Zuriel Oduwole
ZURIEL ODUWOLE
Probably The Most Powerful Girl In The World Today
If anyone in the last 100 years brings new meaning to the phrase ‘age is just a number’, this young lady indeed does it so effortlessly, that she has got world leaders, the global business and civil society, talking.
ELLE Magazine named her in its prestigious list of “33 Women Who Changed The World” in 2015. Why is this list prestigious, well, it also had in it the Federal Reserve Bank Chairwoman and now Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and the President of General Motors Mary Barra on it.
On January 6th 2017, she was honored at the US State Department in Washington DC by Secretary of State John Kerry, for her global work on Girls Education and Gender Development.
The Making of Zuriel – A Solid & Steady Journey
At age 10 in 2013, she became the youngest person in the world to be featured in the global iconic business and wealth Magazine Forbes in its 105-year history. This was for her work in bringing the issues of Girls Education to the forefront of the global debate of change, in line with the UN 2015 Millennium Development Goals. New York’s Business Insider named her the Most Powerful 11-Year-Old in the World in April 2014, in recognition of her exceptional ability in making her case, commanding the attention of global political and business leaders.
Born and raised in Los Angeles California, Zuriel founded her Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up project in March 2013 to inspire young children globally to dream big, and reach higher. Along the way, she has now spoken to more than 48,130 youths in 19 countries [the US, the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Mauritius, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Kenya, Egypt and Ethiopia] on education and its future economic empowerment.
WORLD LEADERS LISTEN
To make her case, she has met and personally spoken with more than 30 Presidents & Prime Ministers, including the leaders of Malta, Mozambique, Croatia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Liberia, Malawi, South Sudan, Cape Verde, Kenya, Mauritius, Malawi, Lesotho, and also Jamaica, St Vincent & Grenadines and St Kitts & Nevis, in the Caribbean region, on several social global development issues. It shows first-hand the power of her communications ability.
As evidence of her reach and influence, she and her Foundation began giving an annual award to First Ladies and Gender Ministers on the African continent and Caribbean, to recognize measurable efforts towards children’s education. Since 2014, the awards have been won by the First Lady of Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, Mozambique, Cabo Verde, and Sierra Leone, as well as the Gender Ministers of Mauritius, Ghana, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Jamaica.
A budding documentary film maker, she is on record as the youngest commercial film maker in the world today, writing, producing, editing and scoring her films, the first of which was released on the big screen in November 2014, and has showed in 5 countries on 3 continents – the UK, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, and Tokyo – Japan. Her documentary film released in August 2017 was shot across 5 countries on 3 continents – Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mauritius and the US.
In recognition of her global appeal, she has made extensive and repeated appearances on global TV networks such as the BBC in London, CNBC Power Lunch, Bloomberg TV, TRT World London, CGTN, and on CNN. She has literately been on every major relevant global TV network.
Zuriel has received the Governors Gold Coin Award, in recognition of her humanitarian services in the area of human development/girls education.
An inspiration to the young, old, business and political leaders alike as an example of what can be accomplished at an early age, she has been a guest and featured speaker at institutions across the globe, including Ashesi University in Ghana, Lagos Business School in Nigeria, University of Pretoria in South Africa, and in April 2015, at Columbia University’s Economic Forum in New York at the age of 12, where she spoke about the potentials and future of emerging markets and was a panelist as well.
In March 2018, she became the youngest guest speaker at the world-famous Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta – Georgia, a few months after the school hosted another global speaker and personality – Ms. Oprah Winfrey, and she launched her alternative education initiative at the December 2021 WISE Global Education summit in Doha – Qatar.
POLITICAL GRAVITAS
Zuriel added her voice to the peace mediation between Venezuela and Guyana, meeting first with President David Granger to advocate a meaningful peace initiative. For this initiative, she was personally awarded the Chiefs Pin, by Guyana’s President. Two years later during the height of the Arab blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt, she was invited by an Arab leader to help navigate the delicate landscape, while President Joe Biden in response to her written advice, invited her engagement to help shape American domestic and foreign policy.
The Future for Zuriel
An English and Mandarin speaker, Zuriel hopes to be a leader in the field of global economic and gender development, but in the future, the President of the United States of America or the Secretary General of the United Nations [UN], seem like probable and plausible landing spots.
Categories: Inspiration, Social Justice, TED Talk, Women Shaping Tomorrow
