“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish, whether that's in politics or other fields.”

-Michelle Obama

Women change agents serve as role models for future generations, inspiring young girls and women to pursue their dreams and aspirations. Representation is everything in our ever-changing landscape of employment and seeing women in positions of leadership and influence encourages more women to believe in their own potential.

Think back to the impact of representation when we saw the release of movies like Barbie and The Little Mermaid, each offering a view of women in power that we have not seen before. Addressing gender-based disparities, empowering communities, and encouraging diverse perspectives are some of the societal themes that women have been successfully advancing..  

Let us remember America Ferreira’s iconic Barbie monologue that so succinctly sums up the role of a woman and all the associated expectations placed on women in society today, and the emotional reactions of young children to seeing Ariel cast as a black mermaid.

We’re sharing 5 women change agents who have blazed trails for the next generation of women leaders across industries. Follow their career journeys as they continue to work towards advancing women in business and continue to challenge the status quo of women in society.

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Name: Vee (Varaidzo) Kativhu

Her Impact: Young Leader at the UN | Girls’ Education Activist | Harvard MA | Founder of Empowered By Vee | Oxford BA Grad

Her Story: Vee (Varaidzo) Kativhu is a rising leader in the world of education and youth empowerment, with a strong focus on access to girls’ education.

As a Girls’ Education Activist and a YouTube visionary, Vee uses her online platforms of over 500,000  followers to advocate for youth empowerment, access to education and equal opportunities. As the Founder of Empowered By Vee, a charity focused on widening access to higher education, Vee provides life-changing, skill-based workshops to students from underrepresented and marginalised backgrounds through her Empowerment Workshop Model.

A graduate of both Oxford and Harvard universities, Vee has been recognised for her outstanding contributions to diversity and female empowerment. She was recently named as one of BBC’s 100 influential Women of 2023, alongside Michelle Obama, and she has received accolades such as the Diana Legacy Award from Prince William and Harry, the Rare Rising Star Award from members of the UK Parliament, and the Diversity Champion Award from Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor.

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Name: Melanie Perkins

Her Impact: Co-founder & CEO at Canva | LinkedIn Top Voice | Founder & Director of Fusion Books

Her Story: Melanie is an Australian billionaire technology entrepreneur. She is the CEO and co-founder of Canva and owns 18% of the company.

Perkins is one of the youngest female CEOs of a tech start-up valued over A$1 billion. As of May 2021, Perkins was one of Australia's richest women.

Fusion Books was founded by Perkins and Cliff Obrecht in 2007. Fusion Books allowed students to design their own school yearbooks by using a simple drag-and-drop tool equipped with a library of design templates that could be populated with photos, illustrations, and fonts. Perkins wanted to develop software that made the entire design process easier but due to the competition with large companies and her lack of resources, she concluded ‘it did not seem the logical thing to do’. Resultantly, Canva was founded in 2013. Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool that does not require a professional designer, is cost-effective and allows users to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos and more.

In 2020 Forbes named Perkins as one of the world's "Top Under 30 of the Decade". Perkins first appeared on The Australian Financial Review Rich List in 2020 with a net worth of A$3.43 billion.

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Name: Shade Zahrai

Her Impact: Award-winning Global Peak Performance Educator to Fortune 500s | Behavioural Strategist | Ex-Lawyer | Helps professionals overcome their career blockers and fast-track growth through Career Catalyst on LinkedIn

Her Story:  Shade has over 4 million collective followers across social media where she shares personal & professional development tips.  She was named Adweek’s Careers Content Creator of the Year in 2021 and has been featured in the New York Times, The Daily Mail, Yahoo, Finance & VICE.

She combines commercial savviness, a passion for people and 10+ years of corporate experience to breathe life into the human aspect of business. Having spent countless hours with hundreds of teams from startups to Fortune 500s, she has observed clear behavioural trends behind the happiest and most successful people.

Now through her company, informed by her Ph.D research in career performance, she leverages the latest insights in high performance and leadership into commercially sound strategies for people and companies to do their best work by putting emotional intelligence and ‘humanness’ at the core.

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Name: Dr Merritt Moore

Her Impact: Forbes 30 under 30 | Quantum Physicist/ Professional Ballerina

Her Story: Dr. Merritt Moore graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honours in Physics from Harvard and graduated with a PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics from the University of Oxford. She also pursues a professional ballet career, previously with the Zurich Ballet, Boston Ballet, English National Ballet, and Norwegian National Ballet. She was recently awarded Forbes 30 under 30, and she was one of the 12 selected candidates to undergo rigorous astronaut selection on BBC Two "Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?”.

Merritt urges that the arts and sciences should not be mutually exclusive. She has been invited to be the featured speaker at the Forbes Women's Summit in NY and Princeton Physics Department, a panellist for the U.S. Embassy “Women in STEM” Panel in London and is featured in the bestseller "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls".

Invited as artist-in-residence at Harvard ArtLab, Merritt is creating a duet between human dancer and industrial robotic arm. She continues to explore the future of A.I. and machine learning, specifically with dance, and welcomes all forms of collaboration fusing dance, physics and tech.

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Name: Ketaki Shriram

Her Impact: CTO at Krikey AI | Forbes 30 Under 30, Gaming | Film Producer

Her Story: Ketaki is currently building Krikey AI, a generative gaming tools service that she co-founded with her sister.

Krikey empowers anyone to generate 3D animations in minutes that they can use in games, films, marketing materials and more. Their products include an AI Text to Animation tool, AI Video to Animation tool and custom AI Animation model training for enterprise customers. Their AI Animation tools shorten the time to generate an animation from 5 days to 5 minutes. They’re breaking barriers and enabling creators of all backgrounds to bring their vision to life with stunning 3D animations.

Krikey recently closed their Series A round, led by Reliance Jio, India's biggest telecom operator. Ketaki received her BA, MA, and PhD from the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, and has previously worked at Google and Facebook's Oculus VR.  She was recently selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 2020 Class in the Gaming category and will be a speaker at the 2024 Canva Create event.

Overall, women change agents play a vital role in advancing gender equality, promoting social justice, and building more inclusive and sustainable societies. Their contributions are essential for creating a better world for current and future generations.

Information Source: All profile information has been adapted from each woman’s LinkedIn profile.

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