Human Rights (U - Social Activism)

<p>Nadya Okamoto is the Founder and Executive Director of PERIOD (period.org), an organization she founded at the age of 16. PERIOD is now the largest youth-run NGO in women’s health, and one of the fastest growing ones here in the United States.</p><p>Since 2014, PERIOD has addressed over 900,000 periods and registered over 600 campus chapters in all 50 states and 30 other countries. In 2017, Nadya ran for office in Cambridge, MA. While she did not win, her campaign team made historic waves in mobilizing young people on the ground and at polls.

<p>Mike Africa, Jr. is a member of The MOVE Organization. He is a conscious hip hop artist and a motivational resilience speaker. He pushes his revolutionary message with his dynamic stage performances mixing music with speeches.</p><p>Mike is the son of 2 political prisoners who were sentenced to 100 years in prison. Mike was secretly born in a Philadelphia prison following a police raid on his family’s home. As an infant, he was taken from his mother and placed in an orphanage where he was physically and mentally abused.

<p>Lual Mayen is the founder of Junub Games. He has a rich story from growing up as a refugee to becoming a game developer. </p><p>For 22 of his 24 years of life, Mayen lived in a refugee camp in northern Uganda. A few years back, Mayen saw a laptop computer at a registration station for the refugee camp. He told his mother he wanted one. She saved money for three years to get the $300 to buy it for him. He discovered Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and the joy of playing at an internet cafe.

<p>As a social activist, Monica Lewinsky’s passion is to advocate for a safer social media environment. As a public speaker, writer, producer and contributor to Vanity Fair she addresses such topics as survival, resilience, digital reputation and equality.  </p><p>Lewinsky became known to the public in 1998, when it was revealed as part of a federal investigation that she had had an intimate relationship with then President Bill Clinton.

<p>LaTosha is a contributor to <i>The New York Times</i> op-ed page and a Senior Practice Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. As co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund organization, LaTosha is dedicated to increasing the political power of Black people.</p><p>The Black Voters Matter Fund was credited with energizing and turning out voters in Alabama’s Black Belt and playing a decisive role in Doug Jones’ election to the U.S.

<p>This renowned author and psychologist reveals how imagination, inspiration, and stories from both popular culture and real life can promote heroism in everything we do.</p><p>Dr.

<p>Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, and a MacArthur Fellow and Peabody Award winning broadcaster.

<p>On October 7, 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, son of Judy and Dennis Shepard, was brutally attacked, tied to a fence in a field outside of Laramie, Wyoming, and left to die. In the aftermath of Matt’s death – an anti-gay hate crime - Judy and Dennis Shepard started the Matthew Shepard Foundation to honor his life and aspirations.

<p><span style="color: rgb(124, 131, 137);">Sohaila Abdulali was sexually assaulted as a teenager in India, promised to remain silent in return for her life, and has not stopped talking since. Her work as an activist, a counselor, and an author has taken her around the world. </span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(124, 131, 137);">Drawing from her own experiences and those of thousands of other survivors, Abdulali inspires audiences to reconsider the way we talk about sexual assault and gender roles in society.

<p>Being misidentified as the perpetrator of a heinous crime is what nightmares are made of. It is a nightmare that became all too real for Ronald Cotton. </p>