Torch - Spring/Summer 2019

The experience and foundation of going to an all-girls school and seeing female role models helps you build confidence.

— Lola Kassim 2000

Grad portrait 2000.

Lola Kassim 2000

Economics. There she was recruited into the Canadian Government’s Policy Leaders Class of 2006, a program that brings exceptional graduates into the public service. In Ottawa, she became policy adviser to the deputy minister for the department serving Indigenous people, then moved over to International Affairs. From there, she moved to West Africa to become the government’s adviser in the office of the President of Liberia. “That was great because I wanted to do something international and it also built on my background doing work at senior levels of government in Canada,” says Kassim. After a few years, she decided to balance out her public sector experience with work in the private sector, and after working as a management consultant for McKinsey and Company in Nigeria, she started her current position as general manager in West Africa for the ride-service company Uber. No matter where she goes, Kassim says she still carries Havergal with her: in her work ethic, in her moral compass, in her values. One of her biggest mantras? “I can do anything. ‘Girls can do anything,’ I think, is number one,” says Kassim. “The experience and foundation of going to an all-girls school and seeing female role models helps you build confidence.”

engaging her love of the cello by starting an early stage strings program for juniors to engage them even before entering orchestra from Grade 7. Kassim also credits Dean of Students Brenda Robson and Principal Susan Ditchburn for teaching her how to lead in her final year as Head Girl (currently known as School Captain) and beyond. “Those two women supported me and coached me through that, and it definitely made me a much stronger leader during that year and for the rest of my life. Both had a really strong sense of values and they helped me stay true to my mine,” says Kassim. Besides music, Kassim was also a debater, a skill that took her all the way to Botswana in the International Private School Debating Championships. She also really valued her experience as Head Girl, particularly because she fast-tracked to graduate in Grade 12 and was a year younger than some of the Grade 13 students she was leading. “It was a real honour and a privilege to be recognized and to be someone whom other students looked up to,” says Kassim. After graduation, Kassim completed her bachelor’s degree at Harvard University and then a master’s degree in Development Management at the London School of

Ask Lola Kassim to name her favourite teacher at Havergal and she rhymes off several names, all while apologizing about there being too many to mention. The first to impress her was in Grade 3, right when she joined Havergal (she attended all the way until Grade 12, with a year’s absence in Grade 8 to try out another girls independent school in Toronto that her sisters attended— she came back). Even as an eight-year- old, she realized that her teacher Mrs. Thompson was speaking the truth when she recognized Kassim’s inherent shyness and prodded her to use her voice. “She said, ‘If you don’t speak up in class, you’re not going to be heard,’” recalls Kassim. “I tend to not like to speak until I’ve fully formed my thoughts. But she just gave me that nudge, and it’s funny because many times in my life when I’m not feeling it, I always think back to her. It’s been critical.” Many other teachers stood out to Kassim— the English teacher who taught her to think critically and challenge assumptions, the biology teacher who impressed Kassim with her discipline and the many music teachers who impressed her with their passion. She remembers Mrs. Frensch especially for

TABLE OF CONTENTS | SPRING/SUMMER 2019 • TORCH 21