A long-time environmentalist and advocate for gender and human rights issues, Meryl has championed women’s rights and the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), and campaigned to end trafficking and violence against women. Meryl has been nominated for an Academy Award an astonishing 21 times and has won 3 times. She has received 33 Golden Globe nominations and won 9 (including the Cecil B. DeMille award. She is also the recipient of 3 Emmy Awards, 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, 5 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 2 BAFTA awards, 5 Grammy Award nominations, and the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, amongst others. She has been named a Commandeur de L’Ordre Des Arts et des Lettres, a Kennedy Center Honoree, and received the National Medal of Arts. In 2014 President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

An accomplished and award-winning producer-director-writer actor-singer, Farhan Akhtar is the ultimate Bollywood multi-hyphenate. Farhan debuted at the age of 26 as a writer, director, and producer with ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ (2001), followed by ‘Rock On!’ as an actor-singer, winning the National Award for ‘Best Hindi Feature Film’ for both and the Filmfare awards for ‘Best Feature Film – Critics Choice’. Farhan also expresses his passion for music by writing, composing, and performing live with his band Farhan Live. In addition to his contribution to Indian cinema, Farhan founded MARD (Men against Rape & Discrimination) in 2012, an initiative that raises awareness about gender-related issues amongst the youth of India. Afterward, recognizing his sustained efforts, Farhan was made the first male UNWomen Goodwill Ambassador (South Asia) in 2014.

Kenyan born Rupin Vadera’s sustaining passion, inspired by his family’s philanthropic philosophy, is to support and build transformational education projects. Rupin was the President and Trustee of Chinmaya Mission UK (CM) for nearly 25 years, during which time the charity grew to become a highly regarded institute for the study of Vedanta, Spirituality, Hindu and Indic studies, within the UK. Its message of universal oneness resonates with Think Equal’s philosophy.

Rupin served on the Bank of England Agents’ Committee, is a Trustee at the UK charity Lifelines International Fund for Education, is pursuing the establishment of a digital ‘library’ platform for blind and sensory impaired children (with Sense International), has been an adviser to Sense Romania, sponsored an entire library in the pioneering Indian university dedicated to the study of  Vedanta, Sanskrit and Indic Traditions (Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth), and leads adult study classes in Hindu philosophy.

Joyce Banda was Malawi’s first female president, and second on the African continent. She served as Minister of Gender, Child Welfare, and Community Services and as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In her various ministerial capacities, she designed the Zero Tolerance Campaign Against Child Abuse and established relations with mainland China. She has been popular in Malawi because of her tough stance against government corruption and her strong campaigns for grassroots development and gender parity. Throughout her career Banda received awards and accolades, including the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger in 1997 and being named Africa’s third most powerful woman by Forbes magazine in 2011.

Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and Professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. His research focuses on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. Marc is lead developer of RULER, an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL that has been adopted by over 2,000 schools across the United States and in other countries. He has published 125 scholarly articles and received numerous awards. He consults regularly with corporations like Facebook and Google on integrating emotional intelligence principles into employee training and product design. Marc is co-founder of Oji Life Lab, a corporate learning firm that develops innovative digital learning systems for emotional intelligence and related topics. He also holds a 5th degree black belt in Hapkido.

Pratibha Sachdev is a philanthropist and entrepreneur. She co-founded GMSP foundation in 2006 which has given away over $10 million to grassroots organisations in India and the UK focussing on those that are vulnerable, marginalised or face discrimination. Pratibha set up a nursing home to give back to the elderly community. Along with her husband, she grew this into a successful nursing home business employing over 10,000 people. She has a degree in Child Development and was Headmistress at the Aga Khan school in Uganda. She was recently awarded Philanthropist of the Year at the 2018 Asian Awards. Pratibha is passionate about meditation, family and giving back to the community.

Jaz is a thought leader who champions the transformational power of educators. She began her career as an early years teacher and became an education advisor to governments both in the UK and internationally. Her own journey from life as a child abused by her own parents to foster care and life on the streets was transformed by the impact of a handful of educators. As a result, she has dedicated her life to advocating for a human revolution in the way we teach, learn and connect with children and adults at school and at work.

CEO of Human 1st Ltd, Jaz is an author and speaker delivering transformational keynotes in the corporate and public sectors inspiring them to be a catalyst for change in their lives. Her TEDx Talk has been viewed almost 100,000 times. A seasoned TV and radio presenter, Jaz’s unique ability to connect and enthral made her a natural choice to present our first Think Equal TV series.

Barbara has worked in the field of early years education for the past forty years. In her role as the principal education officer of Montessori Centre International, she contributed to the development of Montessori teacher education and to making Montessori education more accessible to the broader community. This commitment is reflected in her books and articles. She contributed to and witnessed the growth of the Think Equal programme since its early days and is honoured to serve as a Trustee on the Think Equal board.
As President of Montessori Europe, she continues to champion children’s rights and campaigns for assess and quality education for all. She is passionate about ongoing professional development for all teachers and sees education as a key tool for promoting collaborative approaches toward respectful global cooperation.

PhD in Education (Kenyatta University, Nairobi) and MSc in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad). An international Education, Gender and Development Consultant, her career has spanned over 30 years working as an academic, researcher, development worker, teacher, trainer and journalist. She has been Head of Development Studies and Senior Lecturer (Kenyatta University, Kenya), External Examiner for the Department of Women and Gender Studies (Makerere University, Uganda), and Chief of Education in UNICEF Uganda. Sheila is the Founding Chair of Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK). She was nominated to be a member of FAWE at the global level to recognise her contribution to girls’ education in the region. She has also served on the Advisory Board of UWEZO Kenya and the Girls’ Education Movement (GEM) in Uganda. She has led a national study on Value-Based Education in Kenya. Now, she is the Director of Jaslika Consulting and CEO of Jaslika Foundation.

William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder & Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Davidson’s research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing, including meditation and related contemplative practices. He has published over 400 articles, numerous chapters and reviews and edited 14 books. He is the author (with Sharon Begley) of “The Emotional Life of Your Brain”, published in 2012 and co-author with Daniel Goleman of “Altered Traits”, published in 2017. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017.

Alhassan Susso is a world-renowned educator and author who has devoted his career to transforming the lives of young people. Born in The Gambia, Alhassan migrated to America at age 16. He graduated with honours in Political Science and History from the University of Vermont and received his Master of Arts in Teaching from Bard College in New York.
Alhassan has helped raise his school’s graduation rate from 31% to 84.9% in 5 years. He is certified in therapeutic crisis intervention in schools, creating courageous classrooms and turning adversity into opportunity.
Alhassan is the 2019 New York State Teacher of the Year. He is also the 2019 New York State History Teacher of the Year and the 2020 NEA National Educator of the Year. He was named in 2017 as one of “The Top 50 Outstanding Educators in the World” by the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize. He is the recipient of the prestigious Daylight Africa Award and the Facing History Upstander Award. He was awarded the 2019 Cultural Innovator Award by Long Island University, the 2021 Council for Economic Education Visionary Award and is a two-time recipient of the Social-Emotional Learning Innovation Award for Teachers by Education First through the Rockefeller Foundation.