Varaidzo (Vee) Kativhu is an education activist who vlogs as Miss Varz. She has won a Diana Award and she was listed on the BBC's 100 Women list in 2023.
Varaidzo (Vee) Kativhu is an education activist who vlogs as Miss Varz. She has won a Diana Award and she was listed on the BBC's 100 Women list in 2023.
Born in Zimbabwe, Kativhu moved to the UK and studied at the universities of Oxford and Harvard. She set up Empowered by Vee, an initiative which helps to make higher education more accessible for students from poorer backgrounds and published her first book in 2021.
Varaidzo Kativhu was born in Zimbabwe and grew up speaking the Shona language. When her father died, she moved to the UK at the age of seven. She first lived in England, then in Pontypridd in Wales and then moved to the West Midlands of England. [1] She attended Dudley College and worked at McDonald's in Birmingham. [1] [2] She was the first person from her school to go to the University of Oxford, where she studied classical archaeology and ancient history at Lady Margaret Hall. [1] [3]
Whilst at Oxford, she set up a YouTube channel under the name Miss Varz and vlogged about her experiences of university. [3] [4] [5] Her friend and fellow student Malala Yousafzai appeared in some of her videos. [6] Kativhu took an online Masters in international education policy at Harvard University and afterwards set up Empowered by Vee, an initiative which helps to make higher education more accessible for students from poorer backgrounds. [3] [7] She continued to be a StudyTuber and as of November 2023, her channel has 274,000 subscribers. [8] [9] In 2021, she released her self-help book Empowered. [10]
In 2022, Kativhu's achievements were recognised with a Diana Award and the United Nations selected her as a young leader for the Sustainable Development Goals. [11] [12] She was listed on the BBC's 100 Women list in 2023. [7]
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, actress, and businesswoman. Dubbed as "Queen Bey" and a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century, she has been recognized for her artistry and performances, with Rolling Stone naming her one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formally known under its current royal charter as "The Principal and Fellows of the College of the Lady Margaret in the University of Oxford".
Christina Lamb OBE is a British journalist and author. She is the chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Times.
Nasser Azam is a British contemporary artist, living and working in London.
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, the second Pakistani and the first Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize. Yousafzai is a human rights advocate for the education of women and children in her native homeland, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement, and according to former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become Pakistan's "most prominent citizen."
Ziauddin Yousafzai is a Pakistani education activist best known as the father of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who protested against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan opposition to the education rights of girls, especially for Pakistani girls.
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban is an autobiographical book by Malala Yousafzai, co-written with Christina Lamb. It was published on 8 October 2013, by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK and Little, Brown and Company in the US.
He Named Me Malala is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim. The film presents the young Pakistani female activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who has spoken out for the rights of girls, especially the right to education, since she was very young. The film also recounts how she survived and has become even more eloquent in her quest after being hunted down and shot by a Taliban gunman as part of the organization's violent opposition to girls' education in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. The title refers to the Afghani folk hero Malalai of Maiwand, after whom her father named her.
Hannah Alper is a Canadian activist, blogger, and journalist who was active in those fields before her teens.
Muzoon Almellehan is a Syrian activist and refugee resettled in the United Kingdom. She is known for her work to keep Syrian girls in school, and has been referred to as the "Malala of Syria". In June 2017, she became the youngest GoodWill Ambassador of UNICEF.
Malala's Magic Pencil is a 2017 picture book authored by Malala Yousafzai and illustrated by Kerascoët. The book was published by Little, Brown and Company in the U.S., and Puffin Books in the U.K., with Farrin Jacobs as editor. It shows Yousafzai growing up in Swat, Pakistan, and wishing for a magic pencil to solve her problems; she learns that she is able to make change, such as advancing rights to female education, without one. The book has received very positive reviews, praising both Yousafzai's writing and Kerascoët's illustrations. The book appears on several lists of best children's books of 2017.
Sindhu Venkatanarayanan is an Indian born British stand-up comedian and actress who lives and performs in the United Kingdom under the name of Sindhu Vee. She starred as Mrs. Phelps in the 2022 Netflix adaptation of Matilda the Musical.
We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World is a 2019 book by Malala Yousafzai. The book was published by Little, Brown and Company in the US and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK. The book follows Yousafzai's own experience being displaced in Pakistan and later forced to move to England, and tells stories from nine other displaced people around the world. The book received positive critical reception and reached the top 10 in The New York Times' bestseller list under the "Young Adult Hardcover" section.
Gul Makai is a 2020 Indian biographical drama film directed by H.E. Amjad Khan and written by Bhaswati Chakrabarty, Produced under the banner of Tekno Films and Pen Studios. The film is based on the life of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.
Malala Fund is an international, non-profit organization that advocates for girls' education. It was co-founded by Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and her father, Ziauddin. The stated goal of the organization is to ensure 12 years of free, safe and quality education for every girl. As of July 2020, the organization has 48 staff and supports 58 advocates working across Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
Shiza Shahid is a Pakistani social entrepreneur, social activist, investor, and educator. She is the co-founder and former CEO of the non-profit Malala Fund, which promotes education for every girl. In 2013, she was included in Time's "30 Under 30" list of world change-makers, and in 2014, she was listed in Forbes's "30 Under 30" list of global social entrepreneurs. She is also well-known as the personal assistant of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.
Maha Jaafar is a Sudanese-Iraqi dentist and YouTuber, living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She is mainly known as a social media influencer and 'Ambassador' for YouTube’s Creators for Change. After her first successful video in 2016, she became widely known for her videos on cultural diversity in Sudan and about linguistic differences of people in various Arabic-speaking countries. Through her videos on social media, she tries to contribute to fighting hate speech, extremism and xenophobia. In 2020, she was appointed as National Ambassador for Children’s Rights by UNICEF Sudan.
Let Her Fly: A Father's Journey and the Fight for Equality is a 2018 autobiography by Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of the Pakistani activist for female education Malala Yousafzai. It details the oppression he saw women face in Pakistan, his family life both before and after his daughter Malala was shot by the Taliban and his attitudes to being a brother, a husband and a father.
Aya Mouallem, born on January 17, 1998, is a Lebanese electrical engineer, gender equality activist, and a Knight-Hennessy Scholar at Stanford University. She is the co-founder, co-director, and current board advisory member of All Girls Code, a volunteer-led initiative to provide Lebanese female youth with coding experience. Mouallem is active in the field of Arab youth women empowerment in STEM.