Who Inspires Today's Young Women Runners?
As part of NYRR’s celebration of Women’s History Month, we invited our Rising New York Road Runners Youth Ambassadors to write about women in history who inspire them. Ambassadors Gracie Grommes, Venus Tario, and Shivaii Nikam, all of whom attend school in New York City, presented their responses at a recent NYRR virtual staff event. We share them here.
NYRR Youth Ambassadors is a program centered around a six-week speech fundamentals and public-speaking training workshop that helps participants improve their presentation and communication skills and learn how to effectively share their running story.
Gracie Grommes
Happy Women’s History Month! March is a time for all of us to learn more about women’s contributions to our history, culture, and society.
Today I want to talk about a woman who inspires me, and that is Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris is the first female vice president as well as the first African American and Asian American vice president. But this feat has not been her only accomplishment. In fact, Harris has been involved in U.S. politics for over 30 years.
But before we go into how awesome her career has been, let me tell you a bit about her childhood. Kamala was born in California to two immigrant parents. Her mother, Shyamala, always taught her to have confidence in herself and embrace her Indian heritage. Harris has even said that her mother was the greatest source of inspiration in her life. Staying true to her mother’s words, Kamala went on to serve as California’s Attorney General, California Senator and now Vice president!
Kamala Harris is an inspiration to all because of her resilience and her devotion to fighting injustice. Harris being elected as vice president is paving a path for more girls and women to get involved in politics and making their voices be heard.
Venus Tario
My name is Venus Tario and I am a Rising New York Road Runners Youth Ambassador.
A woman that inspires me is Malala Yousaifa. She is a Pakistani activist for female education. She understands how in some places, rulers are against women and their capabilities. Where she lived, the Taliban is against women, they are banning women from any active role in society. Women weren’t even allowed to go to school!
Malala, on the other hand, was different. She wanted to fight for education. In this process, she had to sneak into school. At one moment she was caught by the Taliban and got shot in the head. Luckily, she survived and continued to fight for women’s rights to education and started fighting for those who can't afford school. She has earned many rewards such as the Nobel Peace prize, International Children's Peace Prize, Clinton Global Citizen Awards, and much more.
Her story inspires me because she made a huge impact in the world towards education, and in the future that impact will grow until every boy and girl has a right to have free education.
Venus is pictured above running the NYRR Washington Heights Mile on March 7.
Shivaii Nikam
There are numerous inspiring women all around the world, and one of mine is Sunita Williams. She is an American astronaut and a U.S. Navy Officer. She holds the records for most spacewalks and spacewalk time for a woman. I look up to her because of what she has accomplished and her personality.
When I met her at the Intrepid Museum in 2018, she spoke passionately about the future opportunities for my generation like traveling to Mars and beyond. What intrigued me the most was her zeal. She made me feel that I could do something big and motivated me to work harder for things so one day I share my story to inspire others to follow their dreams just like Sunita did that night.
Since that event I have become a Rising New York Road Runners Youth Ambassador, talked at events, shared what I love to do, and best of all helped inspire people. Sunita Williams will always be one of my role models because she made me realize that nothing is impossible when you want to achieve it.
Learn more about Rising New York Road Runners Youth Ambassadors.