Arissa Roy

18/04/2026

All roads lead back home…

13/03/2026

Women are not just shaping the future. They are building it.

Honoured to have spoken at the International Women’s Day event hosted by and at Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

Moments like this remind me why representation, intergenerational dialogue, and courageous leadership matter. As a young woman advocating for education transformation and youth agency, it was incredibly meaningful to contribute to conversations about how we empower the next generation to lead.

The future belongs to those willing to challenge systems and imagine something better.

Grateful to be part of a community of women doing exactly that.

Special shoutout to for all the incredible work you are doing with . And of course always shout out to my Mom… I started crying when talking about her ❤️

22/02/2026

The biggest thing working in United Nations spaces taught me was this: Youth leadership is not something we wait for. It is something we practice 🌎

Over the past few years, being in global education and policy spaces has quietly reshaped how I understand change, leadership, and impact. Many of the most important lessons were not written in reports. They were learned through listening, observing, and showing up consistently.

Here are five things this journey has taught me.

1️⃣ Young people belong at decision making tables.
Not as a symbolic presence, but as real partners in shaping the systems we will inherit. I have seen how youth perspectives can shift conversations and bring urgency into rooms that need it most. Meaningful inclusion makes better decisions.

2️⃣ Policy language matters, but stories move people.
Frameworks and indicators are important, but what truly stays with people are lived experiences. The moments that shift rooms are the human stories behind the data.

3️⃣ Systems change is slow and nonlinear.
Real transformation rarely happens overnight. It takes patience, persistence, and the willingness to keep showing up even when progress feels invisible.

4️⃣ Sometimes you have to build your own seat at the table.
Not every space is designed with young people in mind. I have learned that part of leadership is creating new spaces when existing ones fall short. We do not always have to wait to be invited.

5️⃣ You do not have to wait to lead.
Leadership does not begin with a title or an age. It begins the moment you decide to take responsibility for something you care about.

Still learning. Still listening. Still building. 🤍

Which lesson resonated most with you?

19/02/2026

Black and white. Because this shouldn’t be complicated.

Since 2022, girls in Afghanistan have been banned from secondary school. Today, more than 2.2 million girls are out of classrooms simply because they are girls- according to

Education is a right, not a privilege. Although Afghanistan is the only country where girls are banned from school, barriers to girls’ education exist everywhere.

We should not normalize this. We should not ignore it.

Stand with Afghan girls.



Join today .her.right. Huge shoutout to for all your leadership and advocacy

16/01/2026

2025, was probably the hardest year of my life.

There were moments of sadness, failure, disappointment and grief; but through it all were undeniable moments of joy. These are some of my favorite ones 💫

Thank you to everyone who made this year perfectly imperfect❤️. In this video or not, you know who you are.

22/12/2025

Second time back at and somehow it felt even more grounding.

I was first invited into the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice program last year. Returning now, the urgency felt sharper. This is a space that asks hard questions about how youth violence is produced by systems, not individuals, and what it really takes to build safety and justice that young people can feel, not just talk about.

This year, I continued working with the Learnnovators AI group. Our focus was on how education and emerging technologies can be used responsibly to strengthen belonging, critical thinking, and care. Not as quick fixes, but as tools that must be shaped by ethics, lived experience, and accountability if they are to serve young people rather than harm them.

What mattered most to me was the refusal to stay comfortable. The conversations were honest, sometimes uncomfortable, and deeply necessary. People showed up carrying their realities, their questions, and their commitments. That kind of collective truth telling is rare, and it is powerful.

As I move forward, I am leaving with more clarity and more responsibility. Responsibility to act, to keep questioning systems that fail young people, and to keep pushing for solutions that are rooted in dignity, access, and justice.

Grateful for the invitation, the trust, and the people who remind me why this work matters. The work continues.

22/12/2025

Second time back at and somehow it felt even more grounding.

I was first invited into the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice program last year. Returning now, the urgency felt sharper. This is a space that asks hard questions about how youth violence is produced by systems, not individuals, and what it really takes to build safety and justice that young people can feel, not just talk about.

This year, I continued working with the Learnnovators AI group. Our focus was on how education and emerging technologies can be used responsibly to strengthen belonging, critical thinking, and care. Not as quick fixes, but as tools that must be shaped by ethics, lived experience, and accountability if they are to serve young people rather than harm them.

What mattered most to me was the refusal to stay comfortable. The conversations were honest, sometimes uncomfortable, and deeply necessary. People showed up carrying their realities, their questions, and their commitments. That kind of collective truth telling is rare, and it is powerful.

As I move forward, I am leaving with more clarity and more responsibility. Responsibility to act, to keep questioning systems that fail young people, and to keep pushing for solutions that are rooted in dignity, access, and justice.

Grateful for the invitation, the trust, and the people who remind me why this work matters. The work continues.

22/12/2025

18/12/2025

How do we talk about the future of education when millions of young people are being denied in the present?

I spoke at International Symposium on the Future of the Right to Education after listening to an entire day of conversations, panels, and policy language. These were candid remarks, written in real time on my phone :), that were guided by what was said, and by what was missing.

As we talk about transforming education, we cannot stay silent about young people around the world especially in Palestine, and those in Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, and girls in Afghanistan, who are being pushed out of education and denied their most basic human rights. Education reform means nothing if it ignores injustice. Transformation requires courage ✊🏽.

As an Indo-Canadian advocate for education transformation, a member of the SDG4 Youth & Student Network, and incoming Youth Representative for Europe & North America, I spoke from lived experience — shaped by learning alongside peers from 80+ countries at 🌍. Young people today are innovative, thoughtful, and ready, yet we are still reduced to numbers and outdated metrics.

If we are serious about transforming education, we must:
💛 center social and emotional learning
🤖 radically rethink how we use technology and AI
🗣 stop making decisions about youth without youth

Nothing for us, without us. Change doesn’t start in conference rooms alone ; it starts when we listen, act, and challenge systems in our own communities 🌊. Grateful for the space, and even more committed to pushing for an education system that is just, human, and future-ready.