes, you’re facing stigma on two levels. You know, your gender and your disability, but don’t let society dictate what your potential is and what you should or should not do. Be proud of who you are, embrace all of who you are. See the strength behind your identities and pursue your dreams.
Yes, life is going to be tough. It’s going to be challenging. You’re going to be fighting so many people that are going to be standing in your way but take one foot and the second foot and you’ll get there.
Live in your identity. Be independent. Embrace who you are and believe that you can make a change. And that’s the first step. When you believe that you can make a change and you have to pursue that, you have to understand life is not easy. It’s going to be difficult. Making a change and making a difference in life is very difficult, but you could do it.
What does women empowerment mean to you?
A woman empowerment to me means that every single woman out there can pursue their own dreams and their own passion and goals in life. That they are able to see the beauty and the strength of who they are. There’s so much beauty in our gender.
What woman inspires you the most?
My mom for sure. She’s definitely one of my role models. And such an amazing leader. Believing that every single one of your children has a purpose and something beautiful to contribute is important. My older sister is also blind and she has a Ph.D. in Chemistry. When my mother found out that my sister became blind and two years later I became blind at age seven. That’s a huge thing to be faced with, you know. So many people around her told her there’s no point in these girls. No point in educating them. Even people in our extended community believe that there’s no hope. They did not believe in us, but my mom did not listen to anyone around her. And that’s the thing. She didn’t listen to the voices of the society. Instead, she said to herself: “I’m going to distance from those voices, and I’m going to work on making sure that my kids, every single one of them, got the same opportunity and I’m going to work on it, and I will explore each of my kids’ strength”.
My mother has literally made sure to explore each of our individual strengths and push on that. Every single kid has something beautiful and some strength within. Figure that out, explore and push that forward. And if a kid has a weakness, that’s fine, every single one of us has weaknesses. Embrace it and move on. So that’s what she did. When we would come back home from work, she was studying with us. She would literally understand where our strength lies and where we can see light.
We went to a regular public school. And then after some point, I think in high school, that’s when you start choosing whether you want to take advanced classes or standard. She was like: “My daughter wants to do advanced math and sciences. You should let her do that”. So she had to advocate for us. She was the first advocate and leader who gave us the strength to become advocates for ourselves because in the US there are services for the blind and disabled. But I still have to fight for my rights on a daily basis.
Ms. Minkara, please share your tips to help foster leadership traits in women and girls.
First of all, in order for you to be a leader, you need to first be a leader in your own life. Take hold of your own life, be an author of your own future. So first make sure that you are pursuing your own strengths, your own identity, your own passion. That’s the first step. Only then, when you fully embrace all of who you are and you’re proud of who you are, then you’ll be able to start bringing people together. And I think that a lot of people think that you need to have certain criteria or quality to be a leader. No, anyone can be a leader, even in a village somewhere. You see a problem in your own community. Let’s say you see some kind of issue, and you can be that change.
People with disabilities, most of the times, they are on the receiving end. They always expect that others will fix their problem. I believe that you can be that change and make that difference. So if you believe in yourself and you believe that you can make a difference, you can start bringing people together and believing in that path and that’s the first step to leadership.
