Young Women's Leadership Program Review Term 3, 2021

Published on 06 December 2021

There wasn’t anything special about Tuesdays for me – until I joined the Young Women’s Leadership Program.  

I know the idea of meeting strangers can be nerve-wracking, but I can assure you that anxiety will fade away. Our amazing facilitators, Sammy and Siobhan were able to successfully create a safe and welcoming space for all of us. By providing tasty snacks, they made sure everyone was comfortable and they were both really friendly. I enjoyed watching the heart-warming bond between them as I thought it was a great example of how healthy friendships should be between women, rather than how movies and dramas portray toxic stereotypes around women’s friendships.  

Furthermore, we explored various topics surrounding women such as public speaking, relationships, finance, mental health, and something that we should talk about more often – sex. Although we learned about this in high school, it may not answer all of your questions or it just feels awkward because you have to learn about it with the opposite sex. But in this program, we could ask any questions and Siobhan and/or Sammy would happily answer them. I really appreciated that they made sure to be very thorough and detailed with each response (very high quality!).  

Additionally, my biggest takeaway was learning interview tips. Going into interviews is probably one of the most daunting experiences to face in life, especially if you don’t know what to do. As a result, most of us turn to Google and search up what to do and what to avoid in interviews. But none of that compared to how helpful and supportive the facilitators were when they stayed back to answer all of my questions regarding my interview (it was a success!). My fellow Queens also had achieved in acquiring positions and we all celebrated each other’s accomplishments. This was definitely one of my fondest memories of being a part of the program. 

Finally, as someone who had no clue in what they wanted to do in the future, my mum saw that I had changed. Without even realising it, I had become more confident and more enthusiastic about what I wanted to achieve in my future, thanks to the people in this program. I would highly recommend any leadership program run by Monash Youth Services to any young adult aged 15-20 who lives or studies in Monash because as a proud 2021 graduate of the YWLP, this was definitely one of the best decisions I have done for myself. 

Chloe