Julia Lalla-Maharajh was looking for a change from her corporate career — though she wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. Soon after, she chanced upon an opportunity during a Voluntary Service Overseas event in London, where she was pleasantly surprised to learn her advocacy skills would translate to work abroad.
Initially she viewed volunteering as a short-term distraction from her corporate engagements, but that changed after she embarked on a six-month volunteering stint in Ethiopia, where she realized the magnitude of the problem of female genital cutting, the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice can be found in 30 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and among migrant communities in Europe and the United States.
She returned to London feeling determined to fight the practice. Her resolve later led her to Davos, where she shocked friends by “talking about vaginas” at the World Economic Forum, then to Senegal and Gambia to witness how women are spearheading work to end FGC in their own communities. Finally, her passion led her to found the Orchid Project, a nonprofit focused on raising awareness about FGC and on advocating for resources to end its practice.