Leadership

Ambassadors

Nivaal Rehman
Azad Kashmir, Pakistan/Toronto, Canada

Nivaal Rehman has been an activist ever since she was eight years old. Along with her sister Maryam, also a global ambassador, she has focused her efforts on girls education throughout the world. Her activism began in Pakistan where they campaigned to stop girls from dropping out of school and she them that their place was not just in the home. She has helped mobilize her peers by conveying to them how their voice can be heard as well, through her many clubs including Students Together Against Racism and Youth In Action just to name a few. In 2016, along with her sister she started her YouTube channel called “The World With MNR” to inspire others to change the world. Since then she has covered many events such as the Social Good Summit by Mashable and the United Nations in New York City and has had the opportunity to interview PM Trudeau and Malala Yousufzai. She was also chosen out of millions of girls around the world as one of the 21 filmmakers for Disney’s Dream Big Princess Project. Her activism has led her and her sister to receiving countless awards including the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award and the Being ME Rising Muslimah award. But she has not stopped there, with Maryam, she is working on a documentary on girls’ education in Pakistan that highlights the work being done to improve the state of girls’ education in their village. Nivaal shows that you are never too young to make a difference in the world.

Danielle Pore Villafaña
Sydney, Australia

Danielle Pore Villafaña is a trailblazing youth activist inspiring people all over the wold to use their voices to spark necessary change. In 2013 she saw her family’s Philippine province wiped out by Typhoon Haiyan. This sparked an interest in the environment and as she grew older into climate change. Angered at the realisation that the actions of the richest governments and corporations hurt the world’s poorest people the most she became a climate activist. She is now a core organizer for School Strike 4 Climate Australia and spoke at the March 15 Global Strike that saw 1.5 million students on strike globally. In addition to her advocacy to help save the environment, she is also the founder of Believe Survivors. An organization dedicated to dismantling rape culture in our societies and institutions. It aims to change the culture and system surrounding sexual violence through activism, advocacy, and education. Danielle is a true inspiration who shows that no matter your age or where you come from you have a responsibility to speak out against injustices in our world.

Safiatou Dorcas Ouedrago
Burkina Faso, West Africa

Safiatou is a role model for girls around the world. She has lived in Burkina Faso, West Africa her whole life. Africa has the highest poverty rate in the world at 27.3% and Burkina Faso is home to some of the most impoverished communities in the world. Growing up she saw boys and girls dropping out of school around 6th grade because their parents could not afford their education. As a result many boys went into mining while girls were forced to turn to prositiution. However, Safiatou was taught the importance of an education from her father. From a young age she wanted to help those who did not have the same support system that she does. She told herself when she started University that when she graduates she would go back and help her community. Today, she works with other kids to help them with their school work and try to keep them on the right path. She also hosts events for kids with free food and drinks. In a place with one of the highest poverty rates in the world, for many of these kids this may be the only meal they have that day. Safiatou understands the power of education that education has on an individual, and shows girls throughout the world the value of an education.

Angélica Morales
Sololá, Guatemala

From a young age, Angélica was told that her education was not very important. It seemed as though she was destined for a life working in the home and statistically also becoming a child bride like many of her older friends. Less than 30% of indigenous Guatemalan girls are enrolled in secondary education and by age 17, only 26% of indigenous girls are still in school. Until Angélica, her family was just another statistic as not one of her sisters had gone to school past the fourth grade. However, Angélica had bigger dreams than just working in the home with the rest of her sisters. She wanted to be a doctor, something that seemed nearly impossible for girls where she grew up. When her fourth grade teacher learned of her aspirations he helped her recieve a grant from an organization called MAIA, whose mission is to keep indigenous Guatemalan girls in school. Today, Angélica has defied the odds. She is in college, making her part of just the 1% of indigenous girls to study at this level, and her dreams of being a doctor are well on their way to becoming reality. Angélica shows girls all over the world that no matter where they come from they can be anything that they dream of becoming.

Ritika Singh
Jharkhand, India

Ritika has been passionate about empowering girls ever since she was a little girl. In high school she developed this passion further and began working outside of school with Girls Health Champions freshman year. Girls Health Champions is an organization that trains girls worldwide as peer health educators and health leaders. She has been involved in many different aspects of this organization, including social media, web design and development, and curriculum development. Ritika shows that even at a young age, girls can make a global impact.

Anna Lapteva
California, USA

Anna Lapteva developed an immense appreciation for the power of education as she witnessed her parents, Soviet immigrants, build their “American Dream.” They instilled in her the importance of an education in achieving her own dreams in life and achieving her full potential. This intellectual curiosity led her to a love of science as the answers to her never ending questions about the world around her. However, in school she was often told by the boys that science was for them only - once even ripping away the computer while she was typing up experimental protocol during biology class. From this incident on she became deeply involved in Girls Empowerment work seeking to break social stereotypes and teach girls that their potential is limitless. She joined the Girl Up club at her school and quickly became president of her school's chapter. She devoted her time into spearheading educational initiatives about the lives and countries of marginalized women, and raising funds for these girls to have access to more resources that elevate their functionality within society. As an incoming freshman at Caltech she hopes to show what girls can do.

Maria Atienza
Madrid, Spain

Maria has been deeply involved in her community from a young age. She wants other people to know what many individuals in Madrid are forced to endure including hunger, homlessness, and lack of hygiene. She works closely with a local charity in Madrid to help people in need. She advocates for these individuals and helps get them hygiene products, food, and more. When asked why she does this, she says that she does this to help out those less fortunate then her in her community. She believes that it is important that everyone gives back no matter their age because if every person can do something to help make a positive change the world will change for the better. It is important that everyone does something, even if it is small, to positively impact the world.

Rongxue Shen
Auckland, New Zealand/ Liaoning Province Fushun City, China

Rongxue is a passionate advocate for women working together and supporting other women. In 2018, she initiated a protect called WNZW meaning WǒMen /New Zealand Women.’ This ongoing project consists of a series of seminars where female students and employees in the New Zealand work force come together to discuss issues including discrimination in the work place and overcoming adversity as a women. Since its beginning, Rongxue has lead over 500 seminars and changed the lives of thousands. Rongxue believes it is is important to have all people from different ethnic groups and backgrounds at these seminars as they each bring a unique perspective to the discussion. For her outstanding and courageous efforts she has won many awards including being the New Zeal Youth Award Recipient and the UN Foundation Scholarship Recipient. Rongxue understands the importance of using your voice to create positive change and the power of working together and empowering others so that we all have the tools to become the best versions of ourselves that we can be.

Doguerthyne Thany Lalanne
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

Douguerthyne was born in Haiti and lived there nearly all of her childhood. In Haiti, while women and men have the same rights, there are very few women involved in political affairs or women that hold very significant jobs in the country. Most women stay at home and care for the children and clean the house. However, Douguerthyne has been around strong women all of her life who taught her the importance of staying in school and making something for yourself. They taught her that her potential reached far beyond the home. They might not have been able to reach their full potential and have been unable to break away and make a life for themselves but she can be the one that does. Doguerthyne has taken this advice with her throughout her life. She believes that it is girls responsibility to accept and empower each other because a girls value is so much more than a homemaker. When girls unite Doguerthyne believes that they are unstoppable. Today, she has become a powerful gender equality activist who seeks to empower young girls so that they too can reach their full potential.

Camilla Fritzinger
London, UK

Having traveled around the world at a young age Camilla has met people from all different places and all different walks of life. She has seen first hand young girls have been forced to drop out of school because their brothers education was valued more than theirs or have been told by the society around them that they are not good enough and their only place is in the home. Having been exposed to these gender inequities, Camilla has become very passionate about girls empowerment. She believes it is up to girls like her who have been fortunate enough to go to school and who understand their self worth to give others the confidence that she has so that they too can value their self worth and realize their full potential. She has become very active in many organizations whose mission is to provide resources and opportunities to young girls who otherwise would not have these opportunities so that they too can become global changemakers. Camilla illustrates the importance of girls helping girls who are less fortunate than they are because when girls unite they truly are unstoppable.

Navya Jain
Rewari, India

Navya Jain is a passionate activist in her community. Growing up in India she saw girls with less opportunities who were forced to drop out of school or cut their studies short due to lack of resources or high cost of schooling. Often when families did not have enough money to send all of their kids to school the boys were chosen over the girls who were then forced to stay at home all day. Passionate to prove that a women’s role was not in the home and to show young girls their full potential, Navya focused her efforts on improving the lives of girls throughout the world. Today she is involved in the charity Girls Health Champions, which focuses on empowering girls throughout the world to provide them the tools to become world leaders. Navya shows the importance of speaking out when you see things that are wrong in the world. The world is far from perfect but nothing will ever change if people do not speak out for what is right.

Maryam Rehman
Azad Kashmir, Pakistan/Toronto, Canada

Maryam Rehman has been a passionate activist her entire life. Along with her sister Nivaal, also a global ambassador, she has focused her efforts on girls education throughout the world. Her early activist days began in Pakistan where she campaigned to stop girls from dropping out of school and showed them their value. Since, she has become a role model for girls across the world and has led many conferences, including the UN’s International Women’s Day Conference and the Girl Up Toronto Summit. In 2016, along with her sister she started her YouTube channel called “The World With MNR” to inspire others to change the world. Since then she has covered many events including WE Day Toronto and events with the Blue Dot movement and has had the opportunity to interview PM Trudeau and Malala Yousufzai. She was also chosen out of millions of girls around the world as one of the 21 filmmakers for Disney’s Dream Big Princess Project. Her activism has led her and her sister to receiving countless awards including the Canada 150 Youth Champion award by MP Celinaand the Being ME Rising Muslimah award along with being featured in many newspapers including Toronto Star and the Durham Chronicle newspapers. But she has not stopped there, with Nivaal, she is working on a documentary on girls’ education in Pakistan that highlights the work being done to improve the state of girls’ education in their village. Maryam shows the immense power that each individual has to create lasting change and the ability they have to change the lives of those around them for the better.

Valentina Moreno De Barreda
Madrid, Spain

Valentina has made it her mission in life to give back to others who are less fortunate than her. From a young age she has been a natural leader. Valentina has participated and helped lead many events across the world. Recently she was the head camp counselor to 300 children at a summer camp, a leadership position she traveled around the globe to serve. She believes that investing time in the youth is investing in the future for a better tomorrow. She has since become even more passionate about helping others. Today she frequently volunteers to help those in need and has become particularly involved with a soup kitchen near her home. Her favorite part about volunteering her is connecting with the people. It seems like everyone has a story to tell and for many of these people their life has been significantly harder than most but they always come with a smile on their face and act like nothing is wrong. To see their resilience has been inspiring to her and taught her to never take anything for granted. She believes that there is nothing more important in this world than giving back because if everyone gave just an hour of their time helping others the world would be a much better place for all.

Raina Jain
Connecticut, USA

Raina Jain has had a passion for STEM ever since she started school. However, as she got older she noticed that less and less girls were in her science and math classes. Hesitant, but refusing to be discouraged, sophomore year she applied for the Science Research program at her local highschool. There she developed her passion for STEM further. Sophomore year her project was called Magnetically-Induced Visual Detection of Trace Arsenic Contaminants in Water Using Fe3O4 Photonic Crystal Structures. In her first project she created a rapid device that only costs 2$ that helps visually detect arsenic in water. Junior year she tackled the issue of colony collapse with her project called Control of Varroa destructor Infestation with a Dual-Function, Thymol Emitting Honey Bee Hive Entranceway. She created an entranceway with holes, that is coated with a chemical called thymol that is a repellant towards varroa mites, the single greatest threat to the honey population world wide. She has earned international recognition for her projects at Science fairs including at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and the International Science and Engineering Fair. Raina has showed the importance of following your passion. In a historically male dominated field she wants other young girls to know all of the opportunities that STEM has to offer and the importance of never giving up on your dreams.

Nina Lies
Herrliberg, Switzerland

Nina is using her passion for learning to help young girls and boys get educated so that they too can find their passions and give back for generations to come. She knows that disproportionately more girls than boys are not getting educated which severely limits their ability to be successful in life. Understanding the importance of education Nina is making valuable changes in her community. She recognizes how fortunate she has been for the opportunity for her to go to school and discover what she is most interested in. For her, that has been learning languages. After school she helps young girls and boys learn different languages that she has been fortunate enough to learn. She sees languages as a valuable opportunity to connect with people from all around the world. By teaching these kids they are not just learning a skill set, they are also getting educated and being given resources that they will carry on for the rest of their lives. She teaches kids from all backgrounds saying that, “every child deserves the chance to get an education no matter who they are or where they come from, education is a critical tool in order for someone to reach their full potential.” Nina shows that you are never too young to tackle some of the most important issues in our world. It is important to take a stance against the issues you believe in and do your part in creating change.

Contributors