Faith Arnolda Ethel Coker: Leading With Heart, Healing With Courage, Inspiring Change

In Sierra Leone, a beautiful nation still bearing the scars of war, environmental disasters and socio-economic challenges, there rises a young leader with a vision more powerful than circumstances. Faith Arnolda Ethel Coker is not just a name; but a rising leader with the unshakable belief that even small acts of courage can create ripple effects of transformation.

At just a young age, Faith has become a light bearer in spaces shrouded by silence. Her work in mental health advocacy and youth empowerment transcends projects and awards. It is the story of a girl who grew up watching pain go unnamed, who turned her scars into tools of leadership, and who is now building spaces where others can find hope.

The Unspoken Wounds of Mental Health
Faith’s passion for mental health advocacy was born from lived experience. “Mental health became important to me because of what I’ve seen and experienced growing up,” she tells me, her voice steady yet reflective.

In her community, mental health was rarely spoken of but silently suffered. She recalls friends and family struggling with burdens they could not name, and she herself, at times, feeling overwhelmed without the language to express it.

When she found the courage to speak, to seek support, and to learn, she discovered something powerful: that healing begins the moment silence breaks. Today, Faith offers to others what she once longed for: a safe space to be seen, heard, and restored.

Her story echoes the words of humanitarian and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, who once said:

“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”

Faith’s leadership is exactly that; going upstream, addressing the root causes of emotional suffering, and dismantling stigma so that young people have the tools to thrive.

When Recognition Sparks Renewal
A couple of weeks ago, Faith received the SLUSAA Award at a time when her own spirit felt exhausted. Behind the smile of a tireless changemaker were questions of worth, doubts about impact, and the weight of doors closed before they could open.

Then came the award.

“It reminded me that even when everything else feels like it’s falling apart, my efforts haven’t gone unnoticed,” she reflects. The recognition was an anchor, a reminder that her voice and vision mattered even when shadows tried to silence her.

Leadership experts often emphasize resilience as a cornerstone of influence. Nelson Mandela once framed it this way:

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

The award did not just celebrate what Faith had done; it reignited her belief in what she could still become.

Leadership as Service, Not Power
For Faith, leadership is not found on podiums nor in titles. It is born in quiet rooms where a hesitant teenager says, “Now I feel seen.” Leadership is alive in community workshops where silence turns to questions, and stigma transforms into hope.

She recalls a workshop in Lunsar on teenage pregnancy and mental health; a vulnerable space for 50 students from five schools. “On the first day, many were quiet… by the end, a girl came up to me and said, I feel like I finally understand myself a bit more. That moment hit me deeply.”

That is the model of leadership Faith embodies: servant leadership, which Robert Greenleaf once defined as ..

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.”

Faith sees leadership not as standing above but walking beside, not commanding but listening, not speaking endlessly but creating spaces where others find their own voice.

Challenges, Yet Unshaken
Advocacy comes with trials. Sustaining projects without consistent funding has been one of Faith’s most pressing challenges. Yet, she remains undeterred.

When resources run low, she anchors herself in prayer, patience, and purpose. Her family and mentors form her circle of strength, reminding her that, as her mother often says, “You give birth, but it takes many hands to raise a child.”

Thanks to groups like YES and IEARN, she has helped launch critical initiatives. Today, she harnesses social media, promising that even without money, progress arises from creativity and community.

“Our mission is bigger than any obstacle. We will keep pushing forward, because the need for mental health awareness and youth support is too important to wait.”

This philosophy has carried her into the planning of innovative alternatives: a 30-day digital campaign where youth voices become both currency and catalyst. Even without financial backing, Faith is proving that progress can be powered by creativity, collaboration, and courage.

In this, she embodies the wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt:

“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

Faith lights candles every day: for herself, for her peers, for an entire generation of young Africans seeking hope, space, and understanding.

The Roots of Resilience
Behind the changemaker is a child who once watched her mother suffer quietly through illness, holding onto dreams unfulfilled. Faith now carries those dreams forward. She is strengthened by her two fathers, her hardworking mother, her brother, grandparents, and the village of relatives who poured love and resilience into her.

Before titles and recognition, she was simply a girl with big dreams: to make her family proud, and to transform pain into purpose.

Through it all, leadership has revealed her to herself. She has discovered that to lead is not to wield power, but to build community. Leadership, for her, is both an inner journey and an outward offering.

Being Her Own Kind of Beautiful
 

Today, Faith Arnolda Ethel Coker is a storyteller, a living testimony that dreamers never die. Her life invites us to consider leadership not as domination but as presence. To see mental health not as weakness but as wholeness. To understand that hope, when shared, becomes unbreakable.
As she continues her mission: through halted projects, new ideas, and unstoppable faith.

Her heartbeat as a leader echoes one message:
You are not alone. Healing is possible. Leadership is love in action.

And maybe, that is the award-winning truth the world needs most today.

Short Bio
Faith Arnolda Ethel Coker is a mental health advocate and youth leader from Sierra Leone. An alumna of the Kennedy-Lugar YES Program, she has worked nationally and globally to champion mental health awareness, education, and empowerment. Her leadership is shaped by empathy, humility, and community, as she continues to inspire young people to find their voice and be “their own kind of beautiful.”