Adrianna Logalbo and Anna

March 8, 2013

Anna lives in Namanga, Kenya, very close to the border with Tanzania. At 26 years old, she has six children, the youngest of which – Lamayan – is just 9 months old. Anna spends her days in the local market, selling traditional Massai beaded necklaces. Though she is only a short 30 miles from Amboseli National Park, there is not much tourism in the area, making it difficult to sell enough beads to earn the 200 Kenyan Shillings she needs every day to buy food in the market – food like Unga (Ugali flour), Mchele (rice), and Ndizi (bananas). It’s often Anna and her family eat simply porridge in the morning, and rice in the evening.

Adrianna Logalbo is leading GAIN's first global campaign to galvanize a community of support aimed at improving nutrition among mothers and young children. The campaign aims to build a constituency for global nutrition through – Future Fortified – providing innovative and easy ways for individuals, businesses and organizations to take action to address the global nutrition challenge. In its first year the Future Fortified campaign has grown a community of over 35,000 supporters.

H.R.H. Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands

March 9, 2013

Princess Laurentien has a long record of fighting against illiteracy in the Netherlands, which is now to be considered an underestimated problem. In 2009, she was designated UNESCO Special Envoy on "Literacy for Development" in recognition of her "outstanding commitment to the promotion of education and her profound dedication to the Organization's ideals and objectives.

Jerusha Hess
Director
March 10, 2013

Jerusha Hess is a writer, producer, and director. Her directorial debut, Austenland premiered at Sundance 2013. She co-wrote the movies Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. She is the proud mother of three, soon to be four children.

Bobbie Thomas
Style Editor
March 11, 2013

Bobbie Thomas has shared style advice in nearly 500 segments as the Style Editor for NBC’s TODAY show, including her weekly ‘Bobbie’s Minute Buzz’. Although her television career started on the red carpet for E!, the former co-host of the Style network’s Fashion Police and national columnist began her work as a rape crisis counselor. Uniquely understanding that “beauty comes from the strength within,” Bobbie has worked tirelessly with major brands and organizations such as Step Up, Make a Wish, The Beauty Foundation, and more to promote positive campaigns, instill self-confidence, and encourage people to use style as powerful voice.

Lisa Belkin
Huffington Post
March 12, 2013

Lisa Belkin is the Huffington Post’s Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family. She joins HuffPost Parents after a multi-decade stint at The New York Times, where she was variously a national correspondent (based in Houston), a medical reporter, a Contributing Writer for The New York Times Magazine, and the creator of the Life’s Work column and the Motherlode blog.

Melinda Gates
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
March 13, 2013

Melinda Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A critical driver of Melinda’s work at the foundation is her belief in empowering women in developing countries to plan their families. When women can decide if and when to have a child, they’re healthier, their children are healthier, communities are more productive, and nations prosper.

Milly Businge
Villages in Action
March 14, 2013

Pastor Milly Businge, 57 years of age, is married to Eli Businge with 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. Since 2004 she has served as the Local council 1 chairperson of Kikuube village in Masindi District, in Uganda. She works closely with women in the village to improve their health and economic statuses through meetings and trainings. She also worked as a health assistant for some years.

Julie Smolyansky
President and CEO, Lifeway Foods Inc.
March 15, 2013

Julie Smolyansky became the youngest female CEO of a publicly held firm when she took over her father's kefir business, in 2002 at the age of 27. Since being named CEO and director of Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ: LWAY), America's leading supplier of the cultured probiotic dairy products known as kefir and organic kefir, Julie has continued the company's growth trajectory with creative product development and marketing, bringing a Russian product into the U.S. mainstream and boosting annual company revenues to nearly $90 million by 2012. A member of the UN Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council and an advocate to end violence against women, in March 2013 Julie co-founded Test400K, a campaign to resolve the backlog of 400,000 untested rape kits in the U.S. and end violence against women both domestically and globally.

Rebecca Soni
2012 U.S. Olympic Swim Team
March 16, 2013

Rebecca Soni was the captain of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swim Team, a breaststroke specialist and six-time Olympic medalist. She currently holds the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke (short course) and the 200-meter breaststroke (short and long course). She has been a champion for the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign since 2010.

Anu Gupta
Johnson & Johnson
March 17, 2013

Anu Gupta is a Director in the Corporate Contributions division of Johnson & Johnson whose mission is to make life-changing long-term differences in human health by addressing the world’s major health related issues. She is responsible for the preventing diseases in vulnerable populations portfolio. Dr. Gupta believes passionately that philanthropy should embrace innovation, finding and testing out-of-the-box ideas that bring creative solutions to long-standing problems. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and their two children.

Alyse Nelson
Vital Voices
March 18, 2013

Alyse Nelson is president and chief executive officer of Vital Voices Global Partnership. A cofounder of Vital Voices, Alyse has worked for the organization for 15 years, serving as vice president and senior director of programs before assuming her current role in 2009. Alyse has worked with women leaders to develop training programs and international forums in over 140 countries and has interviewed more than 200 international leaders, including Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former presidents Mary Robinson and Bill Clinton, as well as Nobel Peace Prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi, Wangari Maathai, and Muhammad Yunus. Under her leadership, Vital Voices has tripled in size and expanded its global reach to serve a network of over 14,000 women leaders in 144 countries.

Julia Bluhm & Izzy Labbe

March 19, 2013

Julia Bluhm, 14, is a feminist-activist from Waterville, Maine. She blogs for a girl-fueled activist group called SPARK Movement. She is passionate about girls’ and women’s issues. As part of a SPARK Movement action, Julia wrote a successful petition asking Seventeen Magazine to change their use of Photoshop on models. Julia is also passionate about ballet. She spends twenty hours a week training to be a professional ballet dancer, as a part of her high school program. Her involvement in ballet has opened her eyes to another issue that affects many teenagers and young adults of today—eating disorders. Julia has recently become involved with the National Eating Disorders Association, and was honored to be able to speak at their teen conference in October. Julia loves giving presentations to community groups about girl activism and how girls are portrayed in the media.

Izzy Labbe is a freshman at Waterville High School in Waterville, Maine. In eighth grade, Izzy started blogging for the feminist movement SPARK, which later led her and fellow blogger/friend Julia Bluhm to the Seventeen Petition, the cover of the Boston Globe, Katie Couric’s talk show Katie, and a documentary. When Izzy is not doing activist work with SPARK, Hardy Girls Healthy Women, and her school’s Gay Straight Trans Alliance, she is most likely acting, writing, reading classic books, swimming, or singing in the shower.

John Gerzema & YingYing Shang

March 20, 2013

John Gerzema is a social strategist and best-selling author who uses data and in-depth reporting to help companies anticipate and adapt to new societal interests and demands. As a Fellow with the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College, he is an expert on emergent leadership strategies and executive chairman of WPP Group’s BAV Consulting. His forthcoming book The Athena Doctrine examines the rise of feminine traits and values, with Pulitzer-Prize winner Michael D’Antonio. @johngerzema

YingYing Shang is a senior at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania and a Teen Advisor to the United Nations Foundation campaign Girl Up that gives American girls the opportunity to become global leaders and channel their energy and compassion to raise awareness and funds for United Nations programs that help some of the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls.

YingYing is a Girl Scout of seven years and serves as Girl Advisor to the Board of Directors at Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, and is the first to ever be elected to a second term. She is an activist and blogger for SPARK a Movement, an international activist movement demanding an end to the sexualization of women and girls in media.

Queen Rania of Jordan & Lynda Lopez

March 21, 2013

As a board member of the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and as UNICEF’s Eminent Advocate for Children and Honorary Chair for the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), Queen Rania is a staunch defender of children’s right to education. In August 2009, Her Majesty launched 1GOAL, a campaign to promote global education, in partnership with FIFA World Cup 2010 and the Global Campaign for Education. In September 2010, Her Majesty joined the UNF’s Girl UP Campaign as a global advocate, to raise awareness about issues facing girls today.

At home, Queen Rania works to improve the quality of Jordan’s education system. In 2008, Her Majesty launched “Madrasati” (“My School”), a public-private initiative to refurbish Jordan’s public schools. The Jordan Education Initiative has upgraded local schools with computers, while the Queen Rania Teachers Academy and Queen Rania Teachers’ Award for Excellence in Education are modernizing Jordan’s teaching methods and setting higher standards in the teaching profession. In addition to championing cross-cultural and inter-faith dialogue, Her Majesty’s interests include encouraging sustainability throughout the public and private sectors and tackling issues affecting youth.

Lynda Lopez is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and mother. Five years ago, Lynda and her sister Jennifer Lopez became moms. As mothers, both Jennifer and Lynda have a deep rooted passion and determination to help create a healthier, happier environment for others. That is why they founded the Lopez Family Foundation to increase the availability of quality health care and health education for women and children.

Kathy Calvin & Radha Muthiah
United Nations Foundation
March 22, 2013

Kathy Calvin is President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation. Her career has spanned work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. She is a passionate advocate for multi-sector problem-solving, U.S. leadership on global issues, and the inclusion of women at all levels and in all sectors.

Radha Muthiah is Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, where she leads efforts to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and protect the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.

Reema Nanavaty & Anna Ingwe
SEWA
March 23, 2013

As General Secretary of India’s SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association), Reema expanded SEWA membership to 530,000 strong, making it the single largest union of informal sector workers in India. She manages SEWA economic activities through a federation of 100 cooperatives, nine district associations of artisans, salt farmers and forestry workers, and a direct outlet of 12,000 artisans. And area of focus is to expand SEWA’s Trade Facilitation Centre into a global network of initiatives and individuals aimed at making women’s voices and contributions central to world trade decisions.

Anna Ingwe is the Head of the Stove Component for GIZ EnDev Kenya.

Ruth Riley
WNBA
March 24, 2013

Ruth Riley is an American professional basketball player (a center) for the Chicago Sky in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her Notre Dame team won the NCAA women's championship in 2001, and her Detroit Shock team won the WNBA championship in 2003 and 2006. Riley was the Most Valuable Player in the 2001 and 2003 championship series, becoming the first person to win the MVP awards in both the NCAA and the WNBA championships. She has also played on teams that won the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL) championship, the gold medal at the Olympic Games, and the 2010 EuroCup Championship. She has been a spokesperson for the Nothing But Nets campaign since 2006.

Maryam Zar
Women Found
March 25, 2013

Maryam is an Iranian-born American who grew up in New Jersey. She moved back to Iran in the 1990s for four years and became an editor at Tehran Times, an English-language daily newspaper in Iran, as well as a writer/correspondent for Gulf Marketing Review (GMR) and Middle East Economic Digest (MEED), published in London.

In 2010, Maryam Founded Womenfound, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness and funds for charities and foundations that help women around the world. She is currently the Editor of the English section of Rahavard Journal of Persian Studies, and the former Director of Women’s Programs at Omid for Iran Foundation, an organization with a mission to promote democracy in Iran. She appears as a guest on several Persian-language programs discussing women and women’s issues, and speaks at events addressing the concerns of women in her community.

Mary Robinson

March 26, 2013

Mary Robinson was the first woman President of Ireland (1990-1997), former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002), and founder and President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice. The recipient of numerous honours and awards throughout the world including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama, Mary Robinson is a member of the Elders, former Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders and a member of the Club of Madrid. She serves on several boards including the European Climate Foundation, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, the American Philosophical Society and is a member of the Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

Cindi Leive, Glamour

March 27, 2013

Cindi Leive is the editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine and glamour.com, which together reach more than 17 million readers each month. Under her stewardship, the magazine has launched a monthly digital edition, popular special editions, apps and books—including two New York Times best-sellers—and received a record number of National Magazine Awards, including Magazine of the Year, honoring print and digital excellence.

Paula & Jamie Deen
Chefs
March 28, 2013

Paula Deen hosts two Food Network shows, “Paula’s Best Dishes,” which debuted in 2008 and the long running “Paula’s Home Cooking.” A two-time Emmy Award winner, in addition, Paula is the author of 14 cookbooks that have sold more than 8,000,000 copies and her bimonthly magazine Cooking with Paula Deen has a circulation of nearly 1,000,000 today. When Paula tours the country making personal appearance to talk about life, family and cooking, thousands of people come to participate. Paula is a member of the board of the Bethesda Home for Boys, works tirelessly for America’s Second Harvest and partners with Smithfield Foods Helping Hungry Homes™ which has donated protein for more than 10,000,000 meals for America’s hungry.

Jamie Deen is an entrepreneur, businessman, author, and son of American cooking and lifestyle icon Paula Deen. He recently shot his first solo pilot “Home For Dinner with Jamie Deen” for The Food Network. Jamie and his brother Bobby began making regular appearances on their mom’s cooking shows on the Food Network, and later launched their own show on the network, “Road Tasted.” Jamie and his brother Bobby are also accomplished authors, and have published four books: Jamie lives with his wife Brooke and their two children in Savannah. He serves on the boards of the Bethesda Home for Boys and the Coastal America’s Second Harvest, and is a sought after speaker at small business conferences, schools and community outreach programs.

Leah Speer

March 29, 2013

Leah Speer is co-author of Must. Have. Wine. A Toast to Motherhood. When she isn’t wondering when her housekeeper is going to show up (she is still in denial that she doesn’t actually have one), she is working or shouting out to her two young sons Luke, 4, and Zealand, 3, “get off of him” or “not so loud!” She works in Community Sponsorship for BabyCenter and loves every minute of interacting with BabyCenter members who can all relate to this zany world that is mommyhood. She enjoys movies, running, playing golf, cooking, Girls Night Out, and a nice glass of Chianti, her true delight.

Elizabeth Gore
United Nations Foundation
March 30, 2013

Elizabeth Gore is the first ever Resident Entrepreneur at the United Nations Foundation bringing innovation into the United Nations and chairing the UN Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council. Ms. Gore previously served as Vice President of Global Partnerships at the UN Foundation, and founded strategic grassroots efforts such as Nothing But Nets, Girl Up, and the Shot@Life global vaccines campaign.

Ms. Gore was named by People as one of the top 100 Extraordinary Women and has been featured on multiple media outlets including: ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fast Company, Fortune, Glamour, The New York Times, People, and Time. She is a World Champion Equestrian, and in 2010 joined Summit on the Summit and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for the global clean water crisis on behalf of the United Nations.

John Nunes
Lutheran World Relief (LWR)
March 31, 2013

John Nunes serves as president and CEO of Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a $49 million global organization. With a passion for service and deep commitment to LWR’s core values, John leads staff in 17 countries in working to end poverty, injustice and human suffering worldwide. Prior to joining LWR, John served on the faculty of Concordia University Chicago as a professor of theology. He has also served as a management consultant, and as an urban parish pastor and community organizer in Dallas, Texas and Detroit, Michigan.

John is the author of Voices from the City: Issues and Images of Urban Preaching and, with his wife Monique, the children’s book Little Things Make Big Differences: A Story about Malaria.

Laura Turner Seydel
Captain Planet Foundation
April 1, 2013

Laura Turner Seydel is an international environmental advocate and eco-living expert dedicated to creating a healthy and sustainable future for our children. Laura is chairperson of the Captain Planet Foundation, which supports hands-on environmental education projects worldwide. She works with the Environmental Working Group to limit the toxic chemicals in food, air, water and consumer products. She co-founded Mothers and Others for Clean Air, which focuses on the link between bad outdoor air quality and the high rates of childhood asthma. She also co-founded Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and serves on the board of Waterkeeper Alliance, the consortium of 200 river, bay and sound keepers from around the world.

Rocky Dawuni
Musician and Ghanian star
April 2, 2013

Ghanaian international music star Rocky Dawuni has leveraged his popularity across the African continent to bring his unique Afro Roots sound to global audiences and champion social causes. Over the course of his career, and the release of five albums, his infectious grooves and dance-inducing anthems have consistently excited fans, including some of music’s biggest stars with whom he’s performed and collaborated. Having appeared at many of the biggest World and Reggae music events, Dawuni has worked alongside Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Jason Mraz, Sharon Jones, Janelle Monae, as well many others. His eloquence, passion and successful melding of celebrity with humanitarian action led him to be appointed the country’s Tourism Ambassador and “World Music Ambassador for MUSIGA (Musician’s Union of Ghana).” These efforts join his ongoing involvement with Product (RED), UNICEF, the Carter Center & the UN Global Fund.

Gro Harlem Brundtland

April 3, 2013

A medical doctor and Master of Public Health (MPH), Gro Harlem Brundtland spent 10 years as a physician and scientist in the Norwegian public health system. For more than 20 years she was in public office, 10 of them as prime minister. In the 1980s she gained international recognition, championing the principle of sustainable development as the chair of the World Commission of Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission).

Tina Wells
CEO and founder of Buzz Marketing Group
April 4, 2013

Tina Wells, CEO and founder of Buzz Marketing Group, earned her B.A. in Communication Arts graduating with honors from Hood College in 2002. Currently a Wharton School of Business student for marketing management, Tina continues to create innovative marketing strategies for numerous clients within the beauty, entertainment, fashion, financial, and lifestyle sectors. Tina has worked with clients including: Dell, Girl Scouts of the USA, Maidenform, SonyBMG, PBS, Sesame Workshop, and American Eagle Outfitters. Tina’s long list of honors include Essence’s 40 Under 40, Billboard’s 30 Under 30 , and Inc’s 30 Under 30, just to name a few. She is the author of the tween series Mackenzie Blue, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, and the youth marketing handbook Chasing Youth Culture And Getting It Right. Tina is also a celebrated blogger on The Huffington Post and Blackenterprise.com. She serves on the board of directors of The Philadelphia Orchestra Association, The Franklin Institute, and The Young Entrepreneur Council. Tina is also a member of the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council. She resides in Southern New Jersey with her vast collection of shoes.

Linda Murray
BabyCenter
April 5, 2013

Linda J. Murray is the Senior Vice President of Editorial and Global Editor in Chief of BabyCenter, the Web’s #1 global interactive parenting network, reaching 29 million moms each month. Linda and her editorial teams around the world provide the modern mom with a personalized, stage-based, rich blend of expert advice and mom-to-mom wisdom they can’t get anywhere else.

Panashe Chipikiri
South African Mother
April 6, 2013

Panashe Chipikiri, 23, mother of a three-month old baby girl, uses MAMA mobile messages to better care for herself and her baby. Panashe signed up to receive messages, that informed her about what supplies she needed, provided warning signs, and helped her throughout her pregnancy. “Sometimes we waste money for transport to go to the clinics but if you receive these messages it will be easy for you. And (you can learn) some of the things you can do for yourself in your house.”

Tina Sharkey

April 7, 2013

Tina is currently serves on the Board of Directors of HomeAway and Women@NBCU’s digital committee. Previously, Tina was Chairman and Global President of BabyCenter LLC for Johnson & Johnson, where she built the #1 global parenting and pregnancy destination, reaching 30 million unique visitors each month across 22 markets worldwide. In 2011, Tina led Johnson & Johnson’s initiative with the U.S. State Department and the United Nations Foundation for the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA).

Tina is one of the pioneers in the evolution of new media, from the introduction of HDTV to the mass-market adoption of the web and mobile platforms. Prior to joining BabyCenter, Tina worked at Time Warner, where she led AOL’s programming and social media initiatives. Before AOL, she co-founded iVillage, built Sesame Street online, and helped create a new home shopping channel for QVC.

Denise Love
Co-founder Life Options, Cambodia
April 8, 2013

Denise Love is an Australian who’s been working in Asia for over 18 years. She is an internationally recognised educator, teaching safe antenatal, birthing, neonatal, breastfeeding and family planning practices. She is a registered nurse with a Masters Degree in Nursing and is based in Cambodia. She runs Women’s Health Cambodia in the Takeo province, working closely with the Cambodian Department of Health focused on the health of women and children.

Barbara Bush & Maimunat Temitope Alex-Adeomi

April 9, 2013

Barbara Bush is CEO and co-founder of Global Health Corps. Before joining Global Health Corps’ founding team in 2008, Barbara worked in Educational Programming at the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, where she supported design thinking programs for high school students and faculty in Louisiana, Texas, Minnesota, and New York. Previously, she worked for Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Capetown, South Africa, and interned for UNICEF in Botswana. She has traveled with the UN World Food Programme, focusing on the importance of nutrition in ARV treatment.

Barbara is a member of UNICEF’s Next Generation Steering Committee and is one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Shapers as well as a member of the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneur’s Council.

Maimunat Temitope Alex-Adeomi is a Nigerian physician and served as a Monitoring and Evaluation/ Implementation Assistant with PACT in Boston, Massachusetts. She is currently serving as Director of Clinical Affairs at Sanford World Clinics in Ghana. She trained as a medical doctor at University of Ilorin in Nigeria. Maimunat’s passion is in managing inequalities in healthcare and improving health outcomes in developing countries. This led her to pursue a postgraduate degree in International Healthcare Management at the University of Aberdeen, UK. Maimunat has served in various healthcare capacities at UILTH, Emel Hospital, and with Afrikids – an NGO with affiliations in the UK.Maimunat is married and has a son.

Jennifer Borget
Journalist
April 10, 2013

By day, Jennifer Borget is a news reporter and anchor; which a couple of years ago meant chasing down school district leaders and trying to get the scoop on the latest story. These days it means letting parents know the coolest places in town to take their kids, finding homes for foster children, and highlighting do-gooders in her community. By night, Jennifer is a wannabe domestic diva, and she pretends like she knows how to sew and cook… but really just hides her sewing mistakes under her daughter’s big bows, and discards the frozen dinner boxes her food came from. In both worlds she’s trying to find out if it’s possible to have her cake and eat it too. She documents her journey through making and raising babies on BabyMakingMachine.com.

Actress Jennifer Lopez & Journalist Lynda Lopez
Lopez Family Foundation
April 11, 2013

Jennifer Lopez is an actress, music artist, tv and film producer, fashion designer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and mother.

Lynda Lopez is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and mother.

Sisters, Jennifer and Lynda became moms around the same time, five years ago. As mothers, both Jennifer and Lynda have a deep routed passion and determination to help create a healthier, happier environment for others. That is why they founded the Lopez Family Foundation to dramatically increase the availability of quality health care and health education for women and children, regardless of their ability to pay.

Asha Rani
Mother in Bangladesh
April 12, 2013

Asha Rani, a mother living in the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh, signed up to receive MAMA mobile messages after the birth of her son. Asha, her husband and mother-in-law rely on the messages to better care for her baby. She learned about the importance of making eye contact with her baby, immunization, and food to feed her baby.

World Moms Blog

April 13, 2013

World Moms Blog is a collaborative international website which writes from over 20 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. In 2012 the global site was listed by Forbes Woman in their “Top 100 Websites for Women.”

Christy Turlington Burns
Founder, Every Mother Counts; Director/Producer, "No Woman, No Cry"
April 14, 2013

Christy Turlington Burns is the founder of Every Mother Counts, a campaign to end preventable deaths caused by pregnancy and childbirth around the world. Every Mother Counts informs, engages, and mobilizes new audiences to take action to improve the health and well-being of girls and women worldwide. In 2010, Christy directed and produced “No Woman, No Cry”, a documentary film about the global state of maternal health. Christy is also an avid yogi and merged her love of the practice and writing to author her first book, Living Yoga: Creating A Life Practice (Hyperion 2002). She also founded two successful lifestyle brands; Sundãri, an Ayurvedic skincare line and nuala, a yoga inspired apparel and accessories line.

Christy is an advisor to the Harvard Medical School Global Health Council and the Harvard School of Public Health Board of Dean’s Advisors, Mother’s Day Every Day and the White Ribbon Alliance. Christy has a BA from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Studies and is currently pursuing a MPH at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, where she lives with her husband - filmmaker Edward Burns - and their two children.

Carolyn Miles
Save the Children
April 15, 2013

Carolyn S. Miles is President & Chief Executive Officer for Save the Children, the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of more than 70 million children in need in the United States and 120 countries around the world. She has traveled to Save the Children’s field operations in nearly 50 countries, and during her tenure as COO Save the Children doubled the number of children it reaches with food, educational, and other programs, and helped grow the organization’s budget – 90 percent of which goes directly to programs serving children – from $140 million to more than $550 million.

Jill Sheffield and Jennifer James

April 16, 2013

Jill Sheffield is a global educator and advocate who has worked to promote women’s health and rights around the world for more than three decades. Sheffield is the founder and President of Women Deliver, a global advocacy organization working to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling Millennium Development Goal 5 – to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health. Sheffield is also the founder of Family Care International (FCI), a distinguished non-governmental organization and is a winner of the 2008 United Nations Population Award for outstanding work in sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Jennifer James is an early pioneer of the mom blogging movement and founder of Mom Bloggers for Social Good, a global coalition of 1000-plus mom bloggers who use social media and blogging for good.

Recently named a Fast Company Most Generous Social Media Maven and a Blogger Changing the World by Babble, James routinely travels to middle and low-income countries sharing stories about women and children and the NGOs that are improving their lives. She has traveled to Kenya with ONE, Ethiopia with Save the Children, and will spend two weeks in India this year with Water for People.

James currently writes for the Gates Foundation blog, Impatient Optimists, as well as for Babble Cares and speaks to audiences about effective ways to harness social media for good causes.

Kate Grant
CEO of The Fistula Foundation
April 17, 2013

Kate Grant is CEO of The Fistula Foundation, a nonprofit that works to end the suffering caused by the childbirth injury of obstetric fistula. While eradicated in the United States over 100 years ago through advances in emergency obstetric care, fistula still ruins the lives of too many women in developing countries today, who are horribly injured and rendered incontinent because they did not have access to timely medical help during labor. The Fistula Foundation funds fistula repair treatment that transforms women’s lives. Under Kate’s leadership, the organization has grown from supporting one institution in one country, to its current global reach across 38 sites and 19 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia – because no woman should suffer a life of misery and isolation simply for trying to bring a child into the world.

Sharon D'Agostino
Johnson & Johnson
April 18, 2013

Sharon is Vice President, Corporate Citizenship at Johnson & Johnson. She and her team were instrumental in developing the company’s five-year commitment to the United Nations Secretary General’s Every Woman Every Child Campaign. Sharon’s personal passion is to help ensure that the voices of girls, women and children everywhere are heard and their stories are told.

She can be found on Twitter: @SharonDAgostino

Amanda Peet
Mother, Actor, and an Every Child by Two Vaccine Ambassador to the Shot@Life campaign
April 19, 2013

Amanda Peet has been a passionate advocate of vaccines for children for years. “It’s proven- vaccines are life-saving. I can’t imagine my daughters not reaching major milestones because of a preventable disease like pneumonia, diarrhea, measles or polio. No mother should have to imagine that,” said Peet. “We know vaccines work and for only $20, we can help protect a child from these four diseases. All children should have the opportunity to lead healthy lives and experience all of life’s priceless moments.”

Amy Graff
BabyCenter
April 20, 2013

Amy Graff, mother of two, blogs about parenting for Hearst Media news sites, including the San Francisco Chronicle, and BabyCenter, the #1 online resource for parents. Passionate about global health issues, Amy traveled to Africa with the advocacy group ONE to increase awareness about the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease in Africa. She's also helping spread the word about the United Nation Foundation's Shot@Life campaign.

Tania Ratu
Mother, New Zealand
April 21, 2013

Tania Ratu is a mother of four living in New Zealand. She and her husband lived in Taiwan for seven years where they taught English had two children. After returning to NZ in 2007, their parenting journey took a challenging turn when their third child, Mareko, was born with liver cancer and started chemotherapy at 10 days old. He is now 5 and healthy.

Dennis Ogbe
Paralympian athlete, polio survivor
April 22, 2013

Originally from Nigeria, Dennis contracted polio at three years old when he was taken to a clinic to receive treatment for malaria. A nurse broke a needle in his back, and as a result of the medical error, he was in a coma for three days. He pulled through the coma, but with a weakened immune system, he contracted polio while still in the hospital. The debilitating disease left him completely paralyzed from the waist down. Instead of encouraging his son to use his disability to beg for money, Dennis’ father was adamant about giving him more opportunities.

By saving up his money, Dennis’ father made sure Dennis and his eleven other siblings went to school as he fought for a better future for them. Thanks to his father’s hard work, a close supportive friend, Masai Ujiri, and his positive attitude, sheer determination and practice, Dennis was able to regain full mobility in his right leg. He is now able to walk without a wheelchair or crutches.

Today, Dennis is a world-class U.S. Paralympian. Decorated with gold and silver medals, Dennis is an inspiration and a testimony that nothing is impossible. He truly believes that no child should have to overcome disability from polio.

Jennifer “JJ” Davis
Executive Director, Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network

Global Communications, Dell


April 23, 2013

Jennifer “JJ” Davis joined Dell in Dec. 2000 and currently leads external communications for Dell Global Consumer, Small Business and Brand. JJ also leads the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network founded in 2009 to support women entrepreneurs’ success worldwide. She started her public relations and public affairs career at the Arkansas Office of the Governor and has held various communications leadership roles for both corporations and agencies nationwide.

JJ lives in Austin with her husband David, second generation entrepreneur and CEO of Provencal Home, and three young sons. She is active in her boys’ sports and the family foundation, The Aimee Melissa Davis Memorial Scholarship, supporting graduating seniors with Juvenile Diabetes.

Ann Curry
NBC News National and International Correspondent/Anchor
April 24, 2013

Ann Curry is the NBC News National and International Correspondent/Anchor, for all the platforms of NBC News including “NBC Nightly News,” “Rock Center,” "Today," “Dateline,” and all digital properties. Curry is also anchor of multiple NBC News primetime specials and chief substitute anchor for “NBC Nightly News.” She has distinguished herself in global humanitarian reporting, frequently traveling to remote areas of the world for under-reported stories. She has traveled six times to Sudan and neighboring Chad, to report on the violence and ethnic cleansing taking place in Darfur. She has broadcast live from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to report on war crimes against women and children. She has revealed deplorable conditions of Serbia’s mental institutions and was the first network news anchor to report on the humanitarian refugee crisis caused by the genocide in Kosovo, reporting for NBC News from Albania and Macedonia.

She was named Twitter's #1 in its list of top 10 most powerful tweets of 2010, for a 50-character message asking the Air Force to allow physicians to land in Haiti to administer aid to the injured and dying.

In 2011, she was named in Forbes magazine's 100 most powerful women in the world.

Her awards include seven Emmy Awards, four Golden Mikes, several Associated Press Certificates of Excellence, three Gracie Awards, a Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications, and an award for Excellence in Reporting from the NAACP.

Kristin van Ogtrop
Managing Editor, Real Simple magazine
April 25, 2013

Kristin van Ogtrop is Managing Editor of Time Inc.'s award-winning lifestyle brand Real Simple. In addition to leading the monthly magazine, van Ogtrop oversees all brand extensions, which have grown to include a robust website with unique, daily content; tablet editions; popular special issues, including Real Simple Family and Real Simple Weddings; books; licensed products; and mobile apps.

Van Ogtrop is author of the popular blog Adventures in Chaos on realsimple.com as well as the critically-acclaimed book Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom, published by Little, Brown in April 2010.

Randi Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg Media
April 26, 2013

Randi Zuckerberg is the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media. As one of the first ten employees at Facebook, Randi created and ran the social media pioneer's marketing program. She led the company’s U.S. election and international politics strategy and created Facebook's livestreaming capability through media partnerships during the 2008 Presidential Inauguration. Randi was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2011 for her innovative coverage of the 2010 mid-term elections that integrated online and TV coverage in unique formats. Randi was recently appointed to the United Nations Global Entrepreneurs Council, the World Economic Forum's Global Council on Social Media and the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors Commission on Innovation.

Mei-Leng Wong
BabyCenter Malaysia
April 27, 2013

Mei Leng Wong is the editor of BabyCenter Malaysia and also has a regional role supporting BabyCenter sites in Asia and Australia. She has extensive experience writing about women’s and parenting issues. The mother of two has also worked as a newspaper reporter and has contributed to a host of national and regional titles.

Miss Universe & Miss USA

April 28, 2013

Olivia Culpo, Miss Universe Olivia Culpo went from a Boston University student, to winning the title of Miss Rhode Island USA, Miss USA and, finally, the most coveted title of them all - Miss Universe 2012 -- in just over a year. The 20-year old Cranston, Rhode Island native became the 8th American to capture the Miss Universe crown, bringing the title back to the United States after 15 years. She is an accomplished cellist, participating in various orchestras including the Rhode Island All-State Orchestra. Olivia won a seat in the Boston Symphony Hall, Boston; performed in Carnegie Hall, New York City; and toured England in 2010. Until recently, Olivia was performing with the Boston Accompanietta.

Nana Meriwether, Miss USA As first runner-up of the 2012 MISS USA® Competition, Nana Meriwether assumed the title of Miss USA when Olivia Culpo became Miss Universe. Nana was born in South Africa while her Father was there as a medical missionary and lived her first years in rural villages. She is a graduate of UCLA in Political Science, where she was a member of the Women’s Volleyball team and helped lead them to the NCAA Final Four. She was also a two-time NCAA All American. She completed post graduate premedical sciences studies at USC in their Post Baccalaureate Program.

Liz Lange

April 29, 2013

Designer and entrepreneur Liz Lange pioneered “maternity chic” by creating stylish, body-conscious clothes for pregnant women. After working at Vogue magazine, Liz tried her hand as a designer and developed the idea for a sophisticated and slim-fitting collection of maternity clothing. In 2002 she partnered with Target to launch an exclusive collection of affordable maternity pieces, from flattering jeans and T-shirts to on-trend dresses and swimsuits.

Dr. Harvey Karp
Pediatrician
April 30, 2013

Dr. Harvey Karp is a nationally renowned pediatrician and creator of the DVDs/books, The Happiest Baby On The Block, The Happiest Toddler On The Block and The Happiest Baby Guide To Great Sleep: Birth to 5 Years. His landmark work teaches simple steps to boost sleep, stop colic, reduce postpartum depression, shorten tantrums and quickly increase patience and cooperation in children 8 months-5 years of age.

Sasha Alexander
Actress
May 1, 2013

A talented and versatile actress in both film and television, Sasha Alexander currently can be seen playing Dr. Maura Isles on TNT’s hit drama Rizzoli & Isles. Alexander is well-known for her role as Special Agent Caitlin Todd in the first two seasons of NCIS. On the big screen, Alexander can also be seen in such films as He's Just Not That Into You, Yes Man, Mission: Impossible III, Tenure, and Love Happens. This year, Alexander can be seen in Michel Compte's "The Girl from Nagasaki,” a modern adaptation of “Madame Butterfly.”
 Ms. Alexander resides in Los Angeles with her husband, film director, Edoardo Ponti and her two children.

Anne Geddes
World Renowned Photographer and Global Advocate, Shot@Life
May 2, 2013

One of the world's most respected and successful professional photographers, Anne has captured the imagination and hearts of people around the globe. Her distinctive, award-winning images of children have become classic icons celebrating life and birth. They grace greeting cards, calendars, books, stationery, photo albums, and an array of other fine products, and are currently published in over 83 countries, spanning North America, Europe, the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Asia. More than 13 million books plus many more millions of other non-book products have been sold worldwide.

In May 2011, the Geddes Philanthropic Trust was presented with the prestigious Award of Founder by the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children to honor the significant impact the Trust continues to have on the lives of children with serious illnesses, and for donations to the Westmead Children’s Hospital through the Geddes Fellowship Program started in 1999. Anne and husband Kel are now adding to the Trust's scope by assisting in maternal welfare in the many countries where childbirth is still a major issue regarding the health and wellbeing of both mother and child.

Guy Kawasaki

May 3, 2013

Guy Kawasaki is the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web, and a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures. Previously, he was the chief evangelist of Apple. Kawasaki is the author of ten books including Enchantment, Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Pilar Guzman
Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, Martha Stewart Living
May 4, 2013

Pilar Guzmán was named VP Editor-in-Chief of Martha Stewart Living magazine in March 2011. In this role, she is responsible for the iconic, award-winning lifestyle magazine’s editorial direction.

A highly accomplished, visionary editor, Ms. Guzmán was founding Editor-In-Chief of Cookie, a groundbreaking, award-winning magazine for modern parents that ceased publication in late 2009. Prior to joining Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Ms. Guzmán co-founded the parenting website Momfilter.com. Before founding Cookie, she was senior editor at Real Simple and executive editor of One, an architecture and design magazine.

Ms. Guzmán has also been a contributor to a number of different publications, including The New York Times House & Home and Dining sections, I.D., Metropolis, Wallpaper, and Marie Claire, and was the design and architecture editor and columnist at City magazine. In addition, she has been interviewed extensively by national broadcast and print media, including Good Morning America, The Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Associated Press. Ms. Guzmán launched her career in journalism writing a travel guide to Italy before working as a food critic and lifestyle writer for the New York Daily News.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Ms. Guzmán is the author of Time for Dinner, a family dinner cookbook published by Chronicle Books. In 2008, she was one of Crain's "Top 40 Under 40" and The New York Post included her on its list of "New York's 50 Most Powerful Women."

Carly Fiorina

May 5, 2013

Named Fortune’s Most Powerful Woman in Business for six consecutive years, Carly Fiorina was the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, serving as the Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005. As the founder of the One Woman Initiative and a Global Ambassador for Opportunity International, she supports women entrepreneurs in developing countries around the world.

Mrs. Ban Soon-taek
Spouse of the UN Secretary-General
May 6, 2013

Madame Ban Soon-taek (Yoo Soon-taek) was born in Goesan, North Chungcheong Province, Korea, on 10 January 1945.

In 1962, she graduated Chungju Girls’ High School with honours and as President of her class. Madame Ban furthered her academic studies at ChungAng University in Seoul, Korea, where she majored in Library and Information Science. After graduation, Madame Ban worked as a Librarian at ChungAng University.

Madame Ban and Ban Ki-moon wed on 20 March 1971 in Seoul, Korea.

The couple took up their first Foreign Service assignment in India in 1972 where they served until 1975, and where their first child was born. Their two other children were born in Seoul.

Madame Ban has been involved in activities over the past forty years to advance the cause of children, women and senior citizens. Madame Ban also helped launch the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)/Avon Products public/private partnership project. The project’s goal is to promote women's empowerment and end violence against women.

She is actively involved in the “Women for Peace” initiative which raises funds to support one young woman from each of the five continents to attend a graduate programme at the University of Peace in Costa Rica. The event was launched in the General Assembly Hall in March 2008.

Madame Ban’s special interests include children's education and welfare, autism research, and issues concerning women's development and health.

Sophie Blackall

May 7, 2013

Sophie Blackall is a Brooklyn-based Australian artist who has illustrated over twenty books for children, including the Ezra Jack Keats Award-winning Ruby’s Wish, Meet Wild Boars, which won a Founder’s Award from the Society of Illustrators and a BCCB Blue Ribbon Award, Big Red Lollipop, which was a New York Times Top Ten Picture Book for 2010, Pecan Pie Baby, which won a Horn Book honor in 2011, and the New York Times bestselling series, Ivy and Bean.

Her editorial illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, TIME, and many others. Her poster commissioned by the MTA Arts for Transit program can currently be seen in subway cars all over New York City. She is honored to be collaborating with The Measles and Rubella Initiative on a series of illustrations to promote the elimination of measles through immunization.

Arianna Huffington
Huffington Post Media Group
May 08 - 18, 2013

Arianna Huffington is the chair, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of thirteen books.

In May 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, a news and blog site that quickly became one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the Internet. In 2012, the site won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. In 2006, and again in 2011, she was named to the Time 100, Time Magazine's list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

Jeanne Shaheen
US Senator for New Hampshire
May 09 - 09, 2013

The only woman in U.S. history to be elected both a Governor and a United States Senator, Jeanne Shaheen has been committed to serving the citizens of New Hampshire for decades and is known for her common-sense leadership, hard work and dedication to improving the lives of the middle class. She has served in the United States Senate since 2009 and is a member of the Senate Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Appropriations, and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.