International Youth Day: Youngsters Who Made A Difference
As the world celebrates International Youth day, we recognize some of the extraordinary young people from round the globe who have made a difference, with their words, actions, passion or all the three, in the world we live in.
Mary Kom
India's star boxer belonging to Kom tribal community of north-eastern state of Manipur, Mary Kom's Olympic bronze medal at the London Games was followed by a sea of media adulation. Honoured with Padma Bhushan, Mary Kom, who has overcome gender bias, poverty is truly an inspiration not only for the North-Eastern people but also for women who endure hardships on a daily basis and yet have dreams unfulfilled.
Even, actress Priyanka Chopra finds the journey of this five-time World Boxing champion and a confident mother, inspiring. The 30-year-old actress will be portraying Mary Kom in a biopic by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.The movie is on the floor at the moment and promises to be something special.
Furthermore, she's also putting up her best effort to promote sports and improve infrastructure in her state. And seeing her efforts, the sports ministry has recently approved additional funds for the construction of an outdoor hall in the Imphal-based Regional Boxing Foundation being run by MC Mary Kom. Also being peeved with the state government's failure to repair roads in the Langol Games Village in Imphal, she embarked on a campaign to repair the roads.
Mary Kom's Quote:-
?Don't give up as there is always a next time. Think that if Mary Kom, a mother of two, can do it, why can't you?"
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg is a 29 year old computer programmer and internet entrepreneur, best known as one of the 5 co-founders of Facebook. The 2010 film ?Social Network' that hit the world with a storm was enough to outline his contribution to the birth of the world's most sought after social networking site. As of 2013, Zuckerberg is the chairman and CEO of Facebook Inc, the new-gen revolution!
Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal (24), has been the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics. She has also attained a career best ranking of #2 in December by the Badminton World Federation. Saina was awarded with a Padma Shri Award in January 2010 and is one of the 8 brand ambassadors of 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, India. Saina was awarded the highest national sporting award given to a player, The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on 29 August 2010, inspiring hundreds of young players into Indian Badminton.
Tamer Shaaban
24 year old Egyptian American filmmaker, writer, and actor Tamer Shaaban released a video montage onto the Internet showing the Egyptian people's frustrations with the then-regime in January 2011. It not only sparked a revolution, but the film, banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, managed to receive over 2 million views from round the world. It was featured in The Huffington Post, went viral on Reddit, YouTube, and Facebook, and was shared more than 150,000 times on Facebook. Shaaban is among YSA's "25 Most Influential and Powerful Young People in the World?.
Image via Tamer Shaaban/Twitter.
Kevin Systrom
Kevin Systrom at 27 is an entrepreneur and software engineer best known as the co-founder of Instagram, an online photo and video-sharing, social networking service. He spent his first two years at Google, working on Gmail, Google Reader and the Corporate Development team. After leaving Google, he co-founded Instagram, the app which has 80 million users as of date! He sold it to Facebook in April 2013 for $1 billion.
Ranbir Kapoor
This Bollywood star not only delivers powerful characters whose charisma is good enough to go down in history, but also is a strong humanitarian. Kapoor is vocal about issues faced by women, and supports the empowerment of the girl child; he is the goodwill ambassador of Shabana Azmi's NGO, Mijwan Welfare Society. He supports environmental charities such as the Community Water Initiative owned by PepsiCo. In 2012 he was part of a short film by Zoya Akhtar to generate awareness on breast cancer. He is the campaign ambassador for NDTV's Marks for Sports, a nationwide initiative to promote fitness and health in India. Image via Ranbir Kapoor Facebook page.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga is a singer-songwriter, record producer, activist, businesswoman, fashion designer and actress, all at 27. She has made a huge difference in people's lives by lending her support to HIV/AIDS and being a vocal supporter of Anti-Bullying Legislation. Gaga is in the midst of setting up a non-profit organization called the Born This Way Foundation which will address several issues including bullying and self-confidence.
Adora Svatik
Adora Svatik is 15, a child prodigy and an internationally published author, known for her essays, stories, poems, blogs, and full-length books is the youngest TED talker ever. She gives speeches at reputed universities across UK and the US, while all of her novels are top grossers that are recognized for wild creativity and intellect. Image via Adora Svitak Facebook page.
Virat Kohli
Kohli, the 24 year old Indian cricketer was the captain of the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. He represents Delhi in first-class cricket and is the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League. He had scored with bat a 90, for Delhi to save his team from Karnataka on December 20, 2006- the day his father had expired and he was only 18. His incredible emotional quotient earned the nation's respect as well as a place in the list of India's most inspiring youth icons.
Maren Johnson
Kevin Systrom at 27 is an entrepreneur and software engineer best known as the co-founder of Instagram, an online photo and video-sharing, social networking service. He spent his first two years at Google, working on Gmail, Google Reader and the Corporate Development team. After leaving Google, he co-founded Instagram, the app which has 80 million users as of date! He sold it to Facebook in April 2013 for $1 billion.
Priyanka Chopra
The 31 year old Bollywood actress and singer, falls in the line of reputed celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan, having taken India to the International Platform with her discography and powerful charisma. Chopra has a National Award to her credit, the winner title of Miss World 2000 pageant, Intl single In My City ft. Will.I.Am and is one of Bollywood's highest-paid actresses in India. Priyanka has featured in the 2010 "Save Girl Child" campaign and is the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights.
