OUR LEADERSHIP
RACHEL SVETANOFF, CO-FOUNDER
Rachel is a young leader with a history of championing social impact causes. Working across sectors, she developed and implemented projects to advance progress in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
As Foundations Partnerships Consultant at UNICEF USA (UUSA), Rachel supports a $300M portfolio by working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, UN Foundation, and other foundations directly to advance UUSA’s role in their efforts in achieving global public health, climate action, and innovation impact for youth worldwide.
Rachel has held many appointments including, but not limited to, the following: U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Next Gen Global Leader, Foreign Policy for America NextGen Initiative member, AFS Intercultural Programs 28th Youth Assembly Ambassador, YOUNGA Youth Delegate, One Young World Youth Digital Delegate, UNITE 2030 Youth Delegate, Youth Delegate for the 27th Youth Assembly, young alumni advisory board member for Purdue University’s Vice Provost for Student Life, and strategic advisor to InternetBar.Org Institute.
Receiving numerous accolades, Rachel’s latest award is the distinguished 2023 Purdue Rising Professional honor. With this most recent recognition, she is becoming one of Purdue University’s most decorated young alumni with over 10 honors and scholarships presented to her throughout her Boilermaker journey.
JULIA SAMSON, CO-FOUNDER
Julia is a youth advocate committed to empowering youth around the world, transforming the private sector, and much more. She currently works in sustainable finance and is passionate about the private sector's role in financing climate solutions and social impact initiatives.
She is graduate from Columbia University with a Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Development, while also studying Mandarin, Korean, and French. During her time at Columbia, Julia was captain of the NCAA D1 Women's Swim Team, in addition to a 2018-2019 Executive Board member of Columbia's LIGA Filipina. She was a Zhi-Xing US-China Young Leaders Fellow in Summer 2018 where she participated in geopolitical and economic development programming. Julia has been part of Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society as a data analyst on the ACToday-Bangladesh project team working to improve climatic variability solutions for small-landholders in Bangladesh.
Beyond her professional commitment, she has been involved in many youth engagement initiatives around the world. She served as a US Core lecturer in Harvard’s Summit for Young Leaders in China in 2020 and 2021 where she taught Climate Change-Development Economics and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In Spring 2021, she founded the Sustainable Ocean Alliance NYC Hub working to bring awareness and drive innovation for local marine ecosystems in the New York City region. She is a 2021 speaker at the Wall Street Green Summit. She is also a listed mentor for The Trebuchet.
Julia is committed to mobilizing SDG 18 Youth Equity around the world.
SELINA KUANG, ACTIVIST
Selina Kuang is a Master of Science candidate at Leiden University in The Hague, Netherlands, specialising in Economics and Governance and Cybersecurity Governance. She represented Leiden University at the Geneva Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, a cyber policy and strategy competition, winning the award for the best oral presentation in 2022. By exploring the intersection between data governance and digital inclusion, she participates in the 17th Internet Governance Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as a youth observer of the United Nations Association of Germany.
Her interest in evidence-based policymaking and feminist policy research reflects her involvement with various youth engagement initiatives across multiple organisations and regions. As a member and mentee of the intersectional feminist German network, Netzwerk F, she dedicates herself to building a knowledge hub for women and non-binary people in politics and public policy. As such, she participated in a panel discussion on European approaches to feminist foreign policy at the Young Security Conference in Munich, Germany, in 2022. Committed to creating inclusive spaces, she is part of the "SDG 18" Advocacy Committee at the Global Futurist Initiative, which advocates for an additional Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), the "SDG 18 Youth Equity”.
IFEOMA ILOBODO, ACTIVIST
Ifeoma is currently a postgraduate student of public health at University of Ibadan, Nigeria, while also taking several research trainings and language course in French. She is young innovator dedicated to volunteering, engaging the youth to achieve sustainable growth and research. For about 10 years now, Ifeoma has committed herself to volunteering her skills to about 5 organizations across the globe with the aim of contributing towards the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs), while spurring the young people around her to be involved in their community.
In 2017, she led about 100 young people in Nigeria under National Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project to volunteer their skills towards the achievement of a common goal. For a period of about 2 years, she and her fellow volunteers were able to reach over 300, 000 Nigerians with relevant information and services. She later proceeded to serve under several organizations and then United Nations Volunteer as an online volunteer serving Cameroon during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this she did to contribute her quota as a young person towards the eradication of a common biological threat while also spurring and assisting over 10, 000 young persons on LinkedIn towards making global impact through volunteering.
For about 2 years now, she has been interning as a Research Assistant under the supervision of Rachel Svetanoff at JB Dondolo and their work just got recognized by the Global Goodwill Ambassadors. She is also currently chairing a systematic review with a team of 4 young people with the aim of fostering male carers involvement in the provision of long-term care. Ifeoma is also a lover of arts, using poems and stories to promote her beliefs and SDGs. She hopes to see more young people involved in their communities through the integration of relevant sectors, while she continues to contribute her quota.
NICK ZHIDONG WU, ACTIVIST
Zhidong (Nick) Wu, originally from China, is a young leader who promotes positive environmental and social changes through his actions. During his undergraduate studies in Entrepreneurship and Accounting at the University of San Francisco, Nick served as the VP of Finance for the Student Senate, managing financing decisions to support student-led events and campus/city-wide social movements. He co-founded the Sino Heritage Club to promote cultural communication between China and the West in the Bay Area. Nick also volunteered at the Chinese Newcomers Service Center, where he supported Chinese migrants in San Francisco, and mentored many young international individuals who face difficulties in adjusting to social life and encountering obstacles in their professional development in the US.
After completing his Master of Global Finance at Fordham University in New York City, Nick began working at a French Investment Bank, where he supports financing for the global strategy of multinational corporations. He is a strong advocate for ESG-linked financing products, firmly believing that they can incentivize corporations to act more responsibly in addressing environmental and social issues. Nick is an active member of the bank's employee-led CSR Environment committee, where he proposes and leads initiatives to reduce the bank's carbon footprint in North America.
STRATEGIC ADVISORS
BERNY MARTIN
DENISE HAYMAN-LOA
BERNY MARTIN
Founder and President, Fashion Community Foundation
PETER FUSARO
DENISE HAYMAN-LOA
BERNY MARTIN
Senior Partner, ESG, Oxford Global Accelerated Ventures
DENISE HAYMAN-LOA
DENISE HAYMAN-LOA
DENISE HAYMAN-LOA
Founder and CEO, Carii, Inc.
Board of Trustees, Appel Farm