TOBY SIMON, board member of the Sheila Nowell Leadership Academy, was recently presented with the Community Champion Award by Sojourner House. The award was presented to Simon for her efforts to improve the community and the world. She has worked part time in Haiti for the last 23 years, offering training in sexuality and facilitating empowerment programs to teenage girls in the country.
How important is it to you to be a mentor to others? Many years ago, in the late ’60s, my very first job was teaching French in a high school. I had the great fortune of having a phenomenal mentor, who not only took an interest in my professional development but was incredibly generous with her time, sharing her wealth of information and encouraging me to become a passionate teacher. Once I experienced what it was like to be mentored in such a supportive and positive way, I knew the time would come for me to mentor others.
Can you describe for us the programs you offer to teenage girls in Haiti? My work has focused on girls and young women who have additional challenges in Haiti; gender issues and sexuality concerns are massive. The work involves some of the typical themes of self-esteem, empowerment, reduction of sexual violence, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and leadership, but becoming “askable” and approachable are the first steps in truly meeting their needs.
Given the recent “#MeToo” movement, how vital is it now for society to address sexual harassment and to create a healthy environment for women? Almost 30 years ago, I began a peer-education program at Brown University, where I was the director of health education. It was a program of undergraduate men and women who, through the use of an interactive theater piece, depicted a way-too-familiar sexual assault on campus. It was an extremely powerful program that got young men and women talking to each other about the difficulties they experienced negotiating the sexual terrain, discussing consent, talking about what they were comfortable with in sexual interactions and the role alcohol and other drugs played in their social lives.
What other advocacy plans do you have on the horizon? Right after I retired four years ago, I began a small eco/edu tourism business, which I call Travels With Toby. I bring small groups of women to Haiti to see some examples of sustainable development work, in particular organizations addressing the needs of women and children. By exposing tourists to some of these programs and helping them understand the need to support groups [that] are doing work that can be sustained over the years, they too become advocates of these programs.
