The AWARD Fellowship is empowering. Before I was honoured with this fellowship, I felt trapped and disillusioned with this dream to use my knowledge and skills in agriculture to help communities and my country to be food secure, and eventually come out of poverty. There was no platform from which to launch as a woman agriculturist, since most of the opportunities were available only to men. I now have a sense of professional purpose and direction that I did not have before the AWARD Fellowship. For example, I have doubled my scientific networks, and I am more confident and assertive. My leadership skills have also greatly improved.