Ornella Marinic (BA ’08) has covered a lot of ground in her efforts to improve the lives of young people.

The co-founder of Femme International and recipient of Brock’s 2024 Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Graduate Award departed for Japan to teach English soon after graduating from the University in 2008.

Working and travelling across Southeast Asia over the next few years, she observed instances of child poverty and gender inequity that eventually propelled her to a post-graduate program in International Development at Humber College.

There, she met Sabrina Rubli, with whom she was assigned a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project for a rural community in Kenya. They quickly identified an issue that needed more attention — menstrual education.

“Our investigations led us to the realization that menstruating individuals had little to no resources for managing their bodies and that without sustainable solutions, many would miss school, skip extracurricular activities and lose out on income opportunities,” says Marinic.

She and Rubli were passionate about helping to “alleviate these barriers to health, education and well-being.”

This past spring, Ornella Marinic (BA ’08) (right) was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General of Canada. Also shown is Femme International co-founder Sabrina Rubli (left) at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

With the help of Rachel Ouko in Mathare village in Kenya, they connected with schools in the community to conduct a needs assessment and launch a pilot project.

“From there, our first menstrual health management program was created, using education to increase knowledge of feminine health and hygiene and distributing sustainable solutions to menstrual management,” says Marinic.

Femme International has since supported more than 16,000 menstruating individuals in Kenya and Tanzania, and is now led locally.

“When it was time, we handed the organization over to local community leaders, and to me, that is what makes Femme a success story,” says Marinic. “Empowering leaders to elicit social change from within their own communities is what sustainable development is all about.”

Marinic was recognized with a Global Change Maker Award from the Ontario Council for International Cooperation in 2014 for her work with Femme International and, in 2024, a Meritorious Service Cross from the Governor General of Canada.

But Marinic’s interest in youth and well-being have not flagged. A Registered Nurse since 2017, she has held several clinical roles supporting child and youth mental health. She will soon complete a Master of Social Work degree at Wilfrid Laurier University and plans to continue working in the mental health field as a provider and advocate influencing policy development.

“As I reflect on my journey, I smile because it really has been built on the foundation of my Sociology degree — that knowledge, the theories, those insights and that program had a tremendous impact on who I became as a young adult and the opportunities I was afforded,” says Marinic.

Ingrid Makus, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, says Marinic’s journey demonstrates how a foundation in the social sciences can support different career paths and effect real change in the world.

“Ornella’s ability to identify problems and find and refine solutions is truly inspirational,” Makus says. “She understands the need for practical, comprehensive approaches to social issues and has the willingness to put in the hard work to get things done.”

Marinic’s advice for current Brock students is to find a way to make their vision happen, no matter what.

“Sabrina and I began with no resources or support. At the beginning, we used our student loans and worked as servers pooling our tips in order to travel to Kenya and pay for Femme’s programming,” Marinic says. “We sacrificed a lot in order to do something that we knew mattered, but if something is worth doing, it’s likely going to be difficult. Don’t let that stop you. Let it drive you.”