When Logie Soobramoney looks back at her life, she is sometimes amazed by how far she has come. She grew up on a farm near Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal, where life was simple and there was no electricity until she was 20.She studied for her matric exams by paraffin lamp. At the time, she did not imagine that she would one day lead an organisation, travel internationally to speak about its work or see both her children go to university.Soobramoney's journey into civil society began around South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, when she volunteered with an organisation monitoring political violence.The experience introduced her to the non-profit sector and work that had meaning and heart.She discovered something that has remained with her: she wanted her work to matter, particularly for people to whom society sometimes gives hardly a second glance.Soobramoney continued learning while working, taking night classes and building her skills through experience.Eventually, she moved from KwaZulu-Natal to Cape Town, where she worked at the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture.Later, she spent 10 years at Goedgedacht Trust, progressing from bookkeeping into financial management and working within programmes supporting rural communities.Today, Soobramoney is the operations director of Schools Environmental Education and Development, a non-profit in Cape Town.Her leadership is rooted in service.She believes in kindness, resilience and creating opportunities for young people to learn, grow and find their place in the green economy.Her life has shown her how powerful it can be when someone sees potential in you and gives you an opportunity. Many people have done that for her. Along her journey, people trusted her with responsibilities that helped shape the person and leader she became. She grabbed those opportunities with both hands.Now she wants to be that hand for someone else - the person who offers hope, a second chance and an opportunity without judgement. One of Soobramoney's proudest achievements is breaking generational boundaries by putting her two children through university.Professionally, being invited to Cambodia as a guest speaker at the World Community Tourism Summit was a moment when she stopped and thought: "Wow, look how far you have come."