30 Birds Global Ambassador for Women and Girls, Nila Ibrahimi Has just won the 2024 International Children’s Peace Prize!

We are thrilled to announce that 17-year-old Nila Ibrahimi, 30 Birds’ Global Ambassador for Women and Girls, has won the International Children’s Peace Prize 2024!

Three years ago, while Nila was in hiding in Pakistan, she recorded videos for supporters, helping us raise the funds to bring her and hundreds of others to safety.

Today, she runs her own nonprofit, speaks on behalf of 30 Birds on the global stage, and has inspired thousands with her voice and her song.

Nia’s story embodies the leadership journey we hope for all of the girls we support at 30 Birds. Our leadership and education programs are designed to take the girls from merely surviving, to growing and thriving. May Nila’s voice continue to be a catalyst, motivating others to take action in building a world where all Afghan girls can learn, lead, and live freely.

We are collecting letters and notes of congratulations for Nila, so if you’d like to wish her well, please email info@30birdsfoundation.org

Josh Goldblum honored as Blooloop 50 Influencers

Founder and CEO of Bluecadet

The blooloop 50 celebrates the work of fifty key individuals whose creativity, passion and drive has helped shape and improve the industry.

Influencers are those who impact the attractions business with their innovation and creativity. Each year our readers vote in their thousands to recognise the people they think have had the most impact in the last 12 months.

Padden Murphy - America Works: How Entrepreneurial City Leaders Can Shape the Future of Work Now

Author: Padden Murphy

Reposted from Hatch

Dramatic changes to the way we work are already in motion. Automation, artificial intelligence and advanced robotics are having cascading impacts on the workforce. This report presents the state of work in cities today and investigates the five drivers that will shape the next 10 years and strategies for city leaders across four pillars: Opportunity, Talent, Place and Social Infrastructure. 

The future of work will be defined by entrepreneurial city leaders. The strategies and case studies outlined in this report showcase mayors and city leaders who turned bold visions for their city into actionable plans with clear goals, owners and integrating community voice. 

Many of the challenges cities face, and the strategies outlined in this report, require city leaders to embrace bold ideas, allow for agility and adaptability, and test innovative solutions through policy, programs and public-private partnerships. As conveners, employers and policymakers, city leaders can take entrepreneurial steps to successfully navigate the changing nature of work and build inclusive cities of opportunity and community for years to come. Download the report to learn more.

Yarrow Kraner

Yarrow is the Founder of HATCH and H360.ai, is an Aspen Institute Fellow, RSA Fellow, and named 2015 top 100 creatives in the U.S. by Origins. He is a pioneer of social networking and has been building communities for twenty-five years. He’s directed projects with Richard Branson, The Rock, Jody Watley, Rakim, and more. In 1999, Yarrow created an online network – The Hero Project, which grew to 1.5 Million users and was acquired by FOX Studios. In 2004, Yarrow founded HATCH, connecting global influencers to accelerate solutions for the UN’s SDGs, which has led to thousands of collaborations, companies formed, and systems change at the policy level within the United Nations. In 2016 Yarrow founded H360.ai, a machine learning impact collaboration platform. H360 connects people to resources and unlocks the potential of communities and organizations, powering a “Network of Networks.” Yarrow is featured in the book Talent for Humanity, is on the Advisory Board for the Water Innovation Accelerator (WIA), was honored with the Audfest Impact Award in 2019, and has led think tanks with Intel, Hasbro, Ernst & Young, NASA, spoken at TEDx, Vivatech, EarthX, Day One in Monaco, Business Innovation Factory Summit (BIF), and the Volcano Summit.  

Alex Zerden

Alex Zerden is the founder of Capitol Peak Strategies, a risk advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Capitol Peak works with leading financial institutions, companies and organizations to navigate emerging technologies, financial regulation, and economic crisis. As a regulatory lawyer, economic policymaker, and financial diplomat, Alex brings a depth of public and private sector experience at the intersection of financial services, economics, and national security covering anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), economic sanctions, investment security, financial regulation, economic crisis response, anti-corruption, financial enforcement and oversight investigations, and public-private partnerships. Alex has worked across the U.S. government, including at the White House National Economic Council, House of Representatives, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), and the Treasury Department’s Office of International Affairs, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). In 2018-2019, Alex deployed to Afghanistan to lead the Treasury Department office at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as the Financial Attaché. Alex is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow at CNAS, a Senior Advisor to WestExec Advisors, and a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Svetlana Savranskaya

Dr. Svetlana Savranskaya is a Senior Analyst at the Archive and since 2001 the director of the Archive’s Russia programs. She leads the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program of the Archive, focusing on the Nunn-Lugar initiative and the ongoing challenges of U.S.-Russia cooperation, and manages the Archive’s relationships with Russian academics and organizations. She served as lead organizer for the historic 2013 Nunn-Lugar conference at Musgrove, and the 2015 Kazakhstan Nunn-Lugar conference in Astana and Kurchatov. Previously, she organized and led six summer schools in Russia, the successful Archive partnerships with Kuban State University, Tbilisi State University, the Gorbachev Foundation, Memorial, the Moscow Helsinki Group, and organizations in the Caucasus culminating in the series of four major international conferences on access to information in the former Soviet space. She earned her Ph.D. in political science and international affairs in 1998 from Emory University, where she studied with Professors Robert Pastor and Thomas Remington. A "Red Diploma" (equivalent of summa cum laude) graduate of the Moscow State University in 1988, she went on to study at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1989-90, before moving to Emory.

Melanie Robbins

Melanie is a Jewish-American, Israeli advocate for peace, justice and reconciliation with nearly two decades of experience in the field. After her BA in Political Science, Middle East Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Melanie moved to Israel to work in a joint Palestinian-Israeli peace education program, and later became Director of Development for the veteran Israeli peace movement Peace Now. In Israel, Melanie built an alternative tour to the West Bank, bringing hundreds of Jewish-Americans to experience the effects of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and complicate the narratives of this conflict. Melanie earned her MA in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University’s Executive Leadership program. In 2016, Melanie joined the Anti-Defamation League becoming Deputy Director for the New York – New Jersey regional office. In her role there, she continued to build bridges, between Jewish-Muslim-Arab, Black, and Latin American communities across NY and NJ. After her tenure with ADL, Melanie joined the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest as Director of the Global Connections Department (Israel and Overseas Programs). Currently, Melanie works as a media, policy and strategy consultant, focusing on individuals and initiatives which practice principles of democracy, and seek to build an authentically shared society across political, social and religious divides. She remains particularly connected with Palestinians and Israelis who are part of building peace and reconciliation.

Negar Razavi

An anthropologist by training, Negar Razavi joined Princeton University's Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, from Northwestern University. The research project she's working on is titled: "The Security Paradox: Policy Expertise, Transnational Security, and the Politics of Knowing (and Unknowing) Iran from Washington." Intersecting political science and anthropology, Razavi's research brings a critical, people-centered approach to studies of international security, gender, expertise, and empire to U.S.-Iran relations. Her proposed project draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Washington D.C. and Tehran where she evaluated the expanding influence of a transnational network of policy experts in shaping U.S. security policies toward Iran and the broader Middle East. She explores how and why non-state analysts have collectively promoted security approaches toward the Islamic Republic that not only exacerbate insecurities for local communities but seem to contradict the U.S.' stated security objective. Her Ph.D interests in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania State concentrated on political subjectivities, citizenship, and knowledge formation. Her dissertation title: “With Grave Concern”: Policy Experts, National Security, and U.S. Policy towards the “Middle East.”

Claire Putzeys

Claire is the Deputy Director for U.S. Refugee Admissions for the U.S. Department of State. Previously, she was the Director for Refugees on the National Security Council at the White House. She is the former Syria Team Lead at the U.S. Department of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). She also held the same position as Team Lead for Iraq and Yemen. Prior to that, she was the Humanitarian Policy Officer for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Her government work also included a Political Assistant role in the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco and earlier, she was a Refugee Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Her earliest work, which confirmed her interest in refugee issues included a consultancy for Mapendo International (now Refuge Point) and work with the Refugee Family Reunification Program for the International Rescue Committee while studying at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she received her MALD degree.

Sherif Mansour

Sherif Mansour is the Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), where he has dedicated over 20 years to advocating for democracy, human rights, and press freedom. With a master’s in international relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a bachelor’s in education from Al-Azhar University, Sherif has extensive experience in protecting journalists, monitoring elections, and building capacity for civil society organizations across the Middle East and the U.S. He has written for leading international outlets and appeared on major news networks, earning recognition for his impactful work.

Linda Kulman

Linda Kulman is a New York Times, Amazon, and Wall Street Journal bestselling ghostwriter who has successfully collaborated on more than a dozen books. Her most recent work is Dr. Anthony Fauci’s memoir, On Call, which debuted as a #1 New York Times bestseller in June 2024. Kulman’s elite list of clients also includes former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, two-time heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, Senator George McGovern, former Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Amanda Knox, who was wrongfully imprisoned for murder in Italy. Kulman is known for her expertise at telling each person’s unique story in the most powerful manner possible.

Daniel Kramer

Daniel is a Managing Partner at Duo Group, having several years of experience as a founder and operator of hospitality ventures in Washington, D.C. including Duke’s Grocery, Gogi Yogi, and Duke’s Counter. Most notably is his work with Duke’s Grocery where he draws upon his Jewish and his love for food from celebrating Jewish holidays as a kid in Los Angeles. East London-themed pub and supper spots in Dupont Circle, Navy Yard, Foggy Bottom & British Embassy, featuring scratch made seasonal dishes inspired by that creative culinary scene in the English capital.Prior to opening his first restaurant, Daniel worked in government, consulting, and youth athletics. He is a graduate of Tufts University who was in the Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society and President of Delta Tau Delta. He also played varsity sports in Lacrosse and golf for all four years where was Captain and All-NESCAC.

Allison Jeffery

Allison Jeffery is a humanitarian protection practitioner and researcher focusing on child protection and gender-based violence prevention and response. She is experienced in case management, mental health and psychosocial support, child marriage, gender analysis, and reproductive health in humanitarian, development, and nexus settings. Allison gained skills in quality improvement, project management, policy analysis, qualitative research, and training design and implementation. She graduated with her BA in International Affairs from Tufts University and MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Peter Della-Rocca

Peter Della-Rocca is an analyst on the U.S. Climate team at the Environmental Defense Fund, where he pushes rapid decarbonization on the state level. He leverages timely research and analysis to advocate for responsible climate policy in states including Pennsylvania and Virginia, while contributing to the knowledge base of EDF’s coalition partners in those states. Previously, he worked at the Climate Leadership Council, where he conducted research and advocacy on carbon pricing and related policies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University.

Valerie Cleland

Valerie is a senior manager for Ocean Energy and Nature for the National Resources Defense Council, Valerie advocates for policies that protect and restore our oceans. Prior to joining NRDC, Cleland was a NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation where she worked to develop, analyze, and guide oceans legislation through the committee process. She originally hails from the Pacific Northwest where she worked as an environmental scientist on marine and aquatic projects for a small environmental firm and taught sea kayaking. Cleland attended Tufts University and received a master's of marine affairs from the University of Washington. She is based in NRDC's Washington, D.C. office.

Matan Chorev

Matan Chorev is the Principal Deputy Director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Prior to his appointment, he served as Chief of Staff of the National Security and Foreign Policy team on the Biden-Harris Transition and as the foreign policy author of the 2020 Democratic Party Platform. From 2015-2020, he was Chief of Staff of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as speechwriter and advisor to Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns and as a member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff. He has also served as a Crisis, Governance, and Stabilization Foreign Service Officer at the United States Agency for International Development with assignments in Morocco and Yemen, and as a Rosenthal Fellow at the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. Prior to his government service, Matan was researcher at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where he was the Executive Director of the Future of National Security Project. He is a David Rockefeller Fellow at The Trilateral Commission and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds degrees from Tufts University, New England Conservatory, and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Tom Blanton

Tom Blanton is the director since 1992 of the independent non-governmental National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org). He won the 2004 Emmy Award for individual achievement in news and documentary research, and on behalf of the Archive received the George Polk Award in 2000 for “piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy.” His books have been awarded the 2011 Link-Kuehl Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, selection by Choice magazine as “Outstanding Academic Title 2017,” and the American Library Association’s James Madison Award Citation in 1996, among other honors. The National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame elected him a member in 2006, and Tufts University presented him the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award in 2011 for “decades of demystifying and exposing the underworld of global diplomacy.” His articles have appeared in Diplomatic History, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and the Washington Post, among many other journals; and he is series co-editor for the National Security Archive’s online and book publications of more than a million pages of declassified U.S. government documents obtained through the Archive’s more than 60,000 Freedom of Information Act requests.

Ralph Alswang

One of the nation's premiere photographers for more than 25 years, Ralph worked for Newsweek, Reuters, and, for eight years, at the White House under Bill Clinton as the President and First Lady’s official documentary photographer. This job took him to every state in the union and to more than 60 countries, where he captured history as it was unfolding. Ralph has photographed hundreds of celebrated people and events. Here is his site.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is an American writer and analyst who grew up in Gaza City, having left in 2005 as a teenage exchange student to the United States. He writes extensively on Gaza’s political and humanitarian affairs and has been an outspoken critic of Hamas and a promoter of coexistence and peace as the only path forward between Palestinians and Israelis. Alkhatib is a resident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in intelligence and national security studies. His writing has been published in US and Israeli outlets, and his opinions and comments have been featured in the international press.

MaryAnn Mills

For twenty years, Mary Ann Mills has built her career in marketing communications with experience in the areas of event management, strategic planning, cause-related marketing, brand building and media relations.

Ms. Mills spent eight years in New York City with McGrath/Power Associates. As Vice President, she managed an account group that included Reebok International, The Body Shop, TRAVEL & LEISURE Magazine, and Yankelovich Clancy Shulman. She developed strategic long-term public-relations plans creating and coordinating events and launching numerous products and national and grass-roots campaigns.

As Vice President of Marketing for Earth Force, a start-up environmental group for young people, Ms. Mills developed and executed the launch strategy and ongoing outreach efforts with an emphasis on hands-on action events for youth.

Ms. Mills served as Director of Special Events and Public Relations at WashingtonInc. She planned and executed all aspects of event production from fundraising to list production to menu selection and protocol.

For eight years, Ms. Mills and her two partners owned and operated five DC-area The Body Shop stores. Ms. Mills’ focus was event planning, communications, and community outreach.

Ms. Mills lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband, Dr. Jason Clay.