“Lead with hope” is one of Alexia Hilbertidou’s guiding principles. The CEO of GirlBoss NZ says one of her career highlights was meeting Jamie Oliver, who she says lights up a room and shines that light out to those he meets. It was Jamie who posed the question to her: who is the leader in a room? And his answer? It is the person with the most hope, so be that person with hope, vision and optimism. Get people on board with an exciting goal that generates energy, believe that you can achieve that goal and connect with the people you are trying to engage. People with the most hope hold the power.
Alexia’s hope as CEO of GirlBoss NZ is to inspire and empower young women to pursue innovative and ambitious goals.
In year 12, Alexia was the only young woman in her Digital Technology class and in year 13 was the only young woman in the Advanced Physics class. This situation spurred her to create a space where she could connect with like-minded young women who were passionate about lifelong learning and who were keen to explore careers in STEM or to follow their entrepreneurial spirit. The result was GirlBoss NZ, which now has 13,500 members and operates in more than 100 secondary schools across the motu.
“I tell my team we are here to change lives and to provide world-class transformation that empowers young women. This is our driving theme.”
Alexia says that throughout her journey she has obviously faced challenges, but one of the key things, and one that is common to many in leadership roles, has been facing the challenge of imposter syndrome and self-doubt.
“At 16 I wondered, who was I to take on this gender-gap role. I googled to see if I could find any other existing support networks, but nothing was obvious and it was then that I came to the personal realisation, if not me, then who? Someone has to take that lead. Now I have learnt to reframe my fear and tell myself it’s OK to feel fearful, but I don’t allow that to get in the way of what I want to do for myself and my community. To contribute fully you must step into those feelings of fear and then step into action.
“You must also have a strong understanding of the “why”. If you can focus on the why and the impact you want to make as a leader then the “how” will follow. I always advise people to jump into the opportunities and go with the momentum, but always start with, and stay with, the why.”
It’s that passion that has seen Alexia speak at some of the world’s largest conferences, such as The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and receive more than 30 awards for her work, including being named the 2019 Prime Minister’s Pacific Youth Award winner and the Most Influential NZ Woman under 25 at the Westpac Women of Influence Awards. And at Buckingham Palace, the now late Queen presented Alexia with the Queen’s Young Leader Award for Services to the Commonwealth.
And you might ask, what came from that meeting with chef and entrepreneur Jamie Oliver? Well, he became her mentor and sounding board, so it’s fitting that it is his words of wisdom that Alexia applies to her work today.
GirlBoss NZ – Our Impact
"When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everybody else."
- 40,000 students engaged
- 13,500 members
- 800 corporate volunteers
- 1,600 GirlBoss Edge alumni
- 100+ high schools
- 90 corporate internship placements
- 23 GirlBoss Award winners
- $1:18 social impact.