She has frequently been named one of the women changing the world by leading publications ranging from Newsweek to The Guardian. Oprah Winfrey identified her as one of the women changing the world in People Magazine, and President Bill Clinton identified her as one of the 21st-century heroes of Harper’s Bazaar. Most recently, Zainab received the Times100 Impact Awards in 2023.

At the age of 23, Zainab founded Women for Women International, a humanitarian organization dedicated to women survivors of wars. Under her leadership (1993–2011), Women for Women International grew from helping 30 women upon its inception to helping more than 420,000 women and distributing more than 146 million dollars in aid.

Zainab is the author of several books, including the best seller Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny; Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam (with Laurie Buckland); The Other Side of War; Women’s Stories of Survival and Hope; If You Knew Me You Would Care,(with photographs by Rennio Maifredi); and her latest Freedom is an Inside Job; Owning our Darkness and Our Light to Change Ourselves and the World.

She is also the Executive Editor and Host of several shows, including Through Her Eyes with Yahoo News, #MeToo, Now What? with PBS, The Zainab Salbi Project with Huffington Post, and The Nida’a Show with TLC Arabia.

She is a Young Global Leader with the World Economic Forum and serves on the Boards of Vital Voices, International Refugee Assistance Program (IRAP), and Synergos International.

Rachel Rivera is the Chief Operating Officer of Wild Lives Foundation, a nonprofit organization launched by Jody Allen in 2016. Wild Lives Foundation is dedicated to marine and wildlife conservation and other philanthropic initiatives. In addition, Rachel serves as a board member of Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research, an organization dedicated to improving the health and welfare of marine wildlife in the Pacific Northwest. Previously, Rachel Rivera worked directly with Jody Allen in her role as the trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust and Chair of Vulcan Inc. on philanthropic initiatives. In that role, Rachel worked on philanthropic strategy, including work in oceans, conservation, films, communities, and climate.

Sofia de Meyer is the Co-Founder and Chair of the board of Opaline SA (www.opaline-factory.ch), a Swiss beverage company focused on circular and regenerative economy. Founded in her kitchen 2009, Opaline is today BCorp certified and has reached 1 million bottles produced and sold. In 2021, she joined the board of the FiBL (www.fibl.org), the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, employing over 200 scientists and project managers, running programs around the world. The FiBL is dedicated to the promotion of organic farming and continuing research on regenerative nature-based practices.

A qualified teacher registered with the University of Oxford’s mindfulness centre, Sonia has cultivated her own practice for 18 years, allowing her to deeply understand its benefits. She teaches in London and leads weekly sessions at a drop-in centre and urban park for Mind.
With a background in law, Sonia taught corporate lawyers for 14 years, heading up Professional Development in London at a global law firm. Before that, she was Legal Director at a global telecommunications company and a corporate lawyer in London & New York.
Sonia graduated from Oxford University with a BA in Jurisprudence.

Mamta is a highly accomplished development professional and a trained economist. Currently, she is leading organisation development and women empowerment-global south in She Changes Climate, an organisation committed to promote gender parity and women leadership in climate decision making.

Throughout her career, she has remained steadfast in her mission to improve the lives of underprivileged women and vulnerable children, ensuring their access to essential resources such as healthcare, education, and sustainable livelihood opportunities. With an extensive background spanning over 27 years in diverse fields including health, education, water and sanitation, rural livelihoods, and natural resource management and environmental intersectionalism for climate justice. She has also played a significant role in promoting rural enterprises in Vietnam and contributing to the poverty strategy of energy projects for the Asian Development Bank in Manila.

One of the core principles that have guided Mamta’s career is a firm belief in equal rights, opportunities, and the fundamental right to dignity for all individuals. As a strategic thinker and a compassionate leader, her approach is characterized by collaboration, inclusion, and leveraging the strengths of each team member. Her exceptional leadership skills have been instrumental in mentoring and nurturing teams that have emerged as successful leaders in their own right. A notable achievement of hers has been the promotion of women from marginalized and vulnerable communities, empowering them to become social entrepreneurs. Under her leadership in FXB India Suraksha, an ngo working with women and children in 14 states in India, she has facilitated more than 5000 women from vulnerable backgrounds to actively run their own small-scale businesses, while more than 300 women farmers have received professional training to practice agriculture proficiently. Furthermore, Mamta has pioneered initiatives aimed at investing in young girls, enhancing their access to knowledge and fostering the development of leadership skills.

Under Mamta’s visionary leadership, several ground-breaking initiatives addressing human rights concerns have been successfully piloted and scaled. This includes successfully integrating more than 500 school dropout children back into the education system, rescuing from than 12000 children from the clutches of human trafficking, child sexual abuse, and exploitation, building capacities of over 20000 official stakeholders including the police, lawmakers, media, and others to provide their services efficiently and compassionately.

Mamta has garnered significant recognition for her expertise and accomplishments. As an alumna of the prestigious International Visitor Leaders Program of the US State Department and the Common Purpose January Program, she is frequently sought after to provide guidance and deliver lectures to senior leaders across various sectors. Her valuable insights span critical topics such as gender-based violence, leadership, and resilience management. In addition to her advisory roles, Mamta actively contributes to the academic realm by providing mentorship and delivering lectures on various aspects of social work to undergraduate and postgraduate students at esteemed institutions in India.

She was recently honored by Women Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 10 women leaders of 2023 in India. This recognition not only acknowledges her exceptional business acumen and subject matter expertise but also celebrates her illustrious professional journey, which serves as an inspiration to the next generation of women leaders. Mamta’s unwavering dedication to creating positive social change and uplifting marginalized communities solidifies her legacy as a trailblazer in the field of social entrepreneurship.

Maria Fernanda Burneo is a multimedia graphic designer with a specialization in photography and a master’s in communication from the Latin American Social Studies Faculty-FLACSO (2010). Maria has a specialization in Strategic Business Communication from the Monterrey Technical Institute (2011). On my early stages I built a strong experience in advertisement, as Brand Manager for prestigious national companies and as Professor of Communication Photography in the San Francisco de Quito University (2008-2011). I quickly pivot into environmental communications driven by my lifelong passion for the planets conservation and started as an independent author in environmental articles for national magazines and a communication consultant from 2011-2012 for the Charles Darwin Scientific Foundation, Pachamama Foundation, and CEDENMA. In 2012, I had the chance to help build the Communications Department for the World Wildlife Fund’s Galapagos and Western Pacific Program and then served as Senior Communication and Education Manager for WWF Ecuador from 2014-2018 where I had the chance to develop their communication strategic vision in Ecuador and the Education strategy at a global, regional, and national level. In 2018 I left WWF to raise my daughters and work as a Consultant for International NGOs such as Amazon Frontlines and The Goldman Prize, while opening my company called Kikuyo Ecuador that manufactures and sells home articles that replace plastic and disposables while also promoting a reusable and conscious life educating our followers on environmental issues to mobilize them. In 2022, I entered IUCN as Protected Areas Communication Coordinator and in 2023 I had the opportunity to start as Regional Constituency and Institutional Relations Coordinator, role that I have till today.

Peggy Dulany is Chair of Synergos, a global organization helping solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action. Drawing from her experience living and working in Rio de Janeiro as a young woman, she realized that the people most affected by adverse living conditions also have the greatest energy and motivation to solve their problems. The resources they lack are connections to the economic and political realms where necessary changes can affect whole communities. Peggy founded Synergos in 1986 to promote trust and collaboration among grassroots groups and government or business leaders and organizations, people who otherwise would not have access to each other so that they can develop long-term relationships and forge new paths in overcoming poverty. In 2001, she co-founded Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle with her father, David Rockefeller, to support philanthropic families in using this approach.

Lauren Embrey was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She ran her family’s foundation: The Embrey Family Foundation for two decades: www.embreyfdn.org, semi-retiring to turn the helm over to her son in 2023. She now runs her family’s real estate business but keeps her involvement in philanthropy through board service and community engagement. Lauren is passionate about human rights, racial and gender equity, artivism, and how these areas intersects with the environment, which is a newer involvement and passion. Lauren believes in getting deeply involved in and with communities, sharing herself with others and being involved in brain trusts that are creatively and concretely looking at ways to bring equity to our world. Lauren loves travel, adventure, animals, spending time with her friends, and her family. Lauren has two sons and two dogs!

Laura María Gómez is a Biologist and Conservationist, with a Minor in Anthropology from Los Andes university. Her professional career has focused on developing strategies to conserve ecosystems, monitor wildlife, and promote sustainable livelihoods in Colombia.

Laura’s impact is reflected in various initiatives that have strengthened biodiversity conservation and understanding. As social coordinator at Proyecto Primates Foundation (FPP), she leads conservation education workshops aimed at engaging people of all ages in understanding and respecting local species, while developing skills such as teamwork and leadership. Additionally, she has led projects like “Fishing Plastic”, which promote sustainable development and empower teenagers to establish recycling networks in rural communities, fostering conservation through community participation and environmental awareness.

Laura has also supported the creation of civil society nature reserves in the Magdalena Medio region, working with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and FPP. This initiative aims to establish a network of private properties dedicated to conservation in a landscape where state reserves are scarce, promoting sustainable agricultural practices. Furthermore, she has led and supported biodiversity monitoring efforts using techniques such as camera trapping and species sighting, collaborating with Fundación Montecito and WCS.

In WWF Colombia, Laura contributed to the research and analysis of green business models focused on plastic recycling, helping to identify challenges and generate recommendations to improve the economic viability of recycling in the country.

Robyn O’Brien is on Forbes’ Impact 50 List for her work at the intersection of agriculture, food, finance and climate. She is the founder of Sirona Ventures and rePlant Capital, financial services firms scaling agricultural and climate solutions, and she is a partner at Montcalm Capital. Her work in the capital markets began in 1997 at Invesco where she was on a team that managed $20 billion in assets, including the top performing hedge fund at the company. She joined Invesco after receiving a Fulbright fellowship and graduating as the top woman in her class from business school at Rice University. She is a bestselling author of the award winning book, The Unhealthy Truth, How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It (Random House 2009), and her 2011 TEDx talk has been viewed by millions and translated into dozens of languages. Her next book, Seeding Innovation, The Path to Profit and Purpose in the 21st Century, will be published by Wiley Publishing in April 2024. 

Robyn serves on the board of directors of the Regenerative Organic Alliance, One Million Truths, One Green Thing and other organizations, and she is an Executive Producer, along with Jason Mamoa, Laura Dern, Rosario Dawson, and others of the award winning documentary, Common Ground, about restoring integrity to our food system, produced by Rebecca and Josh Tickell of Big Picture Ranch. She is an adjunct professor at Rice University’s Jones School of Business where she teaches a course on innovation and entrepreneurship, a co-founder of the conference, Women Transforming Food and Finance, and most importantly, she is the mother of four incredible children.

Lorena is a young climate scientist with a research background in molecular biology, material sciences, and biological oceanography. As the founder of Blusink, she has leveraged carbon removal technology reaching various geographies worldwide such as Japan, the Maldives, Portugal, Italy, and Colombia. With Blusink, she and her team aim to pioneer the first ocean carbon removal solution that enhances biodiversity at scale, targeting gigaton levels of CO2 removal from the seafloor.

Before founding Blusink, Lorena participated in different research and cruise track expeditions across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, gaining invaluable insights into scalable carbon solutions. Her work on climate science and technology transfer led to the development of a patent for a novel material that accelerates the carbon cycle for seafloor ecological communities. Lorena contributed to the IPCC First Order Draft of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) in 2021 and transitioned into the startup ecosystem, supported by the START Global – BOTNAR Foundation in Switzerland. As a mentor for their pool of early-stage startups, she has also guided other female entrepreneurs in launching science-based ventures.

With a vision to drive global change through innovative ocean-based carbon solutions, Lorena brings expertise, passion, and a track record of impactful research and mentorship to the Advisory Circle of Daughters for Earth.

With over 15 years of experience as a strategic communications advisor to government entities,  corporates and technology & sustainability start-ups across the Middle East, Manal Shaikh now  serves as the Editor-in-Chief at The Climate Tribe, a social enterprise focused on inspiring climate  action through digital storytelling, community engagement and radical collaboration. 

As part of the founding team at The Climate Tribe, Manal has dedicated the last year to building an  integrated multimedia platform that encompasses video docuseries, podcasts, editorial content,  and photography, showcasing the incredible changemakers, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who  are leading the charge in the fight against climate change. Moving forward, she seeks to convene a  global community of like-minded individuals dedicated to the conservation and ethical development  of our environment and society.

Jessica Sweidan is a creative, natural connector. She draws on her personal experience in philanthropy to encourage others to reimagine how they can more effectively support those on the frontlines of environmental defence. Her deep understanding of the importance of bio-cultural conservation and its crucial role in ensuring a healthy future has guided her philanthropic work. As a strategic convenor, she organises fora to ensure that the key voices needed to inform important discussions on our collective futures are present together and in productive dialogues.

Her philanthropic journey began over 25 years ago when she formed a partnership with Adam Sweidan. With the creation of The Synchronicity Foundation, she oversaw donations to a range of projects that addressed social and economic justice; education, children’s welfare, and the arts; healthcare, poverty alleviation, and the refugee crisis; and conservation.  Synchronicity Earth, a UK-based charity, launched in November 2009 as their focus shifted to global biodiversity, creating an organisation to leverage their support to address urgent, overlooked, and underfunded conservation. More recently, she helped birth Flourishing Diversity, a network initiative and engagement approach centred on uplifting, aligning with, and evidencing the interrelation between cultural and biological diversity.

Jessica has been an International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Patron of Nature since 2012, helping to raise the visibility of global conservation needs worldwide, while championing inclusive, rights-based practice. She is also Chair of Synchronicity Earth USA (501c3), an Honorary Conservation Fellow at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), on the Board of Trustees of Wildscreen, and a Strategic Advisor for the Environmental Funders Network (EFN), Action for Conservation and Conservation Optimism.

Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Northwestern University.

Driven by a passion for nature, Justin Winters is committed to democratizing climate philanthropy in order to create an inclusive and impactful movement to address the climate crisis from the ground up. She is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of One Earth, a philanthropic organization working to galvanize science, advocacy and philanthropy to drive collective action on climate change. Through One Earth, she is focused on creating a vision for the world that is possible by 2050 – one in which humanity and nature coexist and thrive together. This vision is based on three pillars of action: 100% renewable energy, protection and restoration of 50% of the world’s lands and oceans, and a transition to regenerative, carbon-negative agriculture. Prior to One Earth, Justin served as Executive Director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for 13 years, where she built the organization’s grant-making program, which awarded over $100 million in grants across 60 countries and created a series of innovative philanthropic funds, including Oceans 5, Shark Conservation Fund, The Solutions Funds, Lion Recovery Fund, Elephant Crisis Fund, and Quick Response Fund for Nature.