With global perspective on empowering women and girls, EmBe youth leader thinks big

This paid piece is sponsored by EmBe.

Allison Sinning was the kind of kid who grew up with National Geographic maps of the world wallpapering her bedroom.

So it’s not surprising life took her far from the Lennox farm where she grew up, delivering her experiences that have positioned her for the difference she’s making in Sioux Falls and beyond today.

“Allison is someone who has hands-on experience in changing the world,” said Kerri Tietgen, CEO of EmBe, where Sinning serves as youth development manager.

“She is powerful, passionate, humble and inspiring.”

As she grew up surrounded by world photography, Sinning at first pictured herself working as an international correspondent.

It led her to USD, where she completed a degree in contemporary media and journalism but also received her first taste of life overseas, doing a study abroad program at the University of South Wales and then to the Ostfalia — University of Applied Sciences in Germany  where she developed an English conversation elective course.

Two years after graduation, she joined the Peace Corps as a secondary education volunteer and programming adviser.

“My path after that just really changed,” Sinning said. “I worked in Sierra Leone for two years and taught English and literature at an all-girls middle school and high school.”

It was the country’s oldest girls’ school, run by women who inspired Sinning in multiple ways.

“These were some of the strongest women I’d ever met,” she said. “Sierra Leone has had really hard decades of civil war, and through it all they never shut the school down. They moved to the city, and when that became unsafe, they moved to the countryside, but it was always open to offer girls education. The leadership was amazing.”

She organized a journalism club for the students that produced a radio show where they would share stories of women and girls emerging from the war.

“Their interviews uplifted what these women were doing in the community and led to all sorts of amazing awareness,” Sinning said. “It made me realize girls have an innate power that is not always utilized, and if you lift them up and give them resources, they are going to rise to the occasion.”

After two years, she returned to Sioux Falls and worked as a refugee job skills trainer at LSS and  went on to earn a Master of International Relations and Affairs from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

By 2016, her international calling was felt again and she returned to the Peace Corps to work in Liberia as a gender program coordinator.

“It was a similar history of devastating civil war, and my primary work was around empowerment for women and girls,” she said.

“The project that became closest to my heart was a peer mentoring program, which connected girls to the resources they need to help make change in their communities. It’s the most powerful project I’ve worked on in my life.”

The achievements of the girls in Liberia even caught the attention of first lady Michelle Obama, who visited the country and invited the girls to Washington to share their stories and connect with other young women from around the world.

“It was amazing, and the most powerful moment was when these girls from Liberia, Morocco and the United States were all sitting at a networking event having conversations about their life experiences. They came to this realization that their struggles weren’t unique to themselves or their own countries but that there were shared struggles,” Sinning said. “They left wanting to work as sisters across the globe to do something about it.”

After years of travel and training, Sinning recognizes she’d become exhausted. Wanting to be closer to family, especially her grandma who was then in her 90s, she decided to come home and recharge.

It led her to EmBe, where seemingly an ideal role was waiting. She joined the organization in 2018 as a program coordinator focused on Girls on the Run and now oversees all youth strategy and programming, including FIRST LEGO League, summer camps and future program development.

“There are very few people who are more passionate about the mission of EmBe with a desire to serve the youth of this community and region in a bigger way than Allison,” Tietgen said.

“She brings incredible experience that we could only hope for – all within a young, inviting person. We are so fortunate to have a leader with Allison’s background serving the youth of this community.”

Sinning’s global experience is invaluable, Tietgen added.

“Allison has seen and experienced gender inequities in very literal, blatant injustices as well as less obvious and more subtle ways,” she said.

“Her care for girls on both ends of the spectrum not only provides relevancy and perspective; she knows how to give voice to individuals. Even more so, she knows the power in those voices – whether it’s a young girl in Liberia, a girl in small-town South Dakota or amongst the political leaders in D.C.”

Sinning also is a role model for all the girls she connects with through EmBe, Tietgen said.

“Her experience of growing up in a small Midwest community to make change internationally, while coming back to her roots in the Midwest, inspires the youth she impacts. Her presence and journey are a living reminder to dream big,” she said.

Sinning is leading her biggest year of Girls on the Run since the pandemic. There are 658 third through fifth grade girls signed up statewide who will compete in three 5Ks this spring.

The Sioux Falls race is at 9:30 a.m. May 14 at Yankton Trail Park.

And if you’re inspired by Sinning’s journey to get here – she could use some help.

“We are looking for volunteers to support the event and support the girls, helping set up the route or staff a fun, new, happy hair station we’re doing,” she said. “We want to make it a fun day because they’ve been working really hard, and we want to celebrate them and their accomplishments.”

She’s already preparing for next season, too, and always is looking for volunteer coaches and interested girls.

“Girls need all the support they can get, and this combines two really important things: physical activity, which is so important for stress relief, and critical life skills, including confidence and how you relate to your peers,” she said. “This program connects to those critical social and emotional things girls need, plus brings them together with adult mentors to support them.”

To learn more about the program, click here. 

And Sinning also is looking ahead to what more EmBe can offer.

“We have fantastic programs for childcare and for kids up through fifth or sixth grade, but then there’s a gap in middle and high school and for our early professionals,” she said. “So we’re thinking about how we can meet their needs and what it looks like at EmBe to create a pathway of empowerment from a child in child care through a woman’s professional life. There are a lot of things coming soon.”

There’s no doubt that Sinning is up to the task, Tietgen said.

“Potential is limitless when Allison is involved. She has a vision for serving the youth of this community by providing programming and services for all youth – created by youth, for youth,” she said.

“At EmBe, we get to empower Allison to dream bigger, to engage and listen to this community, and then we just need to get out of her way to let her run. The opportunities are limitless. She is a gem and EmBe, our community, state and region are incredibly fortunate to benefit from her incredible leadership and vision.”

For her own part, Sinning sees her experience so far with a universal view.

“I really truly believe our global society underestimates women and girls as a whole,” she said.

“Across the board, I think in many ways that’s not intentional but as a society don’t understand the power they hold. And that’s what my work aims to do – amplify and elevate the power that women and girls have to change the world, to change their communities and to empower everyone else around them. That’s what I hope we continue to build at EmBe.”

To connect with Sinning about youth programming opportunities at EmBe, email asinning@embe.org.