Our Friends and Supportive Thought Partners
SHIZA SHAHID
Shiza Shahid is an entrepreneur, investor, and thought-leader. She is passionate about leveraging philanthropy, entrepreneurship, technology, and the media to drive scalable social impact.
Shiza co-founded the Malala Fund with Malala Yousafzai, and led the organization as founding CEO through to the Nobel Peace Prize. She is now focused on supporting mission-driven startups whose financial success makes the world a better place through her fund and platform, NOW Ventures. Shiza is a prominent speaker on social innovation and impact, human rights, and women’s rights, and mission-driven business.
Shiza has received many awards for her work including Times 30 under 30, World Changer, Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur, WEF Global Agenda Council, Tribeca Institute Disruptive Innovator, Elle Top Women in Tech. She has been featured in multiple publications including Forbes, Fast Company, Elle, Glamour, Town and Country, The Edit, CNN, ABC, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, and others.
Shiza speaks frequently at major international convenings including Aspen Ideas Fest, Milken Global Institute, Forbes Women, Fortune Most Powerful Women, Inc Women, Women Moving Millions, World Economic Forum and others. Shiza was also the host of social justice TV show ASPIREist, which aired on USA Network and CNN’s HLN.
Shiza grew up in Pakistan as a vocal advocate for social change. She graduated from Stanford University with University Distinction. She was a business analyst with McKinsey & Company. She is also a graduate of Singularity University where she studied how to apply technology towards the goal of solving gender inequities.
Lauren Rutkin
Lauren founded Ventures in Philanthropy, a consulting practice, to assist clients in not-for-profit fundraising, including general structuring, creation of development plans, staff training, and campaign management.
Lauren served as Executive Director at the Community Counseling Service Inc., a fundraising consulting firm, where she managed and coordinated the operations for a $110 million capital campaign within a college environment, among other projects.
Lauren serves as Strategic Initiatives Manager for Geller & Company and on the staff of the Martin and Lauren Geller Family Foundation. She developed Geller & Company’s philanthropic unit, GellerCares, an initiative integrating manifold charitable interests, including adopting schools in low income areas, shelters, environmental programs, and more.
Lauren dedicates a substantial amount of her time to the South Mountain Elementary School, where she served as the head of fundraising, and to the the South Orange Middle School, where she is fundraising chair.
Lauren received her B.A. degree from the University of Vermont. She and her husband, Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz, have three children and reside in Maplewood, NJ.
Kim PLewes
Passionate about child labor and the plight of children around the world, Kim started her advocacy work at the age of twelve, collecting over 6,000 signatures for her first petition and presenting it to the Canadian Parliament. A short time later, Kim began working with the international development organization, Free The Children (now called WE), and was instrumental in implementing early projects and programs. Kim helped to pilot and implement “O Ambassadors,” a joint project with Oprah’s Angel Network, initiated and facilitated the “Life in Action” program, and helped launch Free The Children’s first US office in California.
While completing a degree at American University in International Studies, focusing on International Development in Africa, Kim continued to remain actively involved in Free The Children, working with many of the organization’s most valued stakeholders. Kim has led dozens of trips to India, Kenya, Ghana, Ecuador and the Arizona/Mexico border. Additionally, Kim is a member of the WE Speaker’s bureau for over 14 years, speaking in front of tens of thousands of youth, educators, and families throughout North America, China, Europe, and the Middle East.
Kim is currently a senior advisor for WE, and works on a number of outreach, fundraising, and engagement activities with families, foundations, and corporate partners.