Shamiso Catherine Ruzvidzo is a Strategic Engagement Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 15 years of global experience leading high-value partnerships. Alongside her professional career, Shamiso is a Christian mentor, pastoral leader, and women’s ministry practitioner. She serves on the pastoral leadership team at Audacious Church, Geneva, and leads a women’s small group and Bible study focused on identity in Christ, emotional healing, and spiritual formation. She also co-leads the Geneva location of a large-scale women’s conference that attracts nearly 1,000 women annually, contributing to its vision, teaching, and spiritual programming.
Welcome to our blog, Shamiso!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself — where you live and who you live with?
I’m originally from Zimbabwe and currently live in Geneva, Switzerland, where I work for the United Nations as a Partnerships Specialist. Over the past few years, I’ve been building a life and community here. Outside of my professional work, I’m passionate about faith, women’s empowerment, travelling, and learning about the history of different countries.
The tangible things that bring me joy are my family, our dogs and my beautiful friends scattered around the world.
So, why did you start writing your current book? What’s the story?
God placed this book on my heart almost five years ago. At the time, I didn’t know exactly what it would become, but I knew that identity was at the centre of it.
Over the years, as God continued to nudge me to write, I realised that the book was not only about my own journey but also about the stories of particular women in the Bible. I wanted to tell those stories through a different lens — not simply focusing on what happened to them, but exploring what they may have been feeling in their hearts as they navigated rejection, disappointment, shame, fear, loss, hope, and ultimately God’s love.
As I reflected on their stories and my own, I saw a common thread: so many of us struggle with questions of identity, worth, and belonging. This book is an invitation for women to see themselves through God’s eyes, and to discover that their identity is not defined by their circumstances, mistakes, or past experiences, but by His love for them.
Who are you writing for, and what do you want your writing to communicate?
This book was birthed from a long season of singleness, and searching for worth, for love, and for a place to belong in all the wrong places. It speaks to women who have felt unseen, unheard, or unworthy. These pages are a testament to the fact that even through heartbreak, confusion, and disappointment, there is a deeper love that never fails: the love of God. My prayer is that each word points the reader back to the One who restores and redeems – God, our Father.
What keeps you writing on your darkest day? What’s your passion?
Knowing that I won’t be here forever! God placed an urgency on my heart to share that He loves us, and that He transforms. What keeps me writing is His relentless pursuit of His children, and His desire for each of us to know that our true identity is found in Him, not in our circumstances, achievements, trauma or setbacks.
My passion is helping women see themselves as God sees them — worthy, chosen and deeply valued. If my words can help even one woman discover God and experience His precious, unfailing love for her, then I’ve fulfilled my purpose.
What’s next for you?
I have lots of dreams and deep desires that I hope will soon come to pass — including seeing my book reach the hands of millions of women around the world! I’d also love to take the message God placed on my heart and share it more widely through conferences, churches, and other speaking opportunities.
Why we’re publishing Shamiso’s book
Walk into many churches and you’ll find them built around family — couples, children, the busy rhythm of household life. It’s a beautiful thing. But for the single woman in the pew, it can whisper a painful message: there’s no place here for me. So many faithful, gifted single women carry a hidden ache, feeling unseen and overlooked, as though their worth is somehow on hold until a relationship arrives.
This is the book we long to put into their hands. Out of her own season of searching for love and belonging in all the wrong places, Shamiso writes to the woman who has staked her worth on being chosen by someone — and shows her that she was chosen first, and forever, by God. Through the stories of biblical women who knew rejection and shame, and through honest reflections, poems, prayers and affirmations, she gently dismantles the lie that our identity is something other people confer on us.
How you can help
Producing quality, Jesus-centred books isn’t cheap and often isn’t profitable, but we never want a lack of finance to be the reason a Kingdom book doesn’t reach the people who need it. So, we partner with the Holy Spirit and with others to finance books that point people to Jesus.
We’d love your help getting Shamiso’s book into the hands of readers. If you feel prompted to support Shamiso, reaching women around the world with this important message, we’d love you to partner with us. You can:
Pray for Shamiso
Please pray for Shamiso and for us. Every book release is a faith adventure, and prayer is the heart of it. If you sponsor Shamiso or input your details below, you’ll automatically receive her prayer updates (unless you request otherwise).
Sponsor this project
Sponsor this project to partner with us in bringing Shamiso’s book to print. Your support will help cover publication costs and get this book into the hands of readers who’d never otherwise encounter it — including those who can’t afford it. You can donate below:
Join the Waitlist
The Pre-order isn’t quite open yet, but if you complete the form you can join the waiting list and be the first to find out when it opens!
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