A Celebration of Women™

is elated to Celebrate the Life of this globally re-known journalist, one who has devoted her life to the pursuit of justice, in the area of human rights. Her work, winning her the Pulitzer Prize, has taken her around the globe from Tiananmen Square, such as the Philippines, Burma and North Korea, as well as Australia through to North America.

She is very first Asian American reporter that was hired at the New York Times … and is now here to celebrate positive action and  leadership with the Women of our World!

 
 

WOMAN of ACTION™

 

 

Sheryl WuDunn

 
 
 
 
 
Wu Jiefang, internationally known as Sheryl WuDunn, is world-renowned journalist, author and business executive who is famous for becoming the first Asian American to win a Pulitzer Prize alongside her husband Nicholas Kristof for reporting on the infamous Tiananmen Square protests on 1989.

As a journalist, she has had an extensive reporting career, having covered numerous places in Asia such as the Philippines, Burma and North Korea, as well as Australia.

Sheryl has also had a successful career in the business industry, having served as a consultant to several major companies and as a business executive for The New York Times, where she covered a wide range of topics such as global energy, markets, industries and technology. She was also the very first Asian American reporter that was hired at the Times.

Sheryl has also appeared in numerous television shows such as Charlie Rose, NPR and the Colbert Report, discussing about global affairs and offering methods that can be used to face the challenges that people are facing today.

A third generation Chinese American, Sheryl WuDunn grew up in New York City in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She attended Cornell University, graduating with a B.A. in European History in 1981. For three years, WuDunn worked for Bankers Trust Company as an international loan officer. After this, she earned her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and M.P.A. from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

What is very interesting about Sheryl’s life is that she grew up during the time when racism was rampant in the United States. For someone of her ethnicity back then, it would be very fortunate if one even had a slightly decent education. Sheryl, however, did not see this obstacle as something that would topple her off the road to her destiny. She saw her goal and used the challenges as a means of propelling her forward.

Sheryl also has an amazing amount of courage; during the Tiananmen Square massacre, she and her husband were among those who bravely followed the incident and revealed it to the world, in spite of all the threats that they faced from the communist regime.

Because of this, Sheryl was among the few who helped spark a change in people’s mindset that turned China from a poor communist country to a thriving economic powerhouse.

Sheryl’s philanthropic work has enabled her to connect with her fellow women in many parts of the world who are suffering from violence and mistreatment. She has supported and oftentimes led several campaigns against violence on women, in spite of the threats that are facing her. Her amazing courage and dedication to promote the welfare of women have helped her endure the various trials that she has faced all throughout her career.

Sheryl WuDunn’s life is an amazing testimony of how someone from humble beginnings can grow up into becoming a significant person through faith and courage, as well as devoting your life to the welfare of someone else.

Many find it difficult to stand up for their rights and go against the flow, even if that flow has ravaged many lives for a very long time. Sometimes, it is easier to just bow your head down and let life pass you by without you having any sense of significance or higher purpose. Fortunately, there are some who do not think this way; they are willing to step forward and challenge the status quo, believing that they are meant to do something important, something that would help change the world for the better.

WuDunn has co-authored three best-sellers with her husband. China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power and Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia are non-fiction Asian studies books which examine the cultural, social, and political situation of East Asia largely through interviews and personal experiences.

Her third best-selling book, also co-written with Kristof, was published by Knopf in September 2009. It is titled: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

In 2009, WuDunn and Kristof received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize’s 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2011, WuDunn was listed by Newsweek as one of the 150 Women who Shake the World.

In 2012, WuDunn was selected as one of 60 notable members of the League of Extraordinary Women by Fast Company magazine.

 
Website – Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide undertakes an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there. Now, the documentary takes viewers to meet social entrepreneurs in Cambodia and Kenya, women leaders in Somaliland and India, and Americans partnering with many kinds of local change-makers.

See how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.

Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn show that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is for every global citizen.
 

 
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
 
Sheryl on Twitter

Sheryl on Facebook
 
Nomination sent in all the way from Sydney Australia saying, ‘I send you my wishes of blessing upon you and for you to achieve your goals in life so you may have a higher quality of life for you and your family and inspire others to greatness as well’.

BeXtraordinary!
 

 

A Celebration of Women™

welcomes this pioneer in positive change into our Alumni, and look forward to future collaborations along the road of human rights, both for women and all!

 

 

Brava Sheryl!