Institutions reveal their culture not through statements, but through patterns: who they entrust early, how they respond to delivery, and whether responsibility expands with performance. Jasmine Sharif, widely known as Jas, offers a clear example of how the International Youth Federation identifies potential, invests in it, and builds leadership capacity over time.

Jas’s professional journey began far from traditional centers of global engagement. Raised in the rural desert regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, her early ambitions were shaped as much by constraint as by aspiration. What might once have been described simply as the determination of a girl with a dream was, over time, shaped and tested through structured responsibility, mentorship, and institutional trust.

Her entry into IYF in March 2018 came through a deliberately grounded role: Executive Associate to the IYF President. The position sat at the operational core of the organization, overseeing executive coordination, strategic follow-up, and leadership support functions. It was not a visibility role. It was a precision role — one that required discretion, judgment, and consistency. Through it, Jas gained a close understanding of how decisions are prepared, aligned, and sustained across a complex international organization.

Her appointment also marked a quiet institutional milestone: she became the first Saudi national to assume a senior leadership role at IYF — a reflection not of symbolic intent, but of performance-based progression within an increasingly global organization.

In January 2021, Jas was appointed Senior Inter-Agency Coordinator, joining the IYF Coordination Group (IYFCG). The shift marked a transition from executive support to institutional coordination. Her work focused on business development mainstreaming, inter-agency alignment, and substantive support to coordination task forces. It required the ability to navigate multiple priorities, stakeholder expectations, and organizational languages — while maintaining coherence across moving parts.

What distinguished this phase was not the scale of the work, but its integrative nature. Jas became known for connecting teams that rarely interacted, ensuring continuity across initiatives, and translating strategic intent into collective execution. Her contribution was less about authorship, and more about architecture.

That pattern became most visible in her leadership of inter-agency coordination teams and task forces responsible for strengthening IYF’s organizational digital capital. Over several years, this work culminated in the development of a unified internal platform for communication, collaboration, delivery, and strategic planning. The platform did more than modernize workflows. It reduced isolation across regions, preserved institutional memory, and enabled teams to work as part of a shared system rather than in parallel silos.

In August 2023, Jas was appointed Director, Executive Affairs — a role that formalized her position at the center of institutional alignment. Today, she provides strategic advice and executive support to the Office of the Secretary-General and central headquarters branches, coordinating across departments, partners, and stakeholders to ensure that operational delivery remains aligned with IYF’s vision, mission, and strategic objectives.

Her current mandate reflects the same principle that shaped her earlier roles: responsibility is not granted through proximity, but through reliability. The work remains largely behind the scenes, but its impact is systemic — strengthening coherence, enabling coordination, and ensuring that institutional momentum is sustained as the organization evolves.

“What matters most,” she notes, “is that people feel connected to the work and to each other — especially across distance, culture, and role.”

Jas’s journey illustrates how IYF functions as an enabling institution: one that creates entry points, places trust early, and allows leadership to emerge through contribution rather than convention. It also reflects a broader organizational commitment to widening access — including for young Arabian women — not through symbolism, but through sustained responsibility and professional growth.

For volunteers and early-career professionals considering IYF, her story offers a grounded message. Institutions can open doors — but it is structure, mentorship, and accountability that determine how far those doors lead.