HerVoice
HerVoice is EmpowerHer's creative storytelling platform, where students can publish their original writings and express themselves freely. At EmpowerHer, we believe in the power of words to heal, connect, and drive change.
"Many of our students have demonstrated remarkable resilience and courage through storytelling, using their voices to share personal truths and inspire others."
HerVoice gives them the space to do just that—amplifying their experiences and perspectives in a world that too often silences them.
Global Partners
With the support of our partners—including the National Society of High School Scholars (Atlanta, Georgia), and Amplify Afghan Women (Melbourne, Australia)—we are proud to bring these stories to a global audience.
Through HerVoice, every story becomes a step toward empowerment, visibility, and hope.
Eligibility
HerVoice is open exclusively to students who have been accepted into EmpowerHer's Mentorship Program.
Priority Given To:
Students from EmpowerHer's Creative Writing and Storytelling Workshop
However, submissions are welcome from all currently enrolled participants.
If you are attending any EmpowerHer workshop, you are eligible to submit your writing.
Email your submission to hervoice@empowerher-initiative.org and include the name of the workshop you are attending.
Word Count
Your piece MUST be between 900-1000 words
(12-point font, single-spaced)
Poetry Length
Your poems should be 40 lines and no more.
Due to a high volume of submissions, we cannot accept pieces that exceed the word limit.
Writings
Finding My Direction
This reflection describes how EmpowerHer’s Resume Building Workshop transformed the author’s understanding of her own experiences and achievements. Alongside lessons from The Alchemist and The Little Prince, the workshop helped her gain confidence, recognize her growth, and move forward with purpose as a medical student.
Fire Riders of the Mountains
A poetic story about a mountain woman whose calm, stone-like strength hides an inner fire of learning, resilience, and hope. Through knowledge, connection, and shared courage, her inner flame grows and spreads to other women, creating quiet but powerful change.
I Hope I Don't Forget Myself
This story reflects on a girl’s lost childhood freedom and the sudden silence that followed when her education and public life were taken away. Through painting, she transforms grief, anger, and injustice into art, using creativity as a powerful form of resistance and self‑expression.
Silent Girls
A poignant poem portraying the daily life of girls denied education and freedom, showing their silent suffering, endurance, and the small but unbreakable hope they carry within.
The Winter That Never Smiled
Set against the wounded silence of Kabul and the destroyed Buddha of Bamyan, this story recounts the author’s grief, exile, and the tragic loss of a friend taken and broken by oppression. Through memory and promise, it becomes an act of witnessing and remembrance.
Through the Lens - The Day I Spoke to a Leaf
A young girl’s first encounter with a microscope in her school library becomes a life‑changing moment. Seeing the hidden beauty of a leaf awakens her passion for science and medicine, creating a spark that continues to guide her even after her education and opportunities are taken away.
Congressional Testimonies: Amplifying Afghan Women's Voices
"These testimonies are representative of the passion of so many Afghan women to share their powerful experiences and their drive to become their best selves and contribute in their own unique ways to society. By sharing the obstacles they have overcome and their amazing pursuits, they serve as an inspiration to many of their peers who want to navigate their own path to success. Coming from a country where their very existence is dehumanized, and their human rights are not recognized, their resilience in the face of adversity should be a message to the whole world that we must support the future of Afghan women in every possible way."
— Afghan Scouts Relief Fund (ASRF)
These two congressional testimonies were shared for publication by the Afghan Scouts Relief Fund (ASRF) with the EmpowerHer HerVoice Initiative.