Sochea Chhay

Attending

Academic Major

Undeclared

​Class of 2025

Sochea Chhay will start her freshman year at Beloit in the fall of 2021. Sochea was born in a small community in Siem Reap, a rural province of Cambodia. When she was four years old, her parents migrated to work as factory workers in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Even though her family encountered many challenges, she is grateful for her parents’ unconditional support and motivation. Sochea is the first person in her family to pursue a college degree, and she wants to use her education to empower marginalized people and bring Cambodia towards self-reliance.
 
Sochea is particularly passionate about gender equality and women’s empowerment. She spearheaded a project called “COVID-19 and Women Vulnerability” with support from Transparency International Cambodia. This project raises awareness of the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on Cambodian women and girls. She organized two virtual panel discussions that brought together students, youths, and stakeholders from different organization (such as USAID, Pact Cambodia, and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights) to discuss inequality, women’s skill gaps, and the impact of COVID-19 on women’s economic livelihoods and social wellbeing. Sochea was invited to share her insights with Cambodia Women’s Radio, where she talked about the youth’s role in responding and preventing the Covid-19 pandemic. In the future, Sochea hopes to initiate more projects in her home country to empower more girls to be powerful leaders.
 

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Mentor Team 

Paula Gorman, Senior Manager Customer Operations, Formation
Kimberly Steffen, Senior Marketing Manger, Johnson & Johnson 
Manjula Shivanna, Data Scientist Leader, Cisco
McCall Renold, Senior Manager of Strategy, Athleta
Lindsay Kresch, Director of Strategic Partnerships, CultureSync
Chantal Veale, Human Potential Coach, ipivot coaching