I guess they didn’t think I’d win. When, at age 21, I ran my first electoral campaign, people kept trying to lower my expectations of myself. “Don’t be upset if you come in last,” they’d say, with a patronizing pat on the back. Or, “Are you sure you can handle that much pressure?” suggesting, implicitly, that I give up. Today, I count as one of the youngest politicians in Luxembourg, and the experience of running for—and winning—a public office affirmed my faith in the importance of youths becoming leaders and decision-makers in the development of their country.
But this isn’t a story about me; it’s a story about why young women like me are thrust into politics in the first place. Because, the truth is, I didn’t choose to care about this stuff. I’ve been an activist long before becoming a politician. And the more I shared my experience of discrimination biases, the more other women would walk up to me and say that they had similar experiences. We’re marginalized because we aren’t male, and discriminated against because we aren’t white. Our lived experiences aren’t believed or even listened to.
I dream of a world where everyone has the opportunity to realize their potential, regardless of skin color, gender, or class. And because every dream needs a beginning, I answered that ancient creed, “If not now, then when? If not us, then who?” On International Women’s Day in 2020, I co-founded We Belong Europe. We Belong subscribes to a theory of change that starts with sharing personal experiences. We are creating a safe space where people of color can come to share their experiences, explore their identities, and develop their own lives’ narratives.
At We Belong, we also challenge implicit biases that push people of color out of predominantly white spaces. Questions like “Where are you from? No! I mean, where are you really from?” take a significant toll on people of color. In the globalized world, I cannot understand why nationalities are still assumed to be associated with particular skin colors. To question someone’s identity is to challenge their sense of belonging to a certain place, negatively impacting their freedom and life decisions.
I want to prove that progress is possible in our lifetime and allow everyone to feel that their opportunities are as limitless as their potential.
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