Scholarship / I stumbled into leadership right from birth being a first born and only girl to my sibling [4]

Hi guys, i have really learnt a lot from this forum. i would appreciate your input in the essays i have prepared for the Chevening forum. I have combined all four questions. Only one essay at one time is allowed

LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE QUESTION

Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.

(minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words)

Being picked on by your friends to initiate or implement an unprecedented activity or action can often be intimidating. For me, this has been the experience for a better portion of my life and while at times it can leave you baffled thinking 'Why did they pick me?, you still go ahead with the assignment. I stumbled into leadership right from birth being a first born and only girl to my sibling. At a young age, I had to stand up for my brother and protect him like the big sister I was. I believe that my protective nature led me to be chosen as prefect in my 2nd grade class.

During the drama festivals in my primary school, I was chosen to be the soloist of our traditional folk dance. Fast forward to high school where I was involved in many groups and in a few of them, I was elected a leader such as in the drama club. My fellow students usually picked on me to represent their ideas to management. This was quite humbling and I introspected to ask exactly what they saw in me that led them to place their trust in me.

After years of interacting with people, my leadership style can be described as inclusive, driven and collectiveness. Whilst leaders are known to take the step forward, few are able to take their followers with them on their path to success. A strong leader will always encourage his/her team players not only to achieve the impossible, but achieve it together. In college, the principles that guided me in leadership came to the fore as I led a team of ten students to win the first ever organized Students Association Council's week. The challenges included physical, intellectual and sporting events that each team signed up for and had to complete successfully. Under my leadership, my team conquered all and earned the prize.

During my internship at USAID, my supervisors entrusted me with leading the information docket and as a result, I spearheaded information collection and dissemination tool that was used not only in the office but in the field offices. Three months into my internship, I was given the responsibility of supervising the field staff as they implemented the 'Kenya Burning' Caravan. This was a road show that showcased some of the horrifying pictures of the post election violence in 2007/08. The caravan included musicians, thespians and counselors that were all preaching a reconciliatory message after the violence erupted in Kenya. My supervisor later on congratulated me for my performance and leadership role offered during this event.

Currently in my position, I have been the brains behind communication exploring different ways of passing information to our audience that include journalists, communicators and donors. This has included using unexplored tools such as Mailchimp, Spark Video and Whatsapp to ensure information to these stakeholders reaches them in a timely, concise and articulate way. Apart from receiving accolades from some of the organization's members for this great initiative, my director has also exuded confidence in my tasks and assigned me a supervisory role in the volunteer/internship docket where my responsibilities included scouting, engaging, assigning tasks and assignments to interns/volunteers while ensuring their work feeds into the organization's mission and vision.