Vickjune Excel Wutoh (2022, MDP) is among the winners of the 'Fall 2022 Share Your Special Stories Contest' staged by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management. Please enjoy our conversation with this brilliant and hardworking young lady about her journey to KDI School.

Could you introduce yourself to the audience?

My name is Vickjune Excel Wutoh from Liberia, and my program is MDP. My concentrations are sustainable development and public administration. I am a gender equality activist and founder of a local NGO, the Initiative for Youth Empowerment and Economic Development, IYEED Inc. IYEED is an economic empowerment hub that promotes gender equality through advocacy and programs. As an activist, I worked with young women and girls on leadership, empowerment programs, and civil society organizations. I also worked in the private sector as a business development consultant before my admission here.

Kindly tell us about your journey to KDI School.

Yes! The first thing I want to share is the saddest moment of my KDIS story -- when I finally got admission, I couldn't share the exciting news with Vallai M. Dorley -- an alumnus of KDIS and one of my undergrad lecturers who introduced KDIS to me and kept encouraging me to seek admission here -- because, due to a brief illness, he passed away on September 10, 2021. May his soul continue to rest in peace. 

I started applying to KDIS in 2018, and the opportunity to study here now is a lifetime experience I will uphold in high esteem. It feels like a dream come true to live in an environment that fosters diversity because this has been one of my major advocacies -- that everyone, irrespective of where they’re from and who they are, should be provided a safe space and opportunity to realize their true potential and achieve their life’s goals.

The second thing I want to share is that we all should see women’s empowerment as a key factor in achieving sustainable development and economic growth because I believe there can be no words to describe the capability and intrinsic values of an empowered woman. 

Lastly, I am grateful to God for my mother, who despite everything didn’t give up on me to reach this far. As a single mother in a developing country, she instilled so many values in me. One of them is to make me believe that there’s always an opportunity for those who seek it and that regardless of what life throws at me, I should always stay undefeated. This statement has been my motivation to always be determined to seek opportunities wherever possible to build my human capacity and achieve my goals.

How do you feel about the opportunity to study at KDIS?

As the only child of a single mother in one of the world's least-developed countries, Liberia, I never imagined that I would be in a school with students from around the world, a school of global knowledge on development, at a campus that provides conducive learning space with a modern library. Oh, how I love the natural environment and fresh air I inhale while sitting around the campus. 

Finally, do you want to share anything with the KDIS community?

I aspire to transition to national politics in the not-too-distant future. KDIS provides the requisite knowledge, professional training, and technical skills I need for the journey ahead to help solve some of the significant policy issues that are hindering economic growth and sustainable development. As a gender equality activist and founder of a local NGO, I have always advocated for a safe environment that fosters diversity. Living in such an environment now at KDIS is a dream come true.