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The Young Global Changers Ambassadors

The Global Solutions Initiative’s Young Global Changers program nominates a selected group of Young Global Changers Alumni to represent the program as Young Global Changers Ambassadors. These Ambassadors represent the diversity of the Young Global Changers community. They participate in activities of the Global Solutions Initiative, serve as mentors for fellow Young Global Changers and help to form an active and growing network. Appointed for a two-year period, the Young Global Changers Ambassadors are invited to the Global Solutions Summit, the Initiative’s annual conference in Berlin.

2022 YGC Ambassadors

Gina Cortés Valderrama
Colombia | Young Global Changer 2020
– YGC AMBASSADOR FOR LATIN AMERICA –

Gina is a colombian feminist that advocates for just and gender-responsive climate action from a decolonial and intersectional approach. She works at the international organisation Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), contributing closely to the work of the UNFCCC Women and Gender Constituency. She is part of the Colombian collective Aluna Minga in Munich, and has received several distinctions from the Heinrich-Böll Stiftung (Germany), Tsinghua University (China), among others.

Linda Du
United Kingdom | Young Global Changer 2018
– YGC AMBASSADOR FOR EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST –

Linda is a Junior Engagement Manager at McKinsey Dubai, where is a member of the Banking and Strategy & Corporate Finance Practices and has worked on various projects throughout the Middle East. She also holds a MBA from Yale University and MEng degree from the University of Cambridge in manufacturing engineering. She has defined her career at the intersection of business, technology and international development, having held positions at the United Nations World Food Programme and Kiva.

Abir Ibrahim
Sudan | Young Global Changer 2019
– YGC AMBASSADOR FOR AFRICA –

Abir holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from University of New England. Founder of Inua Naturals, an agribusiness company working to create new markets and economies for small-scale women farmers and artisans who otherwise do not have access to the global marketplace. She is an Ambassador for the Institute for Economics and Peace, a United Nations Delegate, and Partners for Development Board Member. Abir aims to inform policies and raise awareness on gender gaps as well as strengthen women’s engagement in Africa’s social and economic development.

Sivendra Michael
Fiji | Young Global Changer 2017
– YGC AMBASSADOR FOR OCEANIA –

Sivendra is a representative of the Pacific Climate Warriors. He has over a decade of experience working in the development sector and has participated in various capacities at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties. Michael is currently pursuing a PhD in Development Studies at the University of Auckland, and was the Pacific’s first fellow to the Global Solutions World Policy Forum.

Sudesh Pokhrel
Bhutan | Young Global Changer 2020
– YGC AMBASSADOR FOR ASIA –

Sudesh is a passionate youth advocate for the sustainable development goals from the Kingdom of Bhutan. He holds a Masters in International Relations from the South Asian University in New Delhi. He is a certified sustainability leader from the United People Global – Geneva. Sudesh was the ambassador for peace in the International Youth Forum in 2019 where he supported the role of Youth in achieving the 2030 agenda for UN SDG’s. He was awarded as the Global Goals Actions Ambassador in the Global Goals Summit in Malaysia and the ‘I am extraordinary medal’ in the International Youth Forum. His interests lie in inculcating an alternative development model for the world through happiness and wellbeing so that one can balance the pro-capitalist world view with less capitalist ones. As the co-founder of Reimagining Society which endeavours to embed the concept of wellbeing across ecosystems, Sudesh sincerely believes that ordinary people have the power to make the world a better place.

Kavindya Thennakoon
Sri Lanka | Young Global Changer 2019
– YGC AMBASSADOR FOR NORTH AMERICA & SOUTH ASIA –

Kavindya is a Learning Experience Designer and Researcher and her work focuses on utilizing emerging technologies and game design to make social emotional learning accessible for every child, everywhere. She is the co-founder and creator of Tilli; a game-based, social-emotional learning tool used in 8 countries across the world, tested and co-created with 350+ early learners. She was awarded both the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Award and the Harvard Global Trailblazer’s Award for her work in education. Kavindya is a graduate from the Stanford School of Education, where she was a dean’s fellow. She received her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Cinema and Media Studies from Wellesley College and the University of Oxford and was the first in her family to graduate from college. Her work has spanned across Ed-Tech, design, and development, working for global brands like the MITMedia Lab, Meta, 2U, Coursera, Ogilvy/IBM, United Nations, the Oxford Microfinance Initiative, and Transparency International Sri Lanka.

Former YGC Ambassadors

- 2020/21 YGC Ambassadors -

Julian is an entrepreneur from Germany, an initiator of ideas and strives for change. He is the founder of Tomorrow is now and of a second hand business with events in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. After having participated in various leadership programs such as the the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program by the ESCP and the Climate Reality Leader Corps by Al Gore, he is currently doing an MBA Program at the University of Essex.

Nancy is a Go-to-Market Strategist at Adobe and co-founder of “The Pursuit, Global Women for Change”. A former solutions architect designing communications for the U.S. military, and founder of a global Muslim headscarf startup, she is a woman in leadership advocate. She is part of the Leadership California 2020 cohort, a NextGen Leader honoree and recognized as a Leadership scholar at Berkeley-Haas. She holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UC San Diego, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University, and a M.B.A. from UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Through “The Pursuit”, her goal is to create a global network of women who support emerging leaders in business and society.

Brianna is a social entrepreneur and law student. Her passion for the profit-purpose model manifested in 2018 when she joined her university colleagues in building Kua, a social enterprise using coffee and new technologies to challenge how businesses think about consumption. Brianna has received numerous accolades for her academic and extra-curricular achievements, including being a 2019 YGC, and was named a Westpac Future Leaders Scholar in 2020. She is currently studying a Master of Human Rights at the University of Sydney.

Nasrat is experienced globally on finding potential in people and organizations to work more efficiently. An ex-World Bank innovation expert; He has founded AWAL, a development firm based out of Washington DC, an mobile platform called ASEEL, a research institute for innovation (ITRCA) and trained dozens of young people through his junior professionals program. He specializes in Tech, Economic Growth, Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Nasrat is recognized by the G20, World Bank, ICANN, UNIGF and governments. He has presented in global forums, conferences and is a TEDx speaker.

Shukri is an entrepreneur, investor, film producer, speaker and co-founder and CEO of FORT. He holds a degree in Law and Politics, an Executive MBA, and has the distinction of being an Entrepreneurship Expert at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He is founder of The Rainmakers Journal, a thought leadership platform, and venture capital firm Southfields Group. Shukri has served on a number of boards, is profiled in various publications, and has been named a Top 40 CEO by Under40CEOs, and one of Fast Company’s Most Productive People.

Stephanie E. Trpkov is a strategy consultant at the World Bank in Croatia and the founder of a specialised consultancy firm that designs and implements innovative sustainability projects in the SEE region. She is also an expert advisor at the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) of the European Commission, working on innovative programs in the fields of Energy and Business. She is specialised in digital transformation, smart cities and integrated change management.

Eduarda Zoghbi is a political scientist and current MPA Candidate at Columbia University. She works for the Center on Global Energy Policy supporting the Women in Energy program and at the Institute of Latin American Studies to develop grant proposals towards gender equity. Before pursuing her Master’s degree, she worked as a climate change consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank. Eduarda was recently awarded the Environmental Education 30 Under 30 prize for her efforts to raise awareness to climate change in schools in Brazil and Kenya through the youth-led NGO Engajamundo.

The Young Global Changers Ambassadors

2022 YGC Ambassadors

Former YGC Ambassadors

- 2020/21 YGC Ambassadors -

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