Whenever we enter a new year, we look to the future. That's why we’re celebrating the leaders who are fighting for environmental, racial, legal, and social justice so we can all be a part of a brighter tomorrow. These five individuals embody what it means to be an ally to their community, and are shaping tomorrow's conversation around the most important issues facing us today.
Get to know the five women who are making a difference while advocating for real change.
At just 16, Maya Penn was commissioned by the White House to create an animated film as part of the first-ever digital report to Congress, with the goal of getting a Women’s History Museum built in Washington, D.C. Now, at age 21, she's a global activist, social entrepreneur, filmmaker and TED speaker and working on a range of projects dedicated to environmental justice and diversity, along with her groundbreaking efforts to bring eco-friendly sanitary pads to facilities in Haiti, Senegal and Somalia. Her book, You Got This!, is used in schools around the world as a tool to teach youth entrepreneurship.
Amanda Nguyen is the founder and CEO of Rise, a company dedicated to the continuous fight for equality for sexual assault survivors. At age 25, she helped craft the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Act that passed unanimously in Congress. As of 2021, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient has helped create more than 40 more additional laws, continuing to pave the way for current and future social justice pioneers.
Lauren Wesley Wilson founded ColorComm, Inc. in 2011, and later, ColorComm Media Group, a multicultural public relations, media relations and influencer marketing agency. After working in D.C. for President Obama and then in crisis communications and PR, she realized her true calling was helping women of color succeed in the media industry. That's the goal of ColorComm, Inc.: a platform for addressing diversity and inclusion across the communications, marketing, advertising and media industries.
Fashionista and content guru Chrissy Rutherford is the founder and CEO of 2BG Consulting, a company focused on inclusivity and the implementation of anti-racist communication strategies. She's also a mental health advocate who works around the clock to bring awareness to issues using her own experiences with anxiety as inspiration to others.
Model, professional skier, and environmentalist Sierra Quitiquit doesn't slow down on the slopes or in her professional life. Since she began skiing at age 2, Quitiquit starred in two ski films, Ticket to Ride and Valhalla. But the sport also opened her eyes to climate change and its devastating effect on the earth, and in particular, her ski slopes. That's why, in 2019, she and a friend founded Plastic-Free Fridays, a nonprofit that brings awareness to and helps reduce single-use plastic consumption. She's also an alliance member of Protect Our Winters in the effort to fight climate change.
