MY STORY, OUR LIVES RECOGNITION AWARD

My Story, Our Lives is a selective process recognizing and honoring children for their unique story and inspiration to make the world a better place. This program encourages and rewards children to present their own perceptions, reality, ideas  and opinions of the world and use them to find solutions in a manner they see fit. The winner exemplifies determination, resilience, leadership and determination, having overcome challenges while striving to make a positive impact in his/her community or the world at large.

· $1,250

· An interview at a major Romanian TV station to present his story

· A medal from Children’s International

· A letter of recommendation from Children’s International

· Assistance from Children’s International to implement any idea (s)he has

PUBLIC HEALTH FINANCING

BEJANISHVILI, KETEVAN (“KETA”)

Disease Fund Manager, Global Fund

Geneva, Switzerland

Originally from Georgia, Keta is currently the Disease Fund Manager, at the Global Fund - overseeing investments in Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) and COVID-19 Response Mechanism in Nigeria-- the mechanisms that demonstrated an unprecedented speed and agility of deploying funds.  

Keta brings close to 20 years of progressive work experience in international development. She has designed and managed multi-stakeholder programs across CSOs, INGOs, and UN agencies in Georgia and in the region. Keta has been responsible for the programmatic, financial, and risk management of numerous projects focusing on community networks, gender equality, advocacy, human rights, and debt-for-healh initiatives.

Keta joined the Global Fund in 2012, working in the Operational Policy team designing and managing policies and processes to help the organization deliver on its mission. In 2015 Keta joined the South Africa Country Team that was managing the South Africa HIV/TB portfolio and a MOSASWA (Mozambique, Eswatini, South Africa) malaria regional grant, with the former being the biggest HIV prevention portfolio at the Global Fund.

Keta holds three Masters degrees: a Master in Social Sciences, a Master of International Relations and European Studies, and a Master of  Business Administration with Finance specialization. 

https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=keta%20bejanishvili&origin=RICH_QUERY_SUGGESTION&position=0&searchId=89158626-e637-4425-9fee-ab56d1611440&sid=0%3AD 

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/

ASPIRING YOUTH

HAIDAU, ANDREEA 

Student, Harvard University, 17 years old

Chicago, USA

Andreea, a 17 year old recent Wheeling High School graduate, may have lived her whole life in the Chicago area, but that has not stopped her from forming an indestructible bond with her Romanian heritage. Andreea’s upbringing and proud passion for the Romanian language, culture, music, art, and people (and, of course, food) sparked a strong desire to engage with her community.

She dedicates her time as a volunteer at the Romanian United Fund, a not for profit organization that fundraises projects in Romania and attempts to awaken a greater sense of unity in the diaspora.  Andreea also founded a new youth organization striving to create a space for young Romanian-Americans to exchange ideas, traditions, and experiences.

She frequently indulges in her love of musical theater performance and music, tutoring and mentorship, math team competitions, and competitive karate.

Andreea will be continuing her education this fall at Harvard University where she thinks she’d like to study Applied Mathematics and Neuroscience.

Andreea speaks English and Romanian.

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER/LIFE COACH

DR. HARRIS, LOREN MICHAELS 

Motivational Speaker, e360TV Network

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Loren strives to motivate, inspire, and uplift every person that crosses his path.  As a former foster child, he overcame extreme challenges throughout his life and discovered a practical approach for building purpose. 

As a mentor, “Break Through Coach,” author and friend, Michaels-Harris believes that we are all a part  of “The Ripple Effect,” and that it is his duty to use his story to create a ripple that will reach around the globe.

To achieve this, Loren embarks daily upon his quest to become a special type of impactor, the type of impactor that only accepts the honor of being referred to as one, from acknowledging and respecting each step and mis-step that got him here.

In addition to his recently released album; “Turn It Around”, Loren has been featured on Larry King Live; NPR; PEOPLE Magazine; ABC; NBC; CBS; CNN; and FOX. 

Loren is also the host of a daily morning talk show, Bathrobe Moments, which is featured on the e360TV Network, where Loren serves also as an Executive Producer and was named one of the top four Livestream shows in America to watch in 2020!  

Loren also has a Doctor of Philosophy from T.I.U.A School of Business.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenmichaelsharris/

https://www.facebook.com/loren.harris.758

https://www.lorenmichaelsharris.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lorenmichaelsharris/

https://www.facebook.com/Lorenmichaelsharris

.

COMMUNICATION INTELLIGENCE

LECCA, STEFAN - PHD 

Intelligence Expert, UEFA

Geneva, Switzerland

Stefan is an experienced communications specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the sports industry ,currently working at UEFA. Stefan offers analytical risk assessment and data and contextual background information on future football events, including potential social, legal and political sensitivities, potential disturbance factors which may increase risk inside and outside the venues.  He does this working in conjunction with law enforcement authorities at the European and local level. 

Stefan contributed to the organization of the European Championship qualifiers, Champions League, Europa League matches-working in conjunction with EUFA delegates and match officials, home club and EUFA media teams.

Stefan was also involved in the media including being a host on EuroBasket’s Live TV shows and a TV commentator for different sport events. He also designed and presented “the Longest Running Show About Basketball” in Romania.

Stefan obtained a bachelor’s degree and a diploma of advanced studies from the National University of Physical Education and Sport and a PHD from the University of Pitesti.  He has taught physical education, sport management and engaged in research. Specifically he has designed and developed a physical education curriculum and implementation of new evaluation standards. He also organized various sport tournaments.

 Last but not least, Stefan is a Former Romanian National Basketball Team player,  and international player.

https://ch.linkedin.com/in/stefan-lecca-phd-93810a92?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

https://www.uefa.com/

HUMANITARIAN AID

MARIN, ANDREEA

Human Rights Activist, TV Producer, Businesswoman

Bucharest, Romania

Andreea is the founder and manager the Creative HUB Voice & Visibility. Creative HUB assists individuals or entities ‘ create’ their ideas or businesses, their image, public relations, communication. It organizes practical or personal development courses in various forms such as live broadcasts or filming. Creative HUB creates concepts for campaigns, special events, courses, team building, launches and exhibitions, among other things. Recently, Creative HUB designed a program for assisting Ukrainian Refugees launch businesses in Romania, by developing a network of mentors and professionals to assist in the process. 

She is also the founding president of the "Pretuiește Viața" Foundation, which conducts humanitarian campaigns on health, education and quality journalism. 

One of its projects, is ”Scoala Mamelor”, which provides free counseling services to mothers in need –offering psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, specialists in professional and personal development, parenting, lawyers to doctors. Another project is MOM UP, which ensures equal opportunities for mothers in Romania who experience life difficulties. Mothers receive access to information, counseling, vocational training, obtaining and maintaining a job and establishing a series of innovative actions that will increase their participation in the economic and social life. 

Beyond this, Andreea is also the Romanian UNICEF Ambassador. 

A writer, Andreea authored the book “Nu Exista Nu Se Poate”, which reflects the story of her life, along with 41 others’ who overcame extenuating circumstances. She also wrote the novel, " Prețuieste Viața, the first volume in the collection "Albumele Andreea", which are inspirational volumes, the profit of which is donated to the humanitarian cause of mothers suffering from cancer.  

Andreea has extensive experience in the media.  She started her career at the age of 19, with the show 'Ţara lui Piticot' and continued as the program director for the show 'Surprize, surprize'. She was the moderator and program director of the show "Pretuiește Viața”. For two consecutive years, she was a special TVR reporter at the American Academy Awards, Los Angeles.

In April 2010, Andreea won the gold medal at the Geneva International Invention Show for the stretchy children's bodysuit she invented.

Andreea is the first Romanian journalist to climb Kilimanjaro, in the ' Motul Roof of Africa' competition, and is the co-producer of the documentary 'Kilimanjaro 2001'. 

https://www.facebook.com/creativehubvoiceandvisibility/

https://pretuiesteviata.org/despre-noi/proiecte.html 

SPORT

MUREŞAN, GHEORGHE “GHIȚĂ”

Owner Giant Basketball Academy, former professional NBA Player

Washington DC, USA

Ghiță is a former professional basketball  player. At 7 feet 7 inches (2.31 m), he is tied with Manute Bol for the tallest man to have ever played in the American National Basketball Association (“NBA”). 

More than that,  Ghiță is an avid philanthropist. In 2004, Mureşan founded the Giant Basketball Academy (“GBA”), a program dedicated to teaching the proper fundamentals of basketball to boys and girls of all ages. 

Ghiță also co-authored two young adult fitness and health books: The Boy's Fitness Guide and The Girl's Fitness Guide. In 2013, he participated in the first annual 3v3 UMTTR -You Matter Basketball Tournament to increase awareness, prevention and research of teen suicide, the leading cause of death among adults and children between the ages of 15 and 24.

Outside of basketball,  Ghiță has dabbled in acting, playing the title character in 1998 feature film My Giant starring comedian Billy Crystal. He appeared as a ventriloquist in the music video for Eminem's breakthrough single "My Name Is." He has appeared in commercials for Snickers candy bars and sports television network ESPN. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gheorghe_Mure%C8%99an

https://www.giantbasketball.com/ 

SCIENCE

NIKOLAIDOU, ROSY 

Senior Physicist at Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, 

Paris, France and Meyrin, Switzerland

Rosy is a physicist working at  the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)  within the Institute of research into the fundamental laws of the Universe (IRFU). Rosy was born in Athens, Greece where she did her undergraduate studies in physics at the University of Athens and obtained her PhD in particle physics from the same University. She obtained her accreditation to direct research from the University of Pierre and Marie Curie  Paris VI, in Paris. 

Her career is in the field of particle physics the branch of physics that studies the nature of the particles that constitute matter and radiation.  She worked in the 2 experimental programs of the European  Organisation for Nuclear Research CERN, the Large Electron Positron  Collider (LEP) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The main subject of her scientific activity was the search for the missing piece of the standard model of particles, the Higgs boson which was discovered in 2012 by the two experiments Atlas and CMS at CERN.  

Her work has been recognized and published, with an influential impact in the scientific field:

Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037026931200857X

This major discovery lead to two prizes in 2013 a) the Nobel Prize of the theoreticians  Peter Higgs and Francois Englert  https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2013/summary/ 

and to a High Energy Physics Society Prize to the ATLAS and CMS  experiments that made the discovery  http://eps-hepp.web.cern.ch/eps-hepp/PrizeAnnouncements/hep2013/press-release-2013-en.pdf

Rosy is also a philanthropist  implicated in CERN youth outreach activities, including site visits to CERN,  teaching children of CERN’s activities, giving lectures schools and promoting and advocating having more women studying and working in science.

She speaks Greek, French, English and some Italian.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosy-nikolaidou-42811072/

https://inspirehep.net/literature?sort=mostrecent&size=25&page=1&q=a%20nicolaidou

https://www.cea.fr/english/Pages/Welcome.aspx

https://home.web.cern.ch/  

ASPIRING YOUTH

PETOCHI, CAMILLO 

Student, 14 years old

Geneva, Switzerland

Camillo, is of Italian descent, born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland.  He has an older sister, a twin brother and a cat. He loves art and cooking. 

Geneva is where he started his academic, sport and artistic education. He started violin and gymnastics with his twin brother, until he went into football and Camillo pursued dancing. Camillo has been dancing since he was 7 years old and he loves it.  A year ago he moved to another country to pursue his dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. He currently dances at a prestigious organization and hopes of continuing onward.

Camillo speaks English, French, Italian and is studying German.

ASPIRING YOUTH

ONUOBIA , OLUCHI 

Student, 13 years old

Lagos, Nigeria 

Oluchi Onuobia is a 13 year old writer and artist. She has won awards for her fiction writing, including the Best in Literacy program and was a finalist in the Sandra Whiteley program. Currently, Oluchi is working on writing a novel.

Apart from her artistic pursuits, she enjoys the study of different aspects of science, making and analyzing music, film, literature and making clothes from time to time.  Oluchi has held leadership positions including, class representative. She was appointed and served as Deputy Head in junior school. 

She enjoys travel, meeting and getting to know new people, acquiring knowledge, looking at things from new perspectives, connecting with, and potentially inspiring others. Oluchi speaks Igbo, French and English.

BUSINESS

SISNEROS, JASON

Founder, CEO Anton Jae

Denver, Colorado, USA

An entrepreneur, a speaker, a philanthropist, and a mentor, Jason is a powerful influencer and thought leader who has used his success and influence to feed millions around the world, fight for abused women, and rescue underaged sex slaves.

From a life of abuse at the hands of his adopted father to failing at his first three business attempts, Jason has overcome insurmountable odds and learned through life, through mistakes and through triumph over trials, how to own and run a successful business. Currently, he owns over two-dozen businesses, has consulted for hundreds of other business owners, and has completed more than 70 turnarounds for small- to mid-cap businesses. Through the art of leadership and the science of strategy, he has become “The Architect,” building structurally sound, action and outcome-driven businesses for himself and his clients.

“The mistakes, bad decisions, and failures of my life do not define me nor negate the value of the lessons and wisdom learned from the sum of these experiences. Quite the opposite. It requires of me a crucial calling to teach, guide, and lead.”

Always driven, always seeking to learn, and always living a life of momentum, Jason has worked his entire life to be where he is today, but with his success, he hasn’t simply sat back and relaxed. He has taken his time and resources and poured them into teaching and serving others. Beyond running his own businesses, Jason created a consulting company to teach other business owners the psychology and strategy it takes to run a successful business. With his knowledge and experience, he teaches how to identify what is broken within an existing system and how to implement a proprietary system of predictability and sustainability to get results and achieve business success. He is now a highly sought-after specialist in company turnarounds and works with top names in the thought leadership industry like Tony Robbins, Keith Cunningham, and many more.

A speaker, an entrepreneur, a best-selling author, and a renowned business expert and coach, Jason uses his influence, his energy, and his resources to give back and serve. He is in service with more than 15 charities that are working to make a difference through efforts to eradicate human slavery and trafficking, to end hunger, to rescue abused women and children, and much more. In Jason’s life, it isn’t about being successful for the sake of success, but to have the opportunity to support what he’s passionate about and to, ultimately, change the world.

“Weakness is telling your poor me story. Strength is rewriting your stories. Power is inspiring others to rewrite theirs. Legacy is showing them how.”