Changemakers

Meghan Stevenson-Krausz ’08: Creating Positive Social Change

Jared Scott Tesler
Meghan Stevenson-Krausz ’08 was practically destined for a career in human rights. Raised in an interfaith home, by a Christian mother and a Jewish father, she was sent to a Muslim preschool, followed by a Quaker elementary school.
 
“Usually, the term ‘third-culture kid’ refers to kids who grew up living in different countries and cultures due to their parents’ jobs, but I think that was me. And because of that, I’ve always been passionate about equity, justice, and building bridges between cultures,” Stevenson-Krausz says. “After all, I was a living, breathing bridge between the three major religions!”
 
By seventh grade, Stevenson-Krausz began attending The Shipley School, where she was fully immersed in both the concept and practice of service learning. Two standout experiences, she says, were Human Rights Day 2007, when Margaret Bailey Speer Award recipient Charlotte Frances Cole ’78, then Senior Vice President of Global Education at Sesame Workshop, discussed the global impact of the educational children’s television series Sesame Street, and her Senior Service Project, which involved partnering with New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity to rebuild homes and clean up neighborhoods ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
 
“It was through this experience that I first learned the importance and complexities of human-based solutions, which continue to be integral to my work, both in human rights and fostering entrepreneurship in emerging markets,” says Stevenson-Krausz, whose master’s thesis in human rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science was loosely inspired by Cole’s talk. “Shipley gave me an incredible platform from which to jump into basically anything I set my mind to, not only academically but also from a service learning perspective.”
 
Stevenson-Krausz credits close friend, former classmate, and fellow human rights professional Alicia Roth Weigel ’08 for introducing her to her current employer, Spark, where she serves as Program Director. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the nonprofit organization advances gender equality and celebrates women who ignite global change by engaging the next generation in accessible forms of philanthropy. Hillary Clinton’s stunning defeat to Donald Trump in the race to become the 45th President of the United States, Stevenson-Krausz says, is what initially fueled her desire to focus more directly on gender equality.
 
In October, Stevenson-Krausz will move to Latin America to pursue her next venture—the launch of an impact investing fund that will provide valuable resources to tech entrepreneurs who are making a positive social impact in their communities. A StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow and longtime volunteer with the San Francisco Hub of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, she has certainly made a positive one in hers.
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The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.