Divya Sharma: Opting Out Is a Privilege

At 21 years old, Divya Sharma has already led a $16 million student organization, represented Manitoba at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, and is writing her honours thesis on the human rights implications of artificial intelligence. Her story is a reminder that age isn't a barrier to meaningful change — and that the most powerful advocacy often starts right in your own community.

We're talking:

• Her COVID-19 project that started with a few micro-grants and grew into 16,000 care packages for frontline workers across Canada — recognized by the United Nations as one of the top stories of the pandemic
• Her path to becoming the 100th and youngest president of the University of Manitoba Students' Union (UMSU)
• Advocating for international students' access to healthcare as a human right, and the successful push to expand bursaries and bring menstrual products into university washrooms
• Her take on the biggest human rights challenge facing Canadians today: literacy, in every sense of the word

If you want to know what the next generation of Winnipeg changemakers looks like, Divya's a pretty good place to start.

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