I founded a Girl Up club in my school in Medellín, Colombia, when I was 11 years old after having dipped my toes into Model United Nations Conferences. Unbeknownst to me, my investigation into gender inequality, sexism and machismo would lead to the creation of the very first Girl Up club in the country.
I was lucky to grow up in a household where no limits were imposed because of my gender, which made me furious once I realized that not only were there girls and women around the world who faced prejudice due to their gender, but also that nobody in my circle was talking about it. A quick Google search later, and having found Girl Up, I knew it was my avenue to begin putting these topics on the table and- although it made everyone else uncomfortable- calling out the everyday injustices I saw and experienced.
My group of young, motivated and naive changemakers was first called Girl Up Colombia, after which it was renamed Girl Up Medellín when other schools and universities around the country established their own clubs. Finally, it was renamed Girl Up The Columbus School, as others in my city also followed suit. I was the club’s president for six years, from 6th to 11th grade.
As a freshman in high school, however, I was selected as a Girl Up Teen Advisor, and traveled to Washington D.C. for the annual leadership summit. This experience inspired me, and a year later, I organized the Regional Leadership Summit in my school, where we invited other educational institutions from across Medellín. I was then also selected as a Teen Advisor Co-Chair for the 2020-2021 period, during which I was the first non-American to lead a Teen Advisory group.
Back when I was a freshly 16-year-old TA, Girl Up served as the platform through which I lived one of the most pivotal moments of my life. I was going through a particularly difficult time, had few friends in school, and my little brother had just recovered from a brain tumor. During our initial trip to Washington D.C. in 2019, after all the activities of the Summit were finalized, all of us girls met in Co-Chairs Rebecca and Euginie’s room, and spoke about our lives, the obstacles we’d overcome, why we had become feminists and leaders in our communities. It was the first time in what felt like a long time that I felt seen, heard, and comforted. What was crazy to me was that I had met these girls less than a week ago, and still felt like sharing my heart and soul with them, and holding theirs. We cried, laughed, told scary stories, and ate snacks until who knows what time, and it was the connection with these incredible women that has continued to inspire me since.
I recognized myself then for the first time. Yes, as a girl, but also as a Latina, a Colombian. Since Girl Up, I have gotten good at analyzing intersectionality everywhere, not just in my work, but also in my relationships, my activism, my family, and the cities I have lived in. I have learned to appreciate the diversity that makes us human, and how valuable sharing it- and creating space to celebrate it- is.
Girl Up inspired me to be bold, loyal to myself and my principles, but above all, a good friend and sister to the over 40 fellow TAs that I got to share the experience with. The organization and its people expanded my worldview, and made me realize all the opportunities that were- and are- available for me. Before Girl Up, I didn’t know that someone like me, who had always been outspoken, weirdly bold, and artistic, had a place anywhere. I sought to conform to the rules imposed by Medellín society, felt constantly insecure about who I was, and didn’t really connect with anyone in my circle. Through Girl Up, however, I learned to recognize the value of my being Colombian, and realized that even if the opportunities were not apparent, I could create them myself.
Girl Up taught me what feminism truly is; collaboration, inspiration, and sorority.
The skills that I gained along the way, thanks to Girl Up, have supported me in my personal, academic and professional journeys in ways that are hard to put into words. From public speaking, social media management and writing, to investigation, interviewing, and networking, they have all proved critical for the path I have embarked on since.
After my time with Girl Up came to an end as I graduated High School, I enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to study an MA in History and Politics. I began my University studies in 2021, and it was through another Girl Up leader- Shira Graubart- that I met my best friend, Natasha. I recently graduated from university with a First-Class MA degree, and completed my dissertation titled “Sexual and Reproductive Violence as a Strategy of the AUC Paramilitary in Colombia (1997-2006): Perspectives”. In it, I covered how an armed actor of Colombia’s armed conflict strategically and specifically targeted women and girls as a strategy of war. I do not think I would’ve asked myself the questions included in my research had it not been for my time with Girl Up.
Girl Up taught me what feminism truly is; collaboration, inspiration, and sorority. Because of Girl Up, I felt empowered in recognizing my many privileges early on- including my education, my speaking English, my network, and my voice- and using them for the good of all women. Through my participation in the program, and in connecting with women leaders from all around the world, I found a place in the world, and learned to recognize the value of where I come from… in the end, my experiences as a girl from Colombia, from Medellín, from the Global South, make me the feminist I am.
My TA sisters taught me that, truly, injustice for women anywhere is injustice for women everywhere. Through their experiences and insights, my fellow TAs expanded my world to horizons I hadn’t even imagined when I met them at 15 years old, and it was through my connection with one- Rebecca Fairweather- that I found the courage to foster journalism as my avenue for fighting injustice. True leadership, I know now, comes from collaboration, not from spotlight. The organization was the cultivating field for my intersectional feminism, and because of it I now understand that we all live through different injustices based on many different identity markers. And because of it, we all see fairness, inclusion, and community in very different, albeit equally imperative, ways.
Last year, in May 2024, I began interning at ESPACIO, a media incubator based in Medellín, Colombia and Barcelona, Spain. My three-month journalism internship was then extended into a part-time Senior Reporter position while I finished my studies, and since June 2025, I have been employed full-time as Deputy Editor in the same company. Now, I am also currently leading the newsroom’s expansion into Europe. Through my work, I have published articles in publications like Latin America Reports, Al Jazeera, Miami Herald, Latin Times, and Entrepreneur Magazine, and I have become known at the office for doing gender-sensitive coverage of news.
I plan on continuing to further my journalism career, and hope to cover the impact of Colombia’s armed conflict on women, girls, and both gender and sexually diverse populations in both journalism articles and literary works. I foresee my future in my native Colombia, with which I fell more in love during my time abroad, and I remain deeply committed to feminist causes in my country, including lowering femicide rates, highlighting women entrepreneurs, and establishing conversation tables that deal with deconstructing machismo. In the end, my goal is to continue fostering a space for women, making us key players in a long-lasting Colombian peace.
Because of the experience I had, and the woman I now am, I hope that on its 15th birthday Girl Up continues betting on girls. I don’t know where I would be if Girl Up hadn’t bet on me at 11, 15, 16, 17 years old. You saw something in me before I even saw it myself, and that trust gave me the tools to become who I am. I also hope to see many more girls finding their place in the organization, with more clubs popping up around the world, and especially in the Global South. I want to see difficult conversations being had, and a wider realization of the magic in our different backgrounds and experiences.
In the future, girls will continue to stay true to what they believe in. Inspirational teenage activists abound in all corners of the world, and it is our duty to find them and propel them to the platforms they and their voices and power belong in. They’re right in thinking that the injustices around them aren’t normal- or shouldn’t be normal-, that the most intelligent people around them are the women they look up to, that they can do it all at the same time, that they should connect with the cultures of the world, and that everything starts with conversation. People are good, and people do want to listen. As should we.
