WOMEN CHANGING THE WORLD

FROM MOMS DEMANDING ACTION TO FRIENDS UNITING FOR CHANGE, MEET THE NEW WAVE OF INSPIRING ACTIVISTS
  • 08 Dec - 14 Dec, 2018
  • Mag The Weekly
  • Focus


PEGGY WHITSON ASTRONAUT
Breaking Barriers in Space

Whitson has spent more time living in outer space – 665 days to be exact – than any other American. “I wanted to be an astronaut ever since watching the Apollo 11 moon landing,” says the biochemist, 58, who was also the first woman to command the International Space Station. “I’m lucky to have never quite recognised how the odds were stacked against me.” Whitson has worked on hundreds of experiments (Everything from superconductor crystals to soybeans and stem cells) that have led to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, medicine and agriculture. “You can do more than you’ve ever dreamed,” she says, “when you just keep pushing yourself – and keep on pushing.”



NAZANIN BONIADI CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGTHS IN IRAN
Seeking Justice and Freedom

Twenty days after Boniadi was born, her parents fled Iran to raise her in London, where women were given more opportunity. “They gave up everything – I don’t take that for granted ever,” says the Counterpart actress, 38, who also stars in the upcoming film Hotel Mumbai. “So when I gained a platform, I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless in Iran.” After working with Amnesty International to release prisoners of conscience for six years, Boniadi now serves on the board of the Center for Human Rights in Iran.



PRIYANKA CHOPRA UNICEF
Helping Needy Kids

Winning Miss World in 2000 showed Chopra she could make a difference on a global scale. “I realised I had a position of power and I could associate myself with causes I really believed in,” says the Indian actress, 36. For 12 years, the Quantico star has worked with UNICEF as a global Goodwill Ambassador, visiting places in need like Zimbabwe and India’s Mumbai slums. “The field trips are the most special, because you meet incredible kids and survivors,” Chopra says. “Working with these brave children around the world, the one thing that has changed in me is I do not take my life for granted.”



ANASTASIA HIGGINBOTHAM AUTHOR
Helping Kids Face Tough Issues

Divorce, death and race: Higginbotham takes many of today’s most complex issues and translates them for young readers with her book series Ordinary Terrible Things. “It’s the series I wish I’d had as a child,” says the mother of two. “Children who read my work are seeing their own internal lives on the page.” The writer and illustrator, 47, who launched the series in 2015 with Divorce Is the Worst, says the books give kids “permission to feel everything.” Her newest book, Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness, explores racism in America: “It invites young children to connect in an authentic and emotional way to justice.”



KIM TAYLOR CLUSTER
Creating Jobs for All

As the founder and CEO of Cluster, a recruitment firm, Taylor prioritises placing people in thousands of unfilled manufacturing jobs. “We’re focused on expanding the middle class,” says the Wisconsin native, 36. As automation redefines manufacturing, “it’s new-collar, not blue-collar,” she says. “We have to include everyone in the vision for the future.”



KATE BOSWORTH CAST
Battling Human Trafficking

As Bosworth and her director husband, Michael Polish, researched their film Nona, they met with members of the non-profit CAST, which aims to rehabilitate survivors of human trafficking. For Bosworth, 35, it meant facing the brutal truth of the problem right here in America. “Often with that feeling of anger and sadness comes a feeling to try and help,” she says. “If we lose our humanity to something like this, then we’re very lost.”



CAROLYN RAFAELIAN CHARITY BY DESIGN
Giving Is Good Business

“The law of the universe is the more you have, the more you have to give,” says Rafaelian, 52. So as her jewellery company Alex and Ani took off, she dedicated a portion of her profits to a wide range of causes. What started out as a few thousand dollars grew into $50 million through Charity by Design, the giving arm of Alex and Ani. “You can actually create a new blueprint, be generous and run a beautiful company,” says the mom of three.



AMELIA FRANCK MEYER
Fixing Foster Care

Working in child welfare for 30 years taught Franck Meyer, 51, that “what children need is a consistent, nurturing protector,” she says. “The magic is another human being looking you in the eye and saying, ‘I’ve got your back.’ ” Franck Meyer founded Alia to reform foster care and help keep kids with their families. “The longing to be with our families is in all of us. It’s a human truth.”



KERRY MAUNUS & APRIL GEORGE TURKEY ON THE TABLE
A New Way to Fight Hunger

The two moms – Maunus has three boys and George has two girls – were looking for a way to instil gratitude in their kids when they dreamed up Turkey on the Table, a sweater-clad centrepiece with attachable feathers for written notes of thanks. “When we started doing the research, we learned that it’s not innate for kids to be grateful, and this is a way to teach that,” says Maunus, 42. The best part? Ten meals are provided to those in need with each $39.99 turkey sold. Since 2015 they have donated 862,022 meals through their partnership with Feeding America, which identifies one in eight Americans as food insecure. “People told us we couldn’t do this, and the response has been so validating,” says George, 46.



JAMIE MARGOLIN & NADIA NAZAR
Climate Warriors

When they aren’t in school, the teenage students are working on Zero Hour, a movement they created for young people who want to take climate change issues into their own hands. “I have no choice but to believe that somehow we will get through this,” says Margolin. “Because otherwise, what are you even fighting for?”



KARISSA BODNAR THRIVE COSMETICS
Makeup-with a Message

Growing up on a farm in Washington with the closest makeup store an hour away meant Bodnar, 29, started formulating her own makeup in elementary school. After college she founded vegan cosmetics line Thrive, a celebrity favourite with an added benefit: Every purchase helps bring funds and products to women in need. “I’ve always had a vision for helping women who are going through a hard time to feel really confident and beautiful,” Bodnar says.



SARAH ULLMAN ONE VOTE AT A TIME
Message Maker

After 49 people were murdered in the 2016 Pulse night club shooting in Orlando, Ullman decided to act. So the L.A. filmmaker, 30, founded One Vote at a Time to create campaign ads directed by female filmmakers for candidates working to reduce gun violence. “There are more women in Afghanistan’s parliament than there are in Congress,” she says. “It’s startling.” Working on ads for female candidates, “We’re finally allowing women to be full people. To see them as a mother, but also as a lawyer and also as a daughter who cares for an aging father. To see that identity as a strength.”



NIA BATTS & SOPHIA BUSH DETROIT BLOWS
Doing Good Through Beauty

When Nia Batts noticed women of colour frequently upcharged in salons for having “textured” hair, she and her partner, Katy Cockrel, 33, turned to her friend, One Tree Hill star Sophia Bush, with a big idea. “We decided to turn that offense into a business plan,” says the actress, 36. They created Detroit Blows, an inclusive salon in Batts’s hometown that invests in the “reinvigoration of the city” by committing $1 from every service and 25 percent of retail to enterprises with female entrepreneurs, “If we can contribute to women and the community, their ability to make those dollars go further is well-documented,” says Batts, 33. The salon, which celebrated its one-year anniversary last month, made its first grant to Alternatives for Girls, a group that supports high-risk young women, Says Bush: “I look at being involved in causes as trying to chip away at the systems that create hardship for people in the world.”

RELATED POST

COMMENTS