A better changemaker after her pause: Christa Sharpe serves the most vulnerable in her local community

“The hardest situations I've been in were when I did not take a pause and probably should have.”

As a passionate advocate for protection and social justice for vulnerable women and children, Christa Sharpe is truly the modern day wonder woman - Her journey is one of resilience, reflection, and renewal.

Christa's career spans over three decades in social services, where she has championed hope and change with the most vulnerable communities, especially women and children around the world. In particular, she spent many years working in Cambodia and across the Southeast Asia region. Currently, Christa is an Executive Director of a non-profit organisation, CASA of Fresno & Madera Counties based in California. 

Her recent decision to take a nine-month pause from her career was not just a break, but a reflective and transformative time. 

50 is the new 30

“Turning 50, coming into perimenopause, everything becomes so clear. It was exactly what older women have told me before - the cloudiness falls away. It's suddenly super clear who you are, what you want out of life, what you feel like you can offer this world.” 

Throughout the podcast, Christa candidly discusses the challenges she faced, overcoming miscarriages and the loss of her father. It was during her recent pause that she realised that she wished she had taken more pauses, instead of burying herself in “busyness” and not confronting her emotions then.

Christa's pause led her to a new chapter in her life, focusing on local community work with CASA, an organization dedicated to supporting children in foster care. Her dedication for child well-being and protection is evident as she speaks about her commitment to making a difference in her local community after serving communities around the world. 

When Christa was asked how she managed to take a pause finally, her first step was having the courage to step away - after serving the same organisation for almost two decades. She then shifted her perspective to explore, find stillness, appreciate her days and take time to figure out the future. 

Leadership matters

Christa speaks with a mission on why leadership matters - It helps to make an elevated impact at scale: “From my early 20s, I knew that I was a movement maker - fight the power, change the nation. So for me, that's what leadership and success means. We get to make change happen or progress happen, build alliances. We can do things in a way that will benefit more people at scale in better ways.”

As Christa looks to the future, she is driven by a desire to create lasting change. Over the last three decades, she has broken the ceiling for all women leaders in social services. Her vision for the next decade includes strengthening the organisation she serves and continuing to fight for justice and equality:

“The area where I'm working has one of the highest per capita rates of foster care in California. Our current government in the United States has pulled all funding from programs that benefit vulnerable people. So the people that are going to suffer are going to be our children and our most vulnerable families and those living at or under the poverty line. So that's where I wanted to invest for this next phase of life. The other fun thing that came through the pause is also deciding for this last phase of my career, I either only want to work for amazing women or be a woman that's lifting up other amazing women.”

As we close the podcast, Christa reminded us that “beauty is in women at the level that we never see” - women who are going through similar experiences. She spoke fervently about the societal tension placed on ambitious women with a mission who also want to be there for their families. 

“We're in this dual kind of pull of realizing as women, we want more for our lives. We want balance, we want control…  As women, we have to find that place of prioritizing our health and our balance and who we are, our gifts and one another, but continuing to influence all those spaces and not give them up.”

Her crystal clear mission is rarity - coupled with her experience and gift to serve. Christa, we need more of you in this world.