EMA doesn’t just talk about empowering youth as one of its core values, it is a top priority. Nearly 75% of the EMA Foundation team members are under 25, with about 70% still pursuing their undergraduate degrees. EMA gives students the opportunity to lead and undertake projects based on their capabilities and interests rather than their degree. And, as always, trust is at the heart of it all.
As a result, EMA's approach to centering youth in its work has led to a majority-student staff who are passionate about tackling global issues, which aligns them with the foundation's values. Like Erika Cao, EMA Senior Project Manager and rising senior at the University of California Irvine, most young team members describe EMA’s vision as being a large part of why they became engaged in the work.
“EMA has deeply shaped my values and perspective on the world. Our team members and partners are deeply committed to a lens of empathy, community, and equity and that's the most powerful and engaging space to work in.”
As a direct result of this empowering environment, team members have described significant personal and professional growth during their time with EMA. While the foundation's approach to youth empowerment is uncommon in its own right, it's the individual experiences of staff members that truly bring it to life.
Olivia Reibel, Development Associate and a rising junior at Washington University in St. Louis, has felt a strong affinity for EMA’s values. In her experience, coming to EMA was like a breath of fresh air after taking a gap year, as she sensed that EMA would be a place where she could make a difference with her unique set of skills. “I think it was a perfect fit of an alignment of values and facilitating an impact that I believed in,” says Reibel.
Reibel and Cao were introduced to EMA through others on the team whose values resonated with them, and it was those people who helped to create the positive environment in which they wanted to work. Julia Minassian, Partner Relations Associate and rising junior at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, attests to the power of that combination: “The environment at EMA is incredibly synergistic. Ideas and passions just build off of each other in a really beautiful way that allow everyone to share their perspective.”
Juliane Garcia, Development Intern and a rising senior at Barnard College, also thrived in an environment where every perspective was valued. Working with the EMA development team this summer, she helped to draft a report summarizing the impact of EMA’s work, which enabled her to cultivate her abilities in a professional capacity. “We had a lot of independence to choose the work we do. That has really helped me hone in on my skills and decide where I can contribute in that mosaic of collaboration,” said Garcia.
This encouraging space allowed Minassian to lean into her interests because of how much the staff at EMA believed in her. She gives credit to the foundation’s culture of taking young people seriously for her increased self-confidence.
“I feel that I am challenged in my perspectives and beliefs, but also trusted in my own vision and experience. Since working at EMA, I've grown to trust myself a lot more. In previous jobs, I've felt I had to work a lot harder to be taken seriously, especially as a woman, being more afraid to mess up or not say something that I wasn't 100% sure of.”
Anna Crawford, Social Media & Communications Intern and a 2024 graduate of University of Texas Austin, has also been able to develop greater confidence in herself while collaborating with EMA’s Communications Director, Cedrick Gustave, who is himself a 2023 graduate of University of Massachusetts, Boston. “The mix of trusting myself to be able to do things and knowing that I have the space to learn and grow within EMA has been really helpful,” said Crawford.
Jalen Walker, Director of Operations and rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis, has a similar story. After joining the team in May 2023, he had a vision for how to help the foundation grow in its professional capacities and has been achieving those goals ever since.
“I've done some important work at EMA and things that are meaningful. I sort of take that as a continual reminder to myself that I'm super capable and super able to do all these things that people do not expect me to be able to do.”
Walker is most proud of his work with EMA partner Haa Tóoch Lichéesh (HTL), a community-based coalition in Alaska that follows a trauma-informed, survivor-centered approach to preventing violence and promoting healing. In collaboration with HTL’s Violence Prevention and Outreach Director, Ati Koon Ya Nagoodi Nasiah, Walker helped to write and establish a community agreement for all members of the coalition to assist them in dealing with individuals who have caused harm to those in the community.
Similarly, Cao was trusted to take on a leadership role while working with EMA partner BYkids in creating the Community of Learners last summer, facilitating numerous virtual cohort meetings where teachers strategized how to integrate BYkids films into their curriculum. As the foundation’s Senior Project Manager, Cao also leads meetings and manages the Partner Relations team year-round. An aspiring educator, she strives to prioritize student voices and has found a way to do that in her work at EMA.
“Everything about who I am and have been has been really dedicated to creative storytelling and shifting power opportunities and increasing equity by activating communities. I feel like I'm capable of learning things on my own, and partners and team members are given a lot of agency and room to dream, to create, to realize our visions.”
Tracy Tran, Partner Relations Associate and a rising senior at the University of California Irvine, has been able to realize their vision for career aspirations while working with EMA partner Children of the Forest (CoF), where they have assisted with CoF’s website development, enabling them to better understand effective messaging frameworks and develop their articulation skills.
As a public health major, Tran has always been interested in mental health, but had only seen possible cures being found in medicine or education. Now, through their work at EMA, they have found another one.
“I have a much better grasp on how stories can be used for facilitating empathy. It’s opened up a lot more choices for me in terms of how I can facilitate healing. As an artist, it's really exciting for me to think that there is a middle ground that exists.”
Nathan Doughty, a Partner Relations Associate who is taking a gap year before starting Middlebury College next fall, sought to expand upon the meaning of academically focused work. While in high school, Doughty found it challenging to find motivation with some projects, but at EMA he found that a belief in the foundation’s mission and values has been a game changer. “It's been a while since there's been intellectual work to do that I care about, so being a part of EMA has forced me to get rid of the mindset of doing the bare minimum,” said Doughty. His perception of what he envisioned his future career might look like has also been challenged. As someone interested in studying engineering in college, he was afraid that he would have to choose a career in that field or a career that shares his values, where he would make no money. “EMA shows me that I don't necessarily have to do either of those things. I can find a place that's not a massive defense contractor, but that is also making some money and doing something that I really care about.”
Communications intern Crawford also learned what is possible for a workplace environment to be through her work at EMA– one that is not controlled by obligations but by a practice of uplifting one another. That normalization of having both shared values and appreciation for each other has changed her hopes for the future.
“You can have great values and also appreciate your staff continuing to do great work, and actually those things propel each other forward. Standards for a place to work have been lifted for the rest of my life. That’s a really big deal for me.”
The way that EMA empowers young people feels unique and has made a difference in the lives of the staff that work here, including myself. We firmly believe that intergenerational work is powerful when it comes from a place of trust in our partners, each other, and ourselves.
Minassian and all the young folks on staff at EMA believe in that power:
“I think youth empowerment means trusting young people to carry out work, not in spite of their age, but because of the unique perspectives that they bring. You don't need to be an older white cis-het man to deserve to be taken seriously and to take up space with your ideas. Your ideas are valued just because you exist.”
