Recent graduate Sala McCarthy-Stonex, 22, was born in Auckland, New Zealand. After her dad died in a car accident, Sala’s mum relocated the family to a Navajo reservation in Arizona, US, where they lived for about three years before moving to Laie, Hawaii. When she was 16, Sala started her undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University–Hawaii. She graduated in 2016 with a BS in Political Science, a minor in Japanese and certificates in Intercultural Peacebuilding and Mediation and Legal Studies.
My name is Dana Salama and I have a degree in Environmental Science with a focus on renewable energy and climate change. I am part of the HR team in an online initiative for teaching English. I am passionate about helping people overcome their problems – it fills my soul with happiness to draw a smile on their faces. I started being part of the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme team/family in 2019. It was a milestone in my life, where I had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.
Rachel Howden is currently living in Utah in the United States having completed her BA in Intercultural Peacebuilding and Anthropology from Brigham Young University in Oahu, Hawaii. Rachel is passionate about young people having the space and education to develop critical thinking skills and emotional literacy for building sustainable peace. She is honoured to participate in the Creative Leadership Conference and excited to collaborate with others to listen and learn under the IofC values.
Besfort Syla is a 21-year-old graphic design/photography student from Kosovo. He is currently working as a graphic designer in his hometown, using his platform to highlight and tackle social issues. His journey with Caux and IofC started in 2018 when he participated in the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme. He is comfortable with showing his emotional side and he loves hearing others’ stories. In his opinion, sharing stories and listening enable us to come together as one and be the change the world needs.
Tony Sakr is a Senior Transportation Engineer based in San Jose, California. He has been working in the mobility field since 2017. He has a Master’s in Management from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. His voluntary work has included the creation of a crowd-sourced campaign to support young people affected by the ongoing Syrian crisis. He believes that it is through crisis that innovative leaders emerge.
Redempta Muibu spearheads the Free the Girl Initiative Project in Nakuru, Kenya, and is passionate about making a difference in the academic lives of underprivileged girls. The project specifically supports girls, who would otherwise stay out of school due to menstrual-related challenges, by providing them with free sanitary pads.
Anatasiia Yakush is a project manager at X23, with specific expertise in economics and business administration. She is involved in EU-co-funded programmes related to the social inclusion of migrants and refugees, with longterm and high impact scopes. She manages the EUStartGees programme and had an active role in the creation of the ME4Change Coalition (Migrant Empowerment for Change), working in close cooperation with Marika Mazzi Boém, Co-founder and Innovation Strategy Director at X23.
Georgina Flores Fernández is an industrial designer and human rights activist born in Mexico. She focuses her work on sustainability and fair trade as well as preservation of cultural heritage through Change is Wild, the movement she co-founded. She specializes in conflict resolution strategies covering both design and human rights issues. She has spoken and taken part in international forums in New York and the UAE. She has been a TED Talk Translator since 2013 and is also a TED Mentor, in an effort to make ideas and knowledge accessible to everyone.
Maruee Pahuja is an Expressive Arts facilitator and is pursuing her Master’s in Expressive Arts Therapy from the European Graduate School. She is also a specialty contact lens consultant and ocularist. She is the creative training co-lead for People Beyond Borders. Her passion, curiosity and research lie in the direction of building a wholesome healthcare system that incorporates intermodal art practices in the medical field. Maruee finds her grounding through her love for gardening and believes that nature and art are her soul food.