Top Insights from Malala Yousafzai

Where to Find Your Strength
You can find unexpected circles of strength with your friends and family, even if you are afraid to revisit the past as I did by returning to my country for the first time in 5 years. You find strength when you focus on the positive; when you don’t think about the worth things that can happen.
When you focus on the positive, change can happen for the better! When you believe in yourself, you feel confident. Unfortunately, confidence is a trait that is most associated with men, not women, and we need to change that. We need to speak out against lack of education for women, sexual harassment, and gun violence. These issues affect us all and we need to take a collective action against them.

The World is Our Classroom
The future generation is aware of the current issues and they are trying to find ways to tackle them. What gives me hope and allows me to keep going is when I go and visit young girls in different parts of the world. The Malala Fund focuses on the most marginalized regions. For example, education is not a basic right in Pakistan. The Malala Fund supports local activists and invests in education because every girl in each country should have the right to a safe and quality education. But the benefits reach beyond knowledge and careers. What’s important is where it’s invested because investing in education ultimately reduces poverty and conflict.

The key is to learn something from everyone you meet.

Pass the Message, Not the Buck
We still see that there is a lack of representation amongst the community. People need to come together. Interacting with people is the most crucial way to address the issues you are tackling and speaking to others and by speaking out, we can pass our message. My parents and my father are are an inspiration to me. I listen and learn from my friends. The key is to learn something from everyone you meet. There is always something that you can get from everyone, especially when it comes from someone’s strengths. Invest in people and it will bring you positive energy.