Amina Shale at LPM Studios(Ayisha Jaffer / Ayisha Jaffer)March is Women’s History Month, a time to recognize women’s leadership in our communities.Amina Shale is one of those leaders in Louisville. She is a first-generation refugee and the executive director of More Than a Smile Foundation, a n onprofit supporting immigrant and refugee families through mentorship, community support and women’s empowerment programming.The organization’s name hearkens to Shale’s belief that “a smile should never be a mask for struggle, but a symbol of strength, hope, and belonging.”LPM’s Ayisha Jaffer spoke with Shale about her work and why centering women matters.This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.Ayisha Jaffer: More Than a Smile began in your family's grocery store. Can you bring me back to that moment?Amina Shale: I wanted a way to give back to the community. Why don't I open a grocery store? And the grocery store idea sparked my interest in helping the youth that were living with us in West Louisville. So I started tutoring kids. It started with two to three kids, and as the number grew, I became overwhelmed.After COVID-19, I decided to close the store because I felt like there was a next step. And More Than a Smile began incorporating.AJ: What gaps were you seeing in immigrant and refugee families that sparked this aside from the need for tutoring and education?AS: I remember one interview with my mom at a local hotel. I was a junior in high school. I was her interpreter in the interview room, and at the time, I was just thinking about all of the times that she was told no, and she didn't have an advocate in the room. That's why she was getting a low minimum wage.This was the first time that her pay rate was $16 — that was the highest pay rate she's ever had. For her, it felt like, “I’m being seen, and I don’t have to limit myself and say, ‘You can just give me whatever’s available.’”AJ: How did those experiences shape the way that you think about leadership?AS: It has told me that I need to be that voice for individuals who may not always get the opportunity to speak at the table. What's kept a lot of these disparities hidden is that they're not being spoken about.AJ: Empowering women is a core focus of what your organization does. Why was it important to you that women and girls be centered in your programming?AS: I noticed that in our community, women are often told you're not supposed to be heard, and I also have daughters, so it just made sense that I didn't want my daughters to live in a society where they were limited because of their gender. They are a part of society, but they're not being listened to.For me, I just felt like that was a component that was missing. Even if it meant we were only meeting once a month, it brought women into our society, rather than just saying, yes, we do programming, but we're not really highlighting or focusing on the needs of women who I feel like have been ignored.AJ: And then with the She Leads program, it sounds like that's a program once a month where women can be heard.AS: Yes, and with that, it's intergenerational. In the beginning, we did have women who had lived experience, women who felt like this is the first time that we have an actual women's group meeting.Now we have moved and transitioned into also incorporating, how do we give you skills? How do we also make it known that you don't always have to be a housekeeper, that you don't always have to be a stay-at-home mom. You have skills. You are someone that can go out and contribute in a different way.AJ: For listeners who want to show up in meaningful ways, what does real support look like?AS: Just coming to one of our women's events. We need more people who are willing to say, I see you and I want to be in that space with you.Because a lot of times it's great that we're gathering together, but it's even better when people see others who don’t look like them in that space. People who are willing to say, “I may not speak your language, I may not wear a headscarf, I may not know exactly where you are or what you're going through right now, but in any way that I can, I'm here.” ...read more read less