Professional Stories from MY HERO

Artist

Fauzia Minallah

By: Joanne Tawfilis

Fauzia Minallah is the founder of Funkor Childart Centre, a filmmaker and an ARTIVIST.

Frances Moore Lappé (Lappe)

By: Rosemary Pritzker

Hero Frances Moore Lappe is a passionate and pioneering thinker and activist who fights world hunger.

Mamadou Tall Diedhiou

By: Cheikh Darou Seck from DAKAR

Mamadou Tall Diedhiou combines recycled materials to create inspiring works of art.

Atsuko Shiwaku

By: David Kemker

Atsuko Shiwaku set up the International Intercultural Mural Exchange Project to promote peaceful coexistence.

The Art Miles Mural Project
Joanne Tawfilis

By: Slater

The Art Miles Mural Project Joanne Tawfilis teaches respect and understanding through art.

Ablaye

By: Cheikh Darou Seck

Ablaye is a talented artist with an ambitious career planned, despite his physical disability.

Wyland

By: Victoria Murphy

Wyland is an internationally recognized artist and marine life conservationist.

Nam June Paik #1 Video Artist

By: Skip Blumberg

Nam June Paik #1 Video Artist is regarded as the 'father of video art.

Bruno Serato

By: Joanne Tawfilis

Bruno Serato is a chef who provides a free spaghetti dinner to 300 needy children at his restaurant every night, 7 nights a week.

Dolores Olmedo Patino

By: Claudia Herrera Hudson

Dolores Olmedo Patino was a Mexican businesswoman, philanthropist, and art collector.

John Tu

By: Casey from Laguna Beach

John Tu founder of Kingston Technology is also a musician and a supporter of the Freedom Writers.

Unreasonable At Sea

By: Wendy Jewell <br> The MY HERO Project

Unreasonable At Sea radical experiment in global entrepreneurship to solve the greatest challenges of our time.

Caine Monroy

By: David Kelly

Caine Monroy created a cardboard arcade and launched a movement.

Nicholas Negroponte

By: Claudia Herrera Hudson

Nicholas Negroponte created a low-cost laptop for children in the developing world.

Alice Waters

By: Susannah Abbey

Alice Waters created the world famous Edible Schoolyard Project.

Community

Budi and Peggy Soehardi Roslin Orphanage

By: Wendy Jewell and David Kemker

Budi and Peggy Soehardi Roslin Orphanage provides a loving home to care for displaced and orphaned children in East Timor.

Art Miles Mural Project

By: Kevin Metz<br> <i>Hero Magazine</i> Staff Writer

Art Miles Mural Project uses art to create a more peaceful global community.

Craig Kielburger

By: Jane Wallace

Craig Kielburger is a social entrepreneur and activist for children who co-founded Free The Children, WE Villages, WE Schools, WE Day and ME to WE.

Jacqueline Edelberg

Jacqueline Edelberg believes every child deserves a great neighborhood public school

Dr. Madan Kataria

By: Wendy Jewell

Dr. Madan Kataria has started a revolution of joy and laughter that is spreading around the world.

Earthkeeper

John Muir

By: Harold W. Wood, Jr.

John Muir advocated preservation, feeling that natural areas promote mental health.

Jacques Cousteau

By: Jeff Trussell

Jacques Cousteau pioneered marine conservation, underwater sea explorer, born 1910

Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey worked to protect the endangered Mountain Gorilla.

Dr. Shirley McGreal

By: Julian Siminski

Dr. Shirley McGreal founded the International Primate Protection League.

Jean-Michel Cousteau

By: Slater

Jean-Michel Cousteau is committed to protecting the ocean for future generations through education and conservation.

Fin Donnelly

By: Jenny Kim

Fin Donnelly works to keep our rivers and waters clean.

Chico Mendes

By: Jeff Trussell

Chico Mendes died a martyr defending the rainforests.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

By: "Friends of the Everglades"<br><h5>Permission to use this material was grant...

Marjory Stoneman Douglas was instrumental in preserving the Florida Everglades.

Chief Oren Lyons

By: Aibanrihun Lyngdoh

Chief Oren Lyons is an internationally venerated advocate for preserving biodiversity.

Explorer

Matthew Henson

By: Claudia Herrera Hudson

Matthew Henson was a brave African-American Arctic explorer, and the co-discoverer of the North Pole.

John Glenn

By: Kathy Crockett

John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth.

Sacajawea

By: Lydia Ratna

Sacajawea guided Lewis and Clark across the northwestern territories.

Ernest Shackleton

By: Betty Bailey

Ernest Shackleton in 1901 sailed out in the Discovery to explore the Antarctic.

Sylvia Earle

By: Edward Ortiz

"The key is to see ourselves as a part of the natural systems that support us."

Gwynne Rowley Shotwell

By: Torrey Levin-Russell

Gwynne Rowley Shotwell is the president of SpaceX, the company that made the Dragon space craft.

Franklin Chang Diaz

By: Emma Navajas

Franklin Chang Diaz is a Costa Rican and American veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions.

Ellen Ochoa

By: Daniel Chavez

Ellen Ochoa was the first Hispanic woman astronaut.

Freedom

Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez was steadfast, brave and had a benevolent heart during his struggle to help farmworkers.

Daniel Pearl

By: Geeta Malik and Kathy Crockett

Daniel Pearl was a Wall Street Journal reporter who reported the news with courage, integrity, and intelligence.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By: John Lewis

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Congressman John Lewis talks about how Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired him as a young man during the Civil Rights Movement

Fannie Lou Hamer

By: Nina Mariotti

Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights leader and voting rights advocate.

Dalai Lama

By: Jeff Trussell

Dalai Lama is the religious leader of Tibet and an emblem of Tibet's hopes for freedom.

Lifesaver

Dr. Hawa Abdi

By: Jane Wallace

Dr. Hawa Abdi is a Somali doctor, human rights activist and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Tommie Hamaluba

By: Claudia Herrera Hudson

Tommie Hamaluba is a teacher in Botswana, Africa, working to eradicate malaria.

Jon Rose

By: David Kelly

Jon Rose founded Waves for Water, which works on the front-line to provide clean water.

Hazviperi Betty Makoni

By: Wendy Jewell

Hazviperi Betty Makoni founded the Girl Child Network to transform lives.

Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara

By: Eric Saul

Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara believed in freedom and saved many Jews during WWII.

Molly Melching, Tostan Founder

By: Jane Wallace

Molly Melching, Tostan Founder empowers African communities to bring about positive social transformation based on respect for human rights.

Musician

Kenji Williams - Founder & Director of Bella Gaia - in Conversation with The MY HERO Project

By: Wendy Jewell from The MY HERO Project

Kenji Williams creates music and films that celebrate the earth from the perspective of space.

Alexander Borodin

By: Rebecca Miller

Alexander Borodin was an accomplished chemist, composer and early advocate of women's rights.

Camille Zamora & Monica Yunus

By: Susan Gabriel Bunn from New York

Camille Zamora & Monica Yunus are best friends who founded Sing for Hope.

Favio Chavez

By: Susan Drennan Gabriel Bunn from New York

Favio Chavez brings joy and hope to children through music.

Bruce Springsteen

By: Wendy Jewell from The My Hero Project

Bruce Springsteen is a musician who 'taps the full power of music to tell the real American story'.

Vy Higginsen

By: Jane Wallace

Vy Higginsen brings gospel music to at risk teens.

Wynton Marsalis

By: The My Hero Project

Wynton Marsalis is dedicated to passing on the benefits of music education to young people.

Pete Seeger

By: Nina Mariotti

Pete Seeger is a beloved American song writer and performer.

Peacemaker

Mattie Stepanek

By: Jim Hawkins

Mattie Stepanek is a hero to people of all ages around the world.

Daniel Ellsberg

By: Robert Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg is a whistle blower and truth teller responsible for publishing the Pentagon Papers.

Hadraawi (Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame)

By: Rebecca Miller

Hadraawi (Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame) is a powerful voice for peace in his country.

Ron Kovic

By: Betty Bailey and Jeanne Meyers

Ron Kovic: best selling author, activist and artist whose story was immortalized by Tom Cruise in the Hollywood movie BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY is honored at the MY HERO Celebration of Peace.

Abigail Disney

By: Jane Wallace

Abigail Disney is a philanthropist and documentary filmmaker who focuses on social issues.

Hugo Grotius

By: Rebecca Miller

Hugo Grotius was a scholar who advocated for peace between nations based on natural law and reason.

Azim Khamisa

By: Monica Olson

Azim Khamisa founded the Tariq Khamisa Foundation to encourage forgiveness.

Desmond Tutu

By: Wendy Jewell from The MY HERO Project

Desmond Tutu worked to end apartheid in South Africa and encourages forgiveness.

Poets

Ilse Bing

By: Wendy Jewell

Ilse Bing was a remarkable poet and photographer. Her works withstand the test of time.

Alexander Pushkin

By: Jerrilyn Jacobs

Alexander Pushkin was a Russian poet and writer who is beloved around the world.

Maya Angelou

By: Susannah Abbey

Maya Angelou is a beloved female author and poet.

Pablo Neruda

By: Claudia Herrera Hudson

Pablo Neruda is the most widely read Latin-American poet.

Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg wrote poems, stories and nonfiction about Americans and American life.

Langston Hughes

By: Jeff Trussell

Langston Hughes was nicknamed the Poet Laureate of Harlem.

Science

Augusta Ada Byron (Lovelace)

By: Edward Ortiz

Augusta Ada Byron (Lovelace) developed the world's first computer program while struggling with her own personal hardships.

Bernard Fantus

By: Rebecca Miller

Bernard Fantus, the Father of the American Blood Bank.

Andrea Ghez

By: Jorge Salazar <br>for Earth & Sky <br> <h5>Permission to use this material<b...

"This object is roughly three million times the mass of our sun inside a very tiny volume. A large mass in a small volume tells you that it has to be a supermassive black hole."

Katherine Johnson

By: Kyra from Ankara, Turkey

Katherine Johnson plotted multiple flight courses for NASA, including the course of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, which is famous for having been the first spaceship to reach the moon.

Grace Murray Hopper

By: Edward Ortiz

A human must turn information into intelligence or knowledge. We've tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question.

Commander Chris Hadfield

By: Wendy Jewell from The My Hero Project

Commander Chris Hadfield is the first Canadian to become the commander of the International Space Station.

Dr. France Córdova

By: Barbara Field

Dr. France Cordova is a renowned astrophysicist who has broken gender and cultural barriers.

Sports

Arnold Palmer

By: Richard Kent

Arnold Palmer is a golf icon who moved the sport onto the national scene.

C. Vivian Stringer

By: Richard Kent

Chamique Holdsclaw

By: Richard Kent

Chamique Holdsclaw is one of the most celebrated players in women's basketball.

Detective Luis Rosa

By: Kathy Crockett and Karen Pritzker, The MY HERO Project

Detective Luis Rosa volunteers to make the lives of people with disabilities better.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

By: Kathy Crockett

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics, dedicated her life to raising awareness and creating opportunities for the disabled.

Louie Bonpua

By: My Hero

Louie Bonpua was an inspiration to fellow cancer patients and athletes.

Magic Johnson

By: Laura Tucker for MY HERO

Magic Johnson inspires others with his basketball talents and philanthropic work.

Wilma Rudolph

By: Nancy Nickerson

As a child, Wilma Rudolph had polio. Through her perseverance, she became a world-record-holding Olympic athlete and won three Olympic gold medals in one year.

Teacher

Erin Gruwell

By: Jerrilyn Jacobs

Cheikh Darou Seck

By: Seny from Dakar

Cheikh Darou Seck is an English teacher in Senegal who inspires his students to become MY HERO reporters and filmmakers.

Colonel Francis Parker

By: Dan Frank

Colonel Francis Parker was known as 'The Children's Crusader' and 'The Teacher of Teachers.'

Elizabeth Daley

By: Wendy Milette

Elizabeth Daley has created an outstanding multi media educational program that serves as a model for the world.

Friedl Dicker-Brandeis

By: Taylor Copeland

Friedl Dicker-Brandeis was an artist and teacher who gave children hope during the Holocaust.

Jerrilyn Jacobs

By: the MY HERO Project

Jerrilyn Jacobs mentors her students in music, dance and filmmaking.

Laura Nietzer

By: David Kemker from The My Hero Project

Laura Nietzer inspires her students through the MY HERO Learning Circle.

Rowena Gerber

By: Wendy Jewell

Rowena Gerber and her students raise money to send Solar Ovens around the world.

Valentina Mindoljevic

By: Antonio Mendoza

Valentina Mindoljevic is a science teacher who helped to provide aid to women and child refugees in Croatia.

Writers

Ariel Durant

By: Jerrilyn Jacobs

Ariel Durant was a writer, scholar, philosopher and Pulitzer Prize winner.

David Seidler

By: Betty Bailey

David Seidler wrote the play and Academy Award-winning screenplay for The King's Speech.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

By: Antonio Mendoza

Gabriel Garcia Marquez received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novels and short stories.

Henry David Thoreau

By: Nathan S. from Orange

Henry David Thoreau was a naturalist, social philosopher and writer.

Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is a Chilean-American novelist - though she was born in Lima, Peru on August 2, 1942 - who is considered one of the first, and most successful, eloquent, and admired female novelists in Latin America.