Carina Ho is an acclaimed Oakland-based indie electronic artist and music producer, a talented professional dancer, and an inspiring children’s book author. She is also a wheelchair-user and a powerful disability rights advocate, who works at Airbnb to promote greater accessibility and inclusion within travel. Carina was paralyzed below the chest following a car accident in 2014.
Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American author, Fulbrighter, longtime CNN investigative journalist, and co-founder of the digital media company Rappler, received a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her work to support a free press.
Megha Rajagopalan harnessed geospatial technology and old-fashioned reporting to expose the scale of the internment of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Province. For this piece of groundbreaking journalism Rajagopalan was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting.
Victor Lopez-Carmen’s decision to become a doctor is rooted in his desire to challenge that invisibility and ensure that Indigenous Americans have equal access to health care. Lopez-Carmen is a member of both the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and the Pascua Yaqui Nation.
Nataly Naser Al Deen has dedicated herself to the fight against cancer, both as a leading researcher and as the founder of an NGO that encourages fitness for breast cancer survivors. A three-time recipient of U.S. Department of State-funded scholarships, she is currently conducting postdoctoral cancer research.
Leila Cobo is a classically trained concert pianist, a novelist, and perhaps her country’s preeminent journalist focusing on Latin Music. As Latin Music has increasingly taken over the U.S. charts, Cobo has been there to document its meteoric rise.
Dr. Manuel T. Pacheco’s path to U.S. higher education leader could be considered “nontraditional.” He was the son of migrant farm workers, became the first in his family to attend college, graduated from a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), and earned a Fulbright U.S. Student award to France.
Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg knows about returns on investment, having served as the chief investment officer for the World Bank for 12 years and as the founder and chairwoman of Strategic Investment Group. When she says, “I cannot think of a better return on investment” for the opportunity Fulbright provided, she speaks from experience.
Dr. Sophie V. Vandebroek has held leadership roles at multinational companies including IBM, Xerox, and IDEXX Laboratories, and holds 14 United States patents. Throughout her impressive career, she has always emphasized the benefits of working with diverse and entrepreneurial colleagues from around the world.
Joy Buolamwini is a leader and innovator making the world a more equitable place. A graduate researcher at MIT, Buolamwini leads projects that span the globe. She empowers young people to create technologies that serve their communities, encourages women to enter STEM fields, and uncovers inherent biases in the algorithms that shape our lives.