Zim woman among World’s Top 10 Most Inspiring Women
Dr. Tererai Trent, a U.S-based Zimbabwe-born academic is among those honoured with the World’s Top 10 Most Inspiring Women title. To show her incredible achievements in the area of women empowerment and the fight for equality, the Rockefeller Centre will unveil her life-sized statue on August 26, 2019.
Past honorees include Cate Blanchett, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Goodall, Nicole Kidman, Pink, and Gabby Douglas.
Dr. Trent posted the exciting news on her Twitter handle thus:
“Please allow me to brag. I am incredibly honoured to be standing among the World’s Top 10 Most Inspiring Women ‘Sculpted for Equal Rights! Can you believe this rural Zimbabwean girl and just looking back where I came from to think I will have a life-size statue standing in the streets of NYC! My goodness! The list includes Oprah Winfrey, Pink, Nicole Kidman, Jane Goodall, Cate Blanchett, Janet Mock, Tracy Dyson, Cheryl Strayed and Gabby Douglas.
“The Statues for Equality are cast in bronze and installed near New York City’s iconic Rockefeller Centre. Come August 26 and celebrate the empowerment women and big dreams! #StatuesForEquality,” she wrote on Twitter.
Who is Dr. Terarai Trent?
Born in West Province in 1965, Dr. Trent wasn’t allowed formal education because she was born female, and she had to watch her brothers go to school while the system kept her at home. She beat the odds and eventually moved to the US with her husband and their children in 1998, where she received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree, and later, her doctorate degree.
Her accomplishments
She founded the Terarai Trent International Foundation, which has built schools in her native Zimbabwe. She has also worked with Heifer International. Fellow honoree Oprah Winfrey named her as her best guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011, this is after donating to her foundation.
Publications
Dr Terarai Trent has published two books: a children’s book that highlights her childhood in Zimbabwe—The Girl who Buried her Dreams in a Can, and a non-fiction book The Awakened Woman: Remembering & Igniting Our Sacred Dreams.