Shannon Luders-Manuel MY HERO Portfolio

Amanda Gorman, America's first Youth Poet Laureate, recited the original poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Dr. Joan Wicks is an educator, athlete, and the mother of Amanda and Gabrielle Gorman.

Margot Lee Shetterly is the author of "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race."

Ariel Tweto is an Inuit Eskimo TV personality and producer who founded the nonprofit suicide prevention program Popping Bubbles.

Sandi Bachom is a 75-year-old videographer and MY HERO Film Festival winner who lives in New York City.

Yasmine Sherif, who leads Education Cannot Wait, is the winner of MY HERO's 2020 Global Educator Award.

Deepak Ramola is the founder of Project FUEL, an organization that gathers life lessons from people around the world.

Farm2People is a nonprofit that works to deliver produce to food insecure areas of Los Angeles County in the wake of COVID-19.

AJ Rekhy created the Facebook page and group "View From My Window" to connect people from all over the world during the coronavirus pandemic through their personal views.

Bianca Valenti is a professional surfer and a co-founder of the Committee for Equity in Women's Surfing.

Fauzia Minallah is a Pakistani "artivist" with a passion for peacebuilding and protecting the environment.

Joanne Tawfilis is the co-founder of the Art Miles Mural Project, an organization that brings people together through collective murals.

Sonia Smith-Kang is the founder of Mixed Up Clothing, a boutique children's clothing line. During the coronavirus, she is using her fabric to make masks for customers and medical workers.

Dr. John F. Murray, a pioneer in pulmonary medicine, passed away from respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus in March 2020.

Lena Horne, a singer, dancer, and actress, was one of the top African American performers of her time.

Ryan Coogler is a MY HERO IFF Alumni and director of Black Panther, Creed and Fruitvale Station.

Teresa Taylor's Global Dance Initiative celebrates two programs, Free 2 Be Me and Danza Down, that teach ballet to those with Down Syndrome.

Tsering Wangmo is a Tibetan filmmaker who won the Emerging Artist award at the 2019 MY HERO International Film Festival for "Conversations With My Mother."

Jane Fonda is a Hollywood actress whose lifelong activism focuses on anti-war, feminism, women's reproductive health, and environmentalism.

Melissa Blake is a freelance journalist with Freeman Sheldon Syndrome whose tweet about body positivity went viral.

After the death of Daniel Mendez, his mother, Anna, and his sister, Victoria, created 2 Cool To Be Kind, an anti-bullying nonprofit for teens.

Scooter was born with deformed back legs but never gives up and is said to be a human whisperer.