Meet Elina Ashimbayeva, Kaihoahoa Wheako | Senior Experience Designer.
Elina works as an Experience Designer in Ara Manawa design studio within Te Toka Tumai, and has a background in product and strategy, education, and start-ups.
In her spare time, Elina is the founder of Storyo, a platform that shares the journeys of women, gender diverse and other marginalised people in Aotearoa. She knows a bit about this topic, having arrived from Kazakhstan 13 years ago.
Elina talks to us about what ‘accelerating progress’ for women means to her:
"I can't help but think that IWD needs to be more intersectional. What I mean is: focusing on women of colour, disabled women, women who are solo parents, trans-women, queer women, migrant women. People who experience multiple forms of marginalisation in our society.
I believe that we should really embrace the notion of sharing power and resources. Not doing work to help someone, but giving up our power so people can come up with solutions that they need. I'm a designer so this is something I reflect on often.
We can't keep showing up in places and thinking that we know better. We need to reflect on our personal privileges and see how we can distribute them to people who need them the most.
I started interviewing people for Storyo four years ago, and I quickly learned that most people (women and gender diverse folks in my case) didn't feel like they deserved to be interviewed because they didn't run their own companies or have awards to their name.
I really want to change the notion of what contribution means. People who write poetry inspire everyone around them to feel. Teachers are shaping our next generation. The way a nurse or a social worker can make or break someone's health journey is huge!
A huge number of women are doing the work that literally changes this world by raising children, caring for others, being creative - I hope we all realise the value of that contribution."
#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2024
