“The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision.” – Hellen Keller
The quote above was selected from chapter 8 of Leadership Speaker, Robb Holman’s best-selling book, Lead the Way [Buy on Amazon]. The chapter is titled, ‘Finding Power in Personal Vision’ and it speaks to the importance of “dreaming big” in order to attain your greatness.
Changing the world is no small feat. And certainly not for the faint of heart. Which is why you might not expect a shy and quiet young girl from a small village in Papua New Guinea to one day be moving mountains internationally.
But that is precisely what Serena Sumanop is doing. A lawyer by profession and co-founder of a leading youth development organization, Sumanop holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Papua New Guinea and a Masters of Business specializing in philanthropy and nonprofit studies from the Queensland University of Technology.
Her accolades and achievements do not end there, though. She is currently the CEO for Digicel PNG Foundation and has previously worked as a Policy Lawyer with the Department of Justice and Attorney General where she oversaw the implementation of domestic violence legislation and the Government’s Action Plan to address Sorcery and Witchcraft related violence.
Digicel Foundation remains a vested partner in the social development of its communities and they are doing this by increasing access for select Special Needs communities to improve their quality of lives, by expanding access to education through technology, by supporting and empowering survivors of domestic violence, providing health interventions and finally, by fostering a spirit of self-reliance through sustainable enterprise within communities.
As CEO, Serena has been very active in the nonprofit sector where she sits on Boards including the Program and Risk Sub-Committee for Save the Children Australia and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. She continues to support her youth development organization – The Voice Inc., through mentoring young people in her free time. Her work in the non-profit sector was recently recognized with her being awarded the Young Director Award by the PNG Institute of Directors.
