An interview with Adela Tuy, a member of our Girls Advisory Council and a recent high school graduate of MAIA, a member of our Partner Coalition

What does graduating mean to you?

To me, graduating means: a big achievement, that I am advancing, and it is the key that opens doors to other opportunities.

How has MAIA helped you achieve your goals?

MAIA provided me with different kinds of tools, resources to find the power of my voice and dream about a new future and world. Before MAIA I already had the dream of continuing studying and graduating from high school, but I didn't know when or how I would do it so I decided to look, and I found it in MAIA. Here there was a great team of people who helped me and showed me that there were different ways to rewrite my own story. Now I know who I was, who I am, and who I want to be, I know my roots and have a better vision of my life. In MAIA I learned that every day I can evolve, and with empowerment, I can empower other women.

What are your future plans?

My future plans are to continue to university, have a formal job, and improve my English. I want to work in projects that involve volunteering or give workshops about leadership, girls´ rights to Indigenous young people. I want to be a leader in my community and to become a famous writer.

Is there anything else you would like to share? For example, about girls’ rights, challenges you overcame, or your program experience?

I have a project called “Up and Up”, it focuses on girl’s rights and learning to raise our voices. I created it because there are very few women who are leading projects. When I started it, a lot of girls from my community did not want to participate because they were fearful and full of insecurities, they thought they could not become leaders. Today more than 15 girls from my community are part of this project.

Adela is a Kaqchikel Mayan woman from Guatemala. She is 18 years old and lives in Sololá, Guatemala. In 2022, she graduated from the MAIA Impact School, and now she’s a part of MAIA’s Launch Program. She’s also a part of the Communications and Fundraising team at MAIA.

In 2021, she was the winner of seed capital in the Ella Impacta Program of Vital Voices Guatemala, and she founded the Up&Up Youth Collective, a project for young women who exert influence in society. “One of the main objectives of my project is to promote the social participation of youth in my community.”

Adela is currently a member of the Girls Advisory Council at She's The First and an ambassador for Girl Rising.