Ms. Rusudan Gotsiridze is a 2014 International Women of Courage awardee and the first female Baptist bishop in Georgia. She is an advocate for women’s rights and interfaith dialogues to support religious minorities. This blog post is a part of a series highlighting and celebrating women leaders in our network during Women’s History Month. Who is your female inspiration, mentor or hero figure? I have often been asked who my role model is, and I always have a hard time answering this question. I was brought up in a Soviet country, in a dissident Protestant family, in a heavily...

Ms. Sadaf Usman is a 2018 IVLP alumna, and the Director of For A Cause, a social enterprise that works to build a more peaceful, tolerant, compassionate and empowered society through self empowerment, life skills and positivity. This blog post is part of a series highlighting and celebrating women leaders in Meridian’s network during Women’s History Month.   A woman’s life has many different stages, and in each stage we come across women who inspire us and push us to be a better version of ourselves. One woman who has truly inspired me is my mother. It wasn’t until...