SEJAL HATHI grew up in the Bay Area as the child of parents of Indian origin from Uganda and Tanzania. In coping with illness as a youth she found resonance in the needs of other girls facing gender inequality issues. The resulting insights led her, at age 15, to start a nonprofit, Girls Helping Girls. Subsequently she and a colleague founded girltank. These organizations train and mobilize young women to create sustainable social change. The response has been astonishing: the two organizations have grown into a global movement that now reaches more than 30,000 young women in more than 100 countries.
Sejal has spoken about women's rights and empowerment at TEDWomen, TEDxTeen and the United Nations. She has won national awards from Newsweek (150 Women who Shake the World), Forbes Magazine (30 under 30 honorees), the National Jefferson Awards for Public Service and many other outlets.
Sejal attends Yale University as a Global Health Fellow. A US Presidential Scholar and a Truman Scholar, she will graduate in spring 2013 with a BS in molecular biology. She plans to earn her MD at Stanford Medical School and then to work at the nexus of medical entrepreneurship, international women's health, and social innovation.
