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2018 Recipient 
Yardena Gerwin
New York, NY | 18
2018 Award Recipient
After months of combating doctors’ sexist assumptions and suffering a near-fatal misdiagnosis, Yardena Gerwin was finally diagnosed with POTS and a rare form of autoimmune encephalopathy. This experience taught Yardena about a pervasive culture of sexism and prompted her to advocate for girls worldwide through Girl Up, an organization funding programs that give girls an equal chance for education, health, social, and economic opportunities. Yardena created an effective board, a central roster for activists, and an organizational model for New York club chapters, while building a pipeline for new board leadership. In addition to helping pass legislation like the Girls Count Act, she has initiated new collaborations with Seventeen Magazine and the Malala Fund. Selected for the Bronfman Youth Fellowship and a trainee at Bella Abzug Leadership Institute, Yardena was awarded the Learning Together Interfaith Youth Fellowship and received a grant from the NGO Awesome Without Borders.
Empowering Girls in NYC and the Developing World Through Building the NY Girl Up Coalition
Through her support for Girl Up, where she created an effective board, an organizational model for club chapters, and a pipeline for new board leadership, Yardena advocates for equal opportunities for girls worldwide. In addition to helping pass legislation like the Girls Count Act, Yardena has initiated new collaborations with Seventeen Magazine and the Malala Fund. She was selected for the Bronfman Youth Fellowship and is a trainee at Bella Abzug Leadership Institute.
