$ 1 : 16
For every $1 of value invested, One Young World Ambassadors deliver $16 of social value, based on a Social Return on Investment analysis of 42 Ambassador-led initiatives addressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2022
SDG Impact Tracker
Interested in supporting impactful initiatives led by young leaders? Search this database of over 350 projects from the One Young World Community to find out more.
Green in Blue
After working on green education, particularly on reducing water consumption and the circular production of food, Loïc founded Green in Blue, using science for solving environmental issues and promoting circular food. The aim of this initiative is to make aquaponics an accessible alternative to sustainable farming. Green in Blue builds and provides consultancy on aquaponic production systems for clients in Spain based on its own aquaponic farm, Granja Blava.
Green in Blue inaugurated its first industrial production line in 2022, but Granja Blava has been active since 2019. The produce Loïc harvests there is distributed to customers throughout Barcelona. Loïc’s aquaponic farm system consumes ten times less water than conventional agricultural systems on the same surface. Green in Blue’s carbon footprint is minimal given that they only deliver locally, and they also offer workshops at the farm for people to learn more about alternative farming. Additionally, Loïc’s produce does not contain any added products, and no chemical fertilisers are used in the project’s harvesting process. Green in Blue aims to not only benefit the environment but also the health of consumers.
In the near future, Loïc has his eyes set on expanding the reach of Green in Blue internationally. His team has been selected by the European Union to be part of Horizon Europe programme, AWARE, where they will be supplying aquaponic systems to build an aquaponic farm in a wastewater treatment plant in Italy.
Escolha Do Povo
Escolha Do Povo - Mozambique
Manuel Rodrigues
Ambassador-led Initiative
In 2014, Manuel co-founded Escolha Da Povo (EDP), an agro-processing and poultry farm project, in the agricultural centre of Mozambique. The area in which EDP operates was traditionally dominated by subsistence farming, so the team took over and upgraded a facility that had previously been owned by the government to create a market for small-scale farmers. The project’s operations are now responsible for about $5M of maize and soya trade every year, contributing significantly to the economic development of local communities surrounding the facility. It has directly equipped 55,000 small-scale maize farmers, 14,000 small-scale farmers with seeds, as well as training and fertilisers for soya bean production.
Manuel and his team realised that only about 70% of the produce from maize cultivation is fit for human consumption, leading to large amounts of waste by-product with limited market value. Following feasibility studies, the team found that the best use for this by-product was turning it into chicken feed. EDP’s operations now include 300,000 chickens hatched per month, which are sold along with chicken feed on the market. The initiative also provides training programmes teaching small scale farmers how to grow chickens. Many of these 7,000 farmers have exceeded their own requirements and are not also selling to consumers.
Following this success, EDP is looking to expand its operations by opening three stores in Malawi in 2023, along with scaling its store space in Mozambique (currently there are 10 retail outlets in Mozambique). The initiative has also begun construction to expand its operations into fertilised egg production to reduce the cost of producing chicken, and is looking into pursuing a fish farming project at the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique.
Upcycle Element
Upcycle Element - Brazil
Mayara Zetola, Livia Barbosa-Angelo, Lais Passoni
Business for Social Good
The Upcycle Element project was started by One Young World Ambassadors Livia, Lais, and Mayara in 2020 to develop a circular economy initiative using by-products and waste from BMW’s factory in southern Brazil. Livia, Lais, and Mayara each had an interest in sustainability before the project launched, but wanted to develop an initiative that would simultaneously tackle problems of waste management and community development.
The project works by first segregating the waste from the BMW plant and donating recyclable materials to local seamstresses from underprivileged communities in the area. These seamstresses are usually local women who do not have formal employment. The seamstresses then produce usable products from the waste materials, such as bags, which are then sold back to BMW employees. All the profits go directly to the seamstresses, and the materials are donated to them for free.
Although the project was active before they attended the One Young World Summit in Munich, 2021, Livia, Lais, and Mayara took inspiration from it to find new ways of keeping Upcycle Element alive. They have since managed to structure the project in such a way that it is self-sustainable, and this was the biggest learning they took from the Summit. The team uses internal marketing campaigns to boost the initiative’s visibility within BMW, particularly, but not exclusively, during certain holidays like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. By doing this they have successfully maintained an internal market for the local seamstresses they work with.
The initiative received strong support from BMW’s central office in Brazil and allowed the seamstresses to use the BMW logo on their products. The team has also helped these seamstresses ensure their products were high-quality by introducing new processes to them. Some BMW departments have used these products as employee gifts, buying from the seamstresses instead of through other suppliers. So far, since 2020, the seamstresses have managed to produce and sell 6,693 products, which is equal to 919 kilograms of reused material. The Upcycle Element Project has so far worked directly with 23 seamstresses. Livia, Lais, and Mayara hope that the initiative will continue to scale its impact by upcycling more waste material and contributing to the financial empowerment of local women.
“We couldn’t attend the Munich Summit in person because of the pandemic so we joined online. But we stayed on the platform all day listening to the content. It was very, very nice, and it gave us a lot of ideas and a vision of what people are doing, which made us think about our space here. So it was very inspirational.” - Mayara Zetola
Greener Litigation Project
Greener Litigation Project - United Kingdom
Jenny Hindley
Business for Social Good
Jenny is an Associate at Mishcon de Reya in the commercial litigation team, and she also works closely with Mishcon Purpose, the firm’s ESG wing. She has spearheaded the Greener Litigation Project since it began, and partly as a result of her passion for sustainability in the legal profession she was invited to attend the One Young World Summit in Manchester, 2022.
Jenny found the Summit deeply inspiring, and noted that the Delegates shared clear common aims while nonetheless approaching issues in markedly different ways. The range, both of approach and scale, of the One Young World Community re-emphasised for her the role of community building in tackling sustainability challenges.
The Greener Litigation Project brings together industry-leading law firms, barristers’ chambers and other legal professionals to actively commit to reducing the environmental impact of a traditionally paper-based industry, focusing on the practice of litigation. The initiative was founded at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic after Jenny and her team recognised that lockdown measures had had an unintended positive effect on sustainable practices in the legal industry. At the heart of the Project is the Greener Litigation Pledge, which provides a way of embedding these effects into the practices of the legal sector. It is a commitment to adopt a set of practical changes that will make the day-to-day practice of litigation more sustainable by reducing its carbon footprint.
The Pledge has seen an explosion of interest since it was first launched, with over 100 organisations signing up, including some of the UK’s biggest law firms. In 2022, Greener Litigation also launched the Associate Member Pledge for corporates, brands and other organisations who participate in litigation but are not litigation businesses, and who are committed to achieving Net Zero, with Vodafone as the founding member.
Mishcon de Reya, through Jenny and her colleague Olivia Wybraniec, is the Secretariat of the Greener Litigation Steering Committee. Through her work with the Greener Litigation Project, Jenny has managed to bring a framework for sustainability to the forefront of legal industry’s litigation practices.
The Pledge itself is standardised for all signatories and includes steps to reduce the environmental impact of litigation disputes, such as emphasising the reduced carbon footprint of electronic communication compared to paper. The framework also aims to reduce the travel footprint of litigation cases by using technology to discourage the current industry standard practice of flying individuals to the UK to give evidence. Whilst the Pledge is an entry-level commitment designed to facilitate gradual changes in legal practice, Jenny and her colleagues are keen to expand the Greener Litigation Project further by advocating that the legal system itself adopt procedural changes to further its commitment to sustainability.
“The Summit was an eye-opener to other sectors and the role that law can play in driving positive change. But it is one piece of the puzzle and there are lots of other pieces. It was really insightful to see some of the very practical ways that other Ambassadors are addressing the same challenge.”
Mada Agribiz
Mada Agribiz - Madagascar
Tsiry Randrianavelo
Ambassador-led Initiative
10
SROI
Tsiry created Mada Agribiz, in 2019, as a social business with the aim of providing a sustainable solution for waste management as well as promoting business and economic opportunities for the vulnerable population in Madagascar. The agricultural and agro-processing sectors of Madagascar support 75% of its population, and the poverty rate is also at 75% [1]. Tsiry’s project targets farmers, selling them earthworms, compost and fertilisers, as well as providing technical assistance. In addition, they generate local jobs by contracting non-employed young people to act as partners in their communities and produce earthworm fertilisers for sale.
Tsiry attended the One Young World Summit in Munich, 2021. The most valuable aspect of interacting with fellow Ambassadors was the connections made during the Summit, especially those that are in Madagascar that have joined his Move Up Madagascar initiative as volunteers. Following the Summit, he organised a series of webinars on different topics.
Mada Agribiz’s impact comes in different forms. In urban areas, they encourage households to limit their waste and limit the amount of waste discarded into rivers. Their waste management and collection activities are done in partnership with the municipality of Antananarivo, and Mada Agribiz uses that waste to produce fertilisers. For those interested in urban agriculture and for farmers, they provide biological fertilisers at an accessible price. These types of fertilisers can increase yields by 200%. Mada Agribiz has sold more than 20 tonnes of fertilisers to around 1,045 clients, with 60% located in rural areas.
“Being able to participate in the One Young World Summit in Munich, 2021, was a testimony of the power of young people for me.”
Carolina García Arbeláez, AB InBev
Carolina García Arbeláez, AB InBev - Colombia
Carolina García Arbeláez
Leadership Biographies
Carolina’s studies in international environmental law coincided with the failure of the Kyoto Protocol and the need for a new global agreement on climate change. She pivoted to a career in journalism before connecting with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) while covering the Colombian government’s recognition of the Fluvial Star of Inírida as a protected Ramsar site.
Carolina translated into Spanish ‘Corporation 2020’, a book by former WWF President Pavan Sukhdev, arguing for corporate engagement in tackling the climate crisis. This, along with her experience as a WWF delegate to the Paris Agreement, convinced her of the importance of the private sector in driving change.
In 2017, she joined AB InBev as Sustainability Lead at Bavaria, its Colombian subsidiary. She attended the One Young World Summit Bogotá, 2017, and immediately found a community of young leaders who inspired her to continue driving positive change through her career and within her organisation. Carolina was instrumental in launching a new programme with the retail team, helping women retailers through access to financial services, education, and entrepreneurship training. It has since become one of Bavaria’s largest social programmes.
Later, as Regional Sustainability Manager, Carolina led the development of Bavaria’s sustainable water projects in the Colombian Páramos. These wetlands account for 70% of Colombia’s drinking water and are at risk. Carolina worked with the local Water Fund to implement context-specific measures to help maintain the Páramos, such as reforestation and regenerative agriculture practices amongst local farming communities. In collaboration with the marketing team, Carolina helped launch Zalva, a new water brand, with most of the profits going towards helping save the Páramos. Carolina replicated this success in Mexico, Peru, and El Salvador with context-specific variations to create the greatest possible social and environmental impact and she helped bring international funding to increase the scale of the projects.
In her latest role as Global Sustainability and Innovation Director, Carolina works primarily on the 100+ Accelerator programme, a unique partnership between AB InBev, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, and Unilever, to fund and support sustainable innovation initiatives in supply chains. The 100+ Accelerator has worked with 116 startups across the world and has implemented pilots in over 30 countries, with one pilot even integrating into Carolina’s work in the Colombian Páramos and another into her water work in Mexico.
“Building a regenerative future is a massive challenge. One Young World gives you a community of like-minded, stubborn optimists, leaders that share common values. With them by your side nothing seems impossible.”
BIOVATEC
Karime is the CEO and co-founder of BIOVATEC, a biotech company focused on providing sustainable solutions to environmental problems. Their first project, NoPlastic, led to the creation of a biomaterial made entirely out of organic and nopal plant waste, designed to replace plastic in industries like disposable single-use, furniture and automotives. In addition to providing a sustainable solution, Karime and her co-founders also aim to create new economic opportunities for nopal farmers.
Karime attended the One Young World Summit in Munich, 2021, and Manchester, 2022, respectively. During her first Summit, she developed a relationship with her sponsor, the Audi Environmental Foundation, and won their 2022 Hackathon on Sustainable Mobility and Circular Economy being the only woman from the Americas. Karime credits being a One Young World Ambassador as part of the reason that she has been named as an ambassador for Global Shapers, YOUNGO, winner of the State Youth Award 2021, and Youth Full of Life Award 2022.
BIOVATEC’s second project is called LOMTECH and consists of treating organic waste with a biotechnology process to create soil-enriching products for farmers and household orchards. The team aims to reduce the issues of soil loss, shortages in the production of food crops, and food waste. As part of their work through LOMTECH, the organisation has provided services to a sanitary landfill in the state of Mexico, with 16,800 kilograms of organic waste already having been transformed. In alliance with her other organisation, Socials for Science, they offer courses on how to treat organic waste and use sustainable technologies. BIOVATEC has also been active in both national and international climate and circular economy spaces, reaching over 30,000 people. In 2023, the organisation will be providing courses in schools on replicating their LOMTECH processes at home, in addition to starting with the sale of its KAMAPA brand, which are personal wellness products for daily use made from organic fruit and floral waste.
“Since the Munich Summit, there has been a lot of impact in my life, I created connections with other Latino Ambassadors, met people who can support my project and my working relationship with Audi has grown to include possible collaboration in the future, as well as strengthening personal skills becoming an international speaker and activist in my country.”
Sustentabilidad Sin Fronteras
Sustentabilidad Sin Fronteras - Argentina
Nasha A.C. Cuvelier
Ambassador-led Initiative
2
SROI
Nasha co-founded Sustentabilidad Sin Fronteras (SSF), after meeting her co-founder Mariano at the Youth Congress in Paris for COP21. SSF is a transdisciplinary group of professionals working together to raise awareness of climate change, by taking action in mitigation and adaptation measures. They do so through education, with courses, webinars and events in Argentina and online to reach young people across Latin America.
Nasha attended the One Young World Summit at The Hague, 2018, where she met One Young World Counsellor Christiana Figueres. Through discussions with fellow Ambassadors working on climate change and environmental issues, Nasha developed new ideas centred on establishing better practices to be implemented in Argentina. During their participation in COP26 and COP27, Nasha and her colleagues had the opportunity to speak to international media organisations and bring attention to their work, while also participating in One Young World’s sessions at those events.
SSF has so far organised over 15 courses, both in-person and online, directly impacting 1,500 people. It also hosted three events for more than 500 young people in each throughout 2022. The initiative publishes an annual report containing a multisectoral analysis of the present climate situation and outlook both nationally and internationally. SSF has partnered with the government of Vicente Lopez, a municipality in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, to first measure the possible impact of climate change, their greenhouse gas emissions and their vulnerability risks, and then create an adaptation plan to mitigate climate threats. The group is now working on a project to structure the future climate actions and budget of the government.
“I was inspired by the young leaders there and the discussions around better practices for environmental activism. I got the opportunity to meet one of the leaders that I admire the most, Christiana Figueres, at the Summit. And after chatting, we filmed a video together for my country that I still have. During COP26, I got the opportunity to participate in events organised by One Young World in partnership with other organisations such as the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Mischon de Reya. ”
Axle International
Co-founded by Benazir, Axle International leverages technological innovations from the private sector to support development in Africa, by identifying socio-economic and governance risks and developing tools to gather accurate and real-time data. The company has also provided primary data and analytics on public opinion and consumer insights to uncover sociopolitical risks, and has assisted several peace processes across the continent.
Axle International launched the African Risk Compass on public perceptions of socio-economic and political risks. The initial consultations, which One Young World supported, brought together young people from every region of the continent and gathered insights, data, and thought leadership on topics relevant to human security and risk. Axle International is now building a data platform to crowdsource perceptions and offer open source, transparent, and interactive primary data and insights to humanitarian organisations and governments. The initiative maintains a predictive approach to crisis analysis, and the data comes from an African perspective.
Axle International has so far gathered 2,000 data points from 40 countries and identified 150 developmental risks. It has produced several reports that have been shared with African Union member states, and worked with more than 50 NGOs and universities across the continent. In 2020, Benazir and her co-founder, Nathaniel Jowitt, received the Top Innovation of the Year in Democracy and Governance granted by the African Union and COMESA.
Ecolotrip
Claude is the founder and CEO of Ecolotrip, an organisation aiming to empower young people in Africa and globally in the fight against climate change. It does this by promoting networking, capacity-building, and green entrepreneurship. After experiencing firsthand the limitations of English language climate discourse for non-English speakers, Claude decided to create an organisation that would help young people from francophone Africa engage in discussions on their own terms. The project has raised awareness about climate change and its consequences in local communities, and developed its eco-citizens programme, through which young climate activists share best practices on community organising and climate action.
Claude attended the One Young World Summit in Munich, 2021. He has since become an active member of the One Young World Community in francophone Africa, regularly sharing his events and funding opportunities with like minded Ambassadors. Claude also attended the ChangeNow Summit in Paris as part of the Ambassador delegation sent by One Young World.
Ecolotrip’s most significant project is the Week-Eco, a summit organised for young climate activists and green entrepreneurs from francophone countries. The annual event has hosted 500 young people aged between 18 to 35 across four editions since 2017, as well as planted 100 trees during its last iteration. Through the Ecolotrip platform and other events beyond Week-Eco, the organisation has reached over 6,000 people and created 1,000 ecocitizens. Ecolotrip has also hosted clean-up events, removing 50 kgs of plastic waste, and sent a delegation to COP27. This delegation was composed of 15 young people to ensure that young voices were represented in the global climate conversation.
“Last year, One Young World shared the call for our Eco-Week event after I mentioned that I needed help sharing it. And we had some fellow Ambassadors apply to attend. It was a nice full circle moment for me, I got inspired by the people in the Community and how they lead their organisations.”
Olu Odubajo, KPMG
Olu has always had a strong passion for social mobility. Whilst working as a digital consultant at KPMG, he was involved in a focus group on Black heritage, diversity, and inclusion, through which he created a reverse mentoring programme that connected senior executives interested in supporting diversity, with employees of Black heritage who could provide insight and support. Olu was selected to mentor KPMG UK’s then Managing Partner, Philip Davidson.
The programme received a lot of coverage and has since been consolidated as part of KPMG’s diversity and inclusion team. Olu managed to connect with Lord Michael Hastings, who sits on One Young World’s Global Advisory Board, and who at the time was also KPMG’s Global Head of Citizenship. Lord Hastings was impressed by Olu’s work and introduced him to One Young World.
The One Young World Summit in Bogotá, 2017, was the first time that Olu found himself in an environment full of young, inspiring changemakers, many of whom worked for big corporate organisations like his own. This encouraged him to scale his work on Black representation and take it in a different direction, and he was invited back as a Delegate Speaker in 2018.
Olu was able to leverage KPMG’s resources to address the overlooked issue of the lack of access to capital faced by Black entrepreneurs. The Black Entrepreneurs’ Award held its first event six months after the 2017 One Young World Summit, with over 100 Black entrepreneurs applying for a 12-month accelerator programme and equity-free funding. The programme included mentoring with a senior KPMG executive, exposure through KPMG’s channels, and workshops with industry-leading experts.
Going into its 4th year, The Black Entrepreneurs’ Award has helped over 20 entrepreneurs as finalists and winners, and distributed over £140,000 of equity-free funding to Black-owned businesses. The Black Entrepreneurs' Award is now collaborating with Google’s Black Founders Fund and other companies to increase the accessibility of capital for Black entrepreneurs. Olu also promotes and inspires future leaders through his podcast series, Not Your Everyday Podcast, where he looks behind the scenes of transformational leadership stories. He has interviewed One Young World Co-Founder Kate Robertson, Lord Michael Hastings, and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, with a new season planned for later this year. Olu is also completing a part-time Masters in Social Innovation at the Cambridge Judge Business School to help businesses become more socially responsible.
“The One Young World platform gave me exposure to a wider network. It gave me the ability to use that network to create a podcast, it gave me the ability to speak on stages including One Young World, and again that gave me a platform to just explain my story. I use the assets that One Young World has developed to support the positive stories I want to create.”
Eureka Tech Academy
Off the back of a visit to Silicon Valley, Afnan was inspired to do something for her country and her region. Her passion for education and technology, led her to found Eureka Tech Academy. She was selected as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Best Tech Entrepreneur for 2020, and her work at Eureka has been recognised as one of the best social enterprises in the Arab World for its capacity to generate impact.
The Eureka Tech Academy is a tech-focused school for children and young people that aims to prepare them step-by-step to become engineers, innovators, and tech entrepreneurs. It is present in two cities in Jordan and has trained over 10,000 young people so far. Their curriculum is designed to teach children the basics of engineering so that they can make their ideas a reality. It takes around three years to complete the full Eureka Tech Academy programme, with students receiving a diploma at the end of the process. Afnan is now working with her fourth cohort of students. Students from earlier cohorts are now working with the initiative to give back to their communities.
Providing equal opportunities for access to education, regardless of economic status, is one of Afnan’s driving motivations. Following the pandemic, Eureka Tech Academy launched an online platform to reach students who are based in other parts of Jordan. As of 2023, Afnan’s goal is to increase their reach and launch franchises of the Eureka Tech Academy internationally.
Simien Eco Trek
Simien Eco Trek - Ethiopia
Wubetu Shimelash
Ambassador-led Initiative
9
SROI
Wubetu co-founded Simien Eco Trek in 2017, as a social enterprise that offers tour services in Ethiopia while empowering local communities. The tour company creates personalised itineraries and organises tour services across Ethiopia, developing local employment opportunities and supporting a more sustainable form of tourism in the country. In addition to Simien Eco Trek, Wubetu is a filmmaker, creating meaningful content to document his generation, challenge the status quo, and give a voice to those who have been historically underrepresented in the media.
Wubetu attended the One Young World Summit in The Hague, 2018, and was a Delegate Speaker at the Summit in London 2019. Since becoming an Ambassador, he has collaborated with One Young World, globally and regionally in Africa by participating in several panel discussions, including the #TogetherApart Series.
Through the work of Simien Eco Trek, Wubetu has impacted more than 12,400 people in Ethiopia. He has directly created jobs for 600 people thanks to his sustainable tourism initiative. In partnership with Watts of Love, Wubetu has implemented one of his landmark projects, Light and Hope for Ethiopia, through which 8,400 people in remote parts of the Simien Mountains have gained access to 1,200 solar lights. These solar lights are sustainable energy sources that do not require kerosene. He has worked to reduce stigmatisation of menstrual health in Ethiopia via national campaigns, while creating jobs in the production of reusable menstrual pads and distributing pads in remote villages. In total, more than 2,000 women have been impacted. Simien Eco Trek has also provided financial literacy and social entrepreneurship training to 1,400 people.
“I feel lucky to be part of this Community, and still I'm in touch with a lot of people. There's not any other organisation that I would rather be part of than One Young World, I feel proud. For me, One Young World has created what they say they wanted to create, which is connecting global leaders that are changing the world in different aspects.”
Integrated Agricultural Association (I.A.A)
Integrated Agricultural Association (I.A.A) - Cameroon
Dungrila Pascal Mbimenyuy
Ambassador-led Initiative
31
SROI
Dungrila founded the Integrated Agricultural Association (IAA) in 2017. Through a grassroots approach, the IAA helps women and girls access sustainable economic opportunities while empowering women-owned producer cooperatives. It educates Cameroonians on the importance of organic farming, food awareness, gender equality, and reproductive health. The IAA's key programmes are in sustainable agriculture, environmental protection and management, education, health, human rights, women’s empowerment, and water and sanitation.
Dungrila was selected to attend the One Young World Summit in London, 2019. He has stayed active in the Community, participating in training opportunities that have helped develop his leadership skills, such as the 2022 Lightful Learning Bootcamp.
To date, the IAA has trained more than 9,000 smallholder farmers in sustainable agriculture; distributed 16,000 vegetable seed packets; educated 5,000 girls in menstrual hygiene management; provided sanitary pads to 1,500 girls; and trained 1,200 young girls in STEM. The IAA has also planted 25,000 trees and restored 170 hectares of degraded farms, while training over 1,000 women in agroforestry techniques through their Economic Empowerment Programme. As part of their Youth Entrepreneurship Programme, the IAA trains and supports young people in agribusiness through the provision of material resources, impacting 100 young people. In addition, the IAA has trained 250 medical students and young community health workers on the risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and prevention strategies to promote health in their communities.
“Being a part of the One Young World Community has helped me develop my leadership and communication skills, I feel more inspired to do more because through my activities One Young World has been able to recognize my work and has nominated me for an international award, which inspired me and also other young people in Cameroon to start their own initiatives.”
Crystal Andrews, The Kraft Heinz Company
Crystal Andrews, The Kraft Heinz Company - United States
Crystal Andrews
Leadership Biographies
Crystal began her career in marketing at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago before transitioning to internal communications supporting employee events and campaigns. After much networking and research, she realised she could make a difference for her colleagues, organisations, and the world, by channelling and celebrating the unique differences of those around her. In 2008, the Dodd-Frank legislation in the United States mandated that all 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks had to create diversity offices, and Crystal was able to learn from the national conversation around diversity and inclusion to implement policies in her own office.
Crystal attended the One Young World Summit Bangkok, 2015, where she was able to discuss experiences of inclusivity with people from around the world. In particular, she sought out fellow Delegates from South Africa to better understand their lived experiences post-Apartheid. The diversity of the Summit influenced and reinforced Crystal’s objective of integrating inclusivity and accessibility into diversity and inclusion strategies she led.
At Ulta Beauty, Crystal worked to change industry beauty standards by helping make beauty welcoming and accessible for all. Her work had a dual focus; creating inclusive customer experiences while also ensuring employees experienced an inclusive and diverse workplace. Her team developed ‘inclusion in action’ training for every employee, amplified moments that matter to employees and customers and secured an organisational investment of $50M in diversity, equity and inclusion commitments in 2022.
At Kraft Heinz, Crystal is providing coaching and consulting to leadership to reimagine the company’s diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion strategy with a focus on people, business and community. This will introduce an inclusive design thinking and approach to support fair, equitable and unbiased people practices, celebrate the diversity of consumers and customers and empower communities. Internally, Kraft Heinz has 12 business resource groups divided equally between the US and international markets, bringing together employees from diverse backgrounds around central concepts like culture building, community outreach, professional development and brand partnerships. Crystal hopes that this new strategy will be transformative for Kraft Heinz, building upon the company’s We Demand Diversity value.
“I had never been in such a diverse situation as the Summit, with literally every country represented. And so I just found it fascinating. I remember the Opening Ceremony, and just how powerful that was to see all of the country flags come in and people in their native attire. It was a great introduction into being a true citizen of the world.”
How to use to the SDG Tracker
Search for projects by the following case study categories:
- Ambassador-led Initiatives: qualitative and quantitative analysis of the social impact of projects which are led by young leaders in the Community.
- Business for Social Good: written case studies for initiatives ran by corporate partner organisations, led by young Ambassadors/employees.
- Leadership Stories: short biographies of Ambassadors who are growing into influential leaders for social good in some of the world’s largest companies.
- Covid Young Leaders Fund: detailed case studies of grant recipients from One Young World's 2020 funding opportunity for projects tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Lead2030: detailed case studies of the Lead2030 award winners and how their projects have generated impact from participating in the programme.