NEW YORK CITY – Two Filipina professionals are among the outstanding young leaders chosen for the 2016 class of the prestigious Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative, the Asia Society announced.
Teach for the Philippines CEO Clarissa Delgado and Human Heart Nature co-founder Anna Meloto-Wilk were selected this year for Asia 21, a network of professionals under the age of 40 working together “to shape a brighter future for the Asia-Pacific region.”
Now in its 11th year, Asia 21 counts more than 800 young leaders in its network.
Delgado and Meloto-Wilk were named along with 30 other professionals from 24 countries. The members of this year’s class will meet at the Asia 21 Summit in December in Seoul, South Korea. There, they will share best practices in leadership and develop group public service projects.
Clarissa Delgado. CONTRIBUTED
Delgado was selected for “transforming lives through quality education.” She is the co-founder and CEO of Teach for the Philippines, the non-profit organization that enlists promising young professionals to teach for two years in public schools throughout the Philippines.
“The further into my leadership journey I get, the more I realize that my role is not to be the answer-provider but the facilitator,” Delgado said.
Much of the success of Teach for the Philippines, she noted, “results from a commitment to find competitive professionals, brighter and more talented than I in their functions, and invest them in a common mission, building an environment of trust.”
Meloto-Wilk was chosen for “championing fairness — and profit — in business.” She is the co-founder and president of Human Heart Nature, a natural personal care company that promotes fair wages, fair trade with farmers and ethical and sustainable businesses practices. Since 2008, the company has grown from a team of three to almost 400 people with distribution in five countries.
Anna Meloto-Wilk. CONTRIBUTED
“Leadership is about authentic and purposeful living,” Meloto-Wilk said. “I am inspired by my father who started and led a movement for Filipinos to love and rebuild their country by caring for the poorest among us. His example has taught me to be resolute in the face of disappointments and setbacks.”
Delgado and Meloto-Wilk were selected through a highly competitive process based on “outstanding achievement, commitment to public service, and a proven ability to make the world a better place.”
Asia 21 alumni will serve as mentors and potential collaborators to the new class. Alumni include political figures (Philippines Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV; Malaysia Minister for Youth and Sports Khairy Jamaluddin; former USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah); media personalities (NDTV journalist Barkha Dutt, Herald Corporation Chairman Ryan Hong, Moby Group Chairman Saad Mohseni); award-winning filmmakers (Maziar Bahari, Nitin Das, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy); and private sector executives (Saratoga Investment President Sandiaga Uno, YTL Singapore Executive Director Ruth Yeoh; Bank of America Merrill Lynch Head of Global Equities Distribution Soofian Zuberi).
For more information about the Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative, visit https://asiasociety.org/asia21-young-leaders/.