Nicholas Donabet Kristof is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times.
Wendy Wasserstein was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 for her play The Heidi Chronicles.
Sheryl Kara Sandberg is an American technology executive, philanthropist, and writer. Sandberg served as chief operating officer (COO) of Meta Platforms, a position from which she stepped down in August 2022. She is also the founder of LeanIn.Org. In 2008, she was made COO at Facebook, becoming the company's second-highest-ranking official. In June 2012, she was elected to Facebook's board of directors, becoming the first woman to serve on its board. As head of the company's advertising business, Sandberg was credited for making the company profitable. Prior to joining Facebook as its COO, Sandberg was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google and was involved in its philanthropic arm Google.org. Before that, Sandberg served as research assistant to Lawrence Summers at the World Bank, and subsequently as his chief of staff when he was Bill Clinton's United States Secretary of the Treasury.
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in addition to leading American literary trends. It was acquired by Random House in 1960, and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group division of Penguin Random House which is owned by the German conglomerate Bertelsmann.
Edna Adan Ismail is a nurse midwife, activist, and was the first female Foreign Minister of Somaliland from 2003 to 2006. She previously served as Somaliland's Minister of Family Welfare and Social Development.
China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power is a 1994 book by husband-and-wife Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, based on their tour in China as reporters for The New York Times. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting.
"Women hold up half the sky" is a famous quote by former Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong.
Fistula Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization focused on treatment of obstetric fistula, funding more repair surgeries than any other organization, public or private. As of September 2022, they support hospitals and doctors in over 20 countries across Africa and Asia. The foundation is dedicated to treating obstetric fistula by covering the full cost of fistula repair surgery for poor women who would otherwise not be able to access treatment. They also provide fistula surgeon training, equipment and facility upgrades that make fistula treatment as safe as possible, post-surgery counseling and support for healed patients. The foundation has been recognized by several organizations for its transparency, effectiveness and efficiency, earning a top "A" rating from CharityWatch and a four star rating from Charity Navigator for 16 years in a row, placing it in the top 1% of charities reviewed on the site. In 2023, the foundation received a $15 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, announced alongside a new five-year strategic plan that will advance the foundation's In It to End It vision. The foundation has also been selected as one of 22 charities recommended by Princeton Professor Peter Singer's organization, The Life You Can Save. The organization's cost-effectiveness was also noted by GiveWell in 2019.
Reach Out and Read, Inc. (ROR) is a US nonprofit organization that promotes reading.
Ruchira Gupta is a journalist and activist. She is the founder of Apne Aap, a non-governmental organisation that works for women's rights and the eradication of sex trafficking.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is a nonfiction book by husband and wife team Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn published by Knopf in September 2009. The book argues that the oppression of women worldwide is "the paramount moral challenge" of the present era, much as the fight against slavery was in the past. The title comes from the 1968 statement by Mao Zedong "妇女能顶半边天", meaning "women hold up half the sky", though the authors cite it only as a "Chinese proverb".
Woineshet Zebene Negash, also known as Woineshet Zebene, is a rape victim whose case was responsible for a change in Ethiopian law. She was the first Ethiopian ever legally to challenge a bridal abduction.
Tererai Trent is a Zimbabwean-American woman whose unlikely educational success has brought her international fame.
The Half the Sky Movement is inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's best-selling book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The movement seeks to put an end to the oppression of women and girls worldwide through a transmedia project that uses video, websites, games, blogs and other educational tools both to raise awareness of women's issues and also to provide concrete steps to fight these problems and empower women.
Bharat Kalicharan, also known as Akku Yadav, was an Indian gangster, robber, home invader, kidnapper, serial rapist, serial killer, and extortionist. Yadav grew up in the Kasturba Nagar slum, which is located in the Indian central city of Nagpur, Maharashtra. He lived and did business in the slum which housed a number of criminals and two rival gangs.
Mikaela Beardsley is an American documentary film producer and entrepreneur. She is currently the executive director of the What Works Media Project. Most of her films are distributed by PBS or HBO Documentary Films.
Angeline Murimirwa is a Zimbabwean feminist, who is the executive director for Camfed in Africa. Murimirwa was included in the 2017 BBC 100 Women list of the most influential women.
Meena is a documentary film about sex trafficking in India that premiered on June 26, 2014, in New York City. This film marks the directorial debut of Lucy Liu, Colin K. Gray, and Megan Raney.
Kristof Farms is an apple orchard and grape vineyard located in Willamette Valley of the United States, near the city of Yamhill, Oregon. The land was first homesteaded in the early 20th century and produced cherries until 2018, at which point the farm was converted to produce cider apples and pinot noir grapes.
