Ruchira Gupta is a journalist, activist, and policymaker who has worked relentlessly for the past 25 years to end human trafficking and to empower some of the most marginalized girls and women in the world. She is best known for leading girls and women in prostitution to advocate for their own change though Apne Aap Women Worldwide, a community-based initiative in India that builds up the capacity of girls and women through small “self-help” group structures.

by Ziba Cranmer, Vice President at Cone Inc.

I am an athlete, I am a fan, and I am a woman. 

As an athlete, I celebrate. I celebrate the skills and lessons I learned on the field (and truth be told, sitting on the bench).

As a fan, I cheer. I cheer because I love the feeling of solidarity and community that comes from a shared commitment to a local or professional sports team.

But as a woman, I cringe. I cringe because I know that some of our most celebrated sporting events, from the Super Bowl to the World Cup, are also the occasion of a terrible crime: the sex trafficking of tens of thousands of women and children.

Every child deserves a safe and secure childhood, and in Thailand there's an organization working to make this a possibility for hundreds of kids. Founded in 1993 by children's rights pioneer, Montri Sintawichai, the Child Protection Foundation is Thailand's first community-based organization that shelters abused children and helps their families - including abusive parents - address the root causes of abuse.