A Seat at the Lab

Why Izzana Salleh is passionate about helping more women and girls into leadership positions through her global non-profit organisation, Girls 4 Girls

- Tania Jayatilaka

It was an eye-opener when Izzana Salleh heard her female peers admit their struggles with self-doubt and limiting beliefs. For Izzana, who is CEO of Rise Human Capital, hearing other highly-educated and qualified women talk about feeling incompetent or inadequate in their workplaces was paradoxically empowering it was proof that she was not alone in her own feelings.

"There is power in the collective voice," muses the Harvard Kennedy School alum. "There's power in realising you're not the only one going through that." The next logical step was to question where these feelings were coming from. What made these women feel that way? What were the underlying issues affecting female leadership in their lives and societies? These were questions that Izzana and her Harvard classmates, all of whom were from the 'From Harvard Square to Oval Office' programme, pondered.