Our founder Named one of 100 Women Using Her Power to Empower

Our founder, Christelle Kwizera was named one of 100 Women Using Her Power to Empower in Vital Voices’ New Book Celebrating Women’s Leadership

The new book, Vital Voices: 100 Women Using their Power to Empower, is edited by Alyse Nelson with art by Gayle Kabaker and edited by Assouline

September 5, Washington, DC – Christelle Kwizera was selected to be one of the women showcased in Vital Voices: 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower, an unprecedented new book and companion art exhibition celebrating 100 global women leaders who are redefining power. Edited by Alyse Nelson, with a foreword by US National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and paintings by Gayle Kabaker, the book and exhibition feature a selection of original portraits, accompanied by thought-provoking excerpts of first-person narratives from some of the most influential and insightful women in the world, including: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, Bozoma Saint John, Jacinda Ardern, Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju, Joy Buolamwini, Megan Rapinoe and so many more. Candid and compelling, each leader shares personal stories, wisdom and ideas, showing us that women lead differently and that this difference is sorely needed in our world today.

While each woman is pathbreaking in her own right, it’s together that these 100 voices illustrate the transformative power of women’s leadership across cultures, sectors and generations.

2020 has laid bare the critical value of leadership at every level; from heads of state to community healthcare workers and racial justice activists, we have witnessed remarkable courage and compassion in the face of historic challenge. Global crises have shown us that the solutions we seek already exist, so often being championed by women leaders like those featured in this book.

“For far too long, women — especially women of color — have been sidelined and undervalued for the very reason we need them most in this moment: women lead differently, and that difference is sorely needed in the world today,” said Alyse Nelson, Vital Voices President and CEO. “The women leaders in this book illustrate the empathy, perseverance and collaboration that make women’s leadership transformative. They are getting us closer to a more equitable world, and the wisdom and solutions they share urge us to imagine the world anew – and emerge stronger, more compassionate, and resolved to keep striving until every voice is heard.”

This year we also commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the historic United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, which sparked a new wave of activism in pursuit of gender equality. As we look to the future, and the great unfinished business that remains, we turn to 100 of the most daring and creative leaders of our time, who share their vision and solutions in Vital Voices: 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower.

Alyse Nelson is President and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an organization that invests in women leaders solving the world’s greatest challenges. A co-founder of Vital Voices, she has worked with the organization for more than two decades.

Gayle Kabaker is an award-winning illustrator, writer and visual storyteller living in Ashfield, Massachusetts. She has had five New Yorker magazine covers, beginning in 2012 with “June Brides,” celebrating the legalization of marriage equality.