ZALIFA BIKMEEVA

Zalifa was born in Russia where she currently lives. She has a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and a Master's degree in Jurisprudence and she is orienting her professional career towards non-profit, human rights protection organisations, and sustainable development. She organises international business events, but she wants to lead global non-profit projects to make a positive change in society. She is going to be a role model showing that every person can change the world and every step matters, and that women can do everything despite stereotypes and disrespect. She wants to start an international career in the field of human rights and sustainable development.

“Mentoring Is Necessary for People of Any Age”

Q: Tell us a few things about you! Your background, your childhood and early beginnings! 

Since childhood, I have followed the ideas of justice, kindness and equality. I feel that my mission is to make great changes in the world. Later, at university, I learnt about the human rights field and I have found my purpose in life. I recalled my childhood dreams of changes and I have realised that I would work on creating a new world where people respect human rights.

I am not alone with these goals and I am sure that together we can achieve them.

Q: What are some of the key challenges in your society currently?

My society has challenges like poverty, unemployment, severe climatic conditions, inequality.

Q: Share with us some of the hurdles that you had to overcome in your life so far? How did you handle them? 

I handled with fear communication with new people and even with those who I know. I have overcome this by practising communication step by step. I started with written communication with foreigners. Because sometimes it's easier to tell anything to strangers and also I was practising my English and French. This tool helped me to find pen friends. After many attempts and a strong belief in myself, I have learned to talk to people in the reality of being open-minded and friendly-oriented. 

Also, I had problems with making decisions. But after watching videos and reading books on this theme, I have realised that without making decisions we are stuck in the same place. We need to develop this duringour life and it requires making decisions and taking responsibility. When we understand this we will change our life by new decisions and actions and it will give us new results and emotions.

Q: Why is the role of a mentor important for you? 

We are human and as such we can be sad, exhausted, tired.

Sometimes we forget about our achievements when we don't see new instant results, we feel lost and cornered when we can't decide on an issue quickly. Sometimes we just need someone who will encourage us, who will say that everything is going to be good and that you matter. One good word can make us feel inspired all day or week. We need someone who will help us to get ahead and encourage us to not give up. I think mentoring is necessary for people of any age. This is my first mentoring programme and I am happy to be part of it.

Q: Do you have a lesson that life has taught you and you would like to share? 

Listen to your heart and inner voice. And trust your intuition. They know who you are, who you want to be, they will show you the way in any situation. Also never betray your dreams, otherwise, you will always regret it.

Q: Name a project, a foundation or a person in your country that you think is doing great work in helping improve other people's lives! 

It's my mom. She is kind and taught me kindness and love. She encourages people, helping them to make important decisions to change their lives for the better. When they are sad, she tries to make them laugh. She tries to show them the other side of the situation that they haven't thought about before.

Q: What are some of the challenges that women in your country face and what efforts are being made towards gender equality?

It's inequality in the jobs market. The law prohibits any kind of inequality including with jobs but it happens unofficially and men are likely to have greater careers than women.

Q: Share with us a motto you live by. 

Believe in yourself and never give up.

Q: If you had all the money needed to launch the project of your dreams, can you describe what you would do? 

It will be a human rights project/campaign. I would create a website with full information about human rights, provide free courses and other kinds of education, invite human rights defenders and activists who will inspire people to respect HR, help people to get internship positions and jobs in the non-profit sector. Also, I would provide consultations for businesses and governments on human rights issues.

Q: Anything else that you may wish to add?

We have to live our own life and never let others to affect us badly. We have to care about our mental and emotional health as well as physical health. Our success is in our hands.