Like
many young people who want to make a difference in the world, Carol Bellamy joined
the Peace Corps after she graduated from college. When she returned from her two
years volunteering in Guatemala, she went back to school and earned her law degree
and then served the public as an elected public official for 13 years - as New
York State Senator and then as the first woman President of the New York City
Council. She spent 11 years as a lawyer and banker on Wall Street before returning
to the Peace Corps as its director in 1993. She was the first Peace Corps volunteer
to be chosen to head the organization. Two years later she was appointed as the
Executive Director of UNICEF, the United Nations Children Fund. For the next ten
years she helped UNICEF to champion the safety, health and rights of children
around the world. She challenged leaders of governments to invest in children,
arguing that only if children are allowed to grow up in health, dignity and peace
can we eliminate poverty and create a safer world. Under her leadership UNICEF
made many advances for the children of the world, and UNICEF's resources and global
image grew tremendously. In 2005 Carol Bellamy began a new chapter of service
for a better world when she was chosen to head the nonprofit, World Learning,
one of the oldest nonprofit international educational organizations.
