Ashoka Fellows

“Seeing [my son] grow up with this empathy bone in him is great. He cares a lot about our dog and he asks me how I am doing. In pre-school if he sees a kid who is sad he will go over to them, and his teacher says he really helps bring people out of their shells. So just seeing that in him is a huge accomplishment that is obviously evolving, but I feel proud seeing the roots of what my parents taught me taking hold in is so rewarding.”

Jeff Edmondson

Managing Director, Strive Together
Ashoka Fellow

“[My family and I] would go on a Habitat for Humanity work trip every year, building homes. I will never forget we went to Sulfur Gas, Kentucky, which was a small little holler. I remember working there, playing with the kids, and realizing what little opportunity they had to get out of even the most desperate situations here in the United States. All of those trips for me were incredibly eye-opening…”

Sarah Hemminger

Co-Founder, Thread
Ashoka Fellow

“My parents exposed us to different things but they did not push us until we showed an interest in an activity. That meant we were extremely committed to what we picked and worked really hard at them. We grew a lot in those things. I became an international-level ice skater, my brother was a left-handed pitcher all the way through college, and my sister became a professional ballerina before becoming a doctor.”

Gonzalo Muñoz Abogabir

Founder, TriCiclos
Ashoka Fellow

“In our house there was always a big box for recycling even though in Chile nobody else recycled. We were always concerned about energy, about water, but also having the conversations about what’s happening in the world. What can we do with our talents towards solving some of those issues, those problems? My mother [would tell] us since we were little that our main goals would be to leave the world at least a little bit better than how it was when we were born.”

Jackee Cohen

Youth Venture Parent

“What we did as parents was show them the world. We would have a [newspaper] and talk about articles what is happening in the world. That way you see there are problems out there and there is a world bigger than you. Kids are like sponges and you make the opportunities available to them, they really soak it up.”

Kristin Hayden

Founder, OneWorld Now!
Ashoka Fellow

“My mother taught me to blaze my own path. One day, my mom noticed a boy who was not on my soccer team kicking a soccer ball on the sidelines. My mom approached him and this Vietnamese boy explained in broken English that he loved soccer but couldn’t afford soccer shoes. She asked him where he lived, and next thing I knew, we were talking to his mother asking if we could take him to buy soccer shoes. His mother agreed, and I will never forget the boy’s face of joy once he had his brand new soccer shoes. After that, I introduced him to the coach and he joined our soccer team. That left a powerful impression on me for life.”