Katie Meyler has a passion to serve the poor. This passion led her to the inner city, where she lived in a condemned house and worked with neighborhood prostitutes. It led her to youth shelters, where teenagers believed that selling drugs was their only option. It led her to the homeless in New York City, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis. It led her to New Orleans after families had their lives turned upside down by a storm. Eventually that passion led her to leave the United States and go to Bolivia, where she met a young boy named Carlito who changed her life. That experience led Katie to devote her life working on behalf of Carlito and others like him.

Growing up in a poor family in one of the wealthiest counties in the US, Katie was used to thinking that she wasn’t as good as the other kids in her neighborhood. But in high school, she became involved in her church youth group and found purpose in serving others. She graduated high school with an award from President Bill Clinton for service hours and became the first person in her family to attend college.

After college, Katie applied for a job that sent her to post-war Liberia to teach adult literacy classes. While in Liberia, she lived in an orphanage with 86 children whose parents had all been brutally murdered in the war. The children she met during and after that program changed her life. Although these children came from a myriad of backgrounds and family histories, they all had one thing in common: they wanted to go to school. In 2009, Katie founded More Than Me as a means to continue helping these children, and many more, go to school. Their dream of an education has become Katie’s mission.

Fast forward to December 2012, when More Than Me won $1 million from the Chase Community Giving Contest (despite being the smallest organization in the competition), and Katie was recognized for her work as a leading educator and mentor by Chase.

In September 2013, Katie and Nobel Laureate and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf cut the ribbon to the More Than Me Academy – the first tuition-free, all-girls academy in Liberia.

In July 2014, More Than Me had to shut down the More Than Me Academy because of Ebola. Katie returned to West Point to fight for the girls and their families. Under Katie’s leadership, More Than Me worked to meet community needs quickly by serving children made vulnerable by the epidemic and empowering local leaders and their communities to identify, transfer, and reintegrate patients and survivors.

TIME Magazine recognized Katie ’s incredible work and named her an Ebola Fighter and 2014 Person of the Year.

Katie has been called “The most passionate person we’ve ever met!” by Bono’s ONE Campaign, “Outstanding Woman of the Year” by the NJ Commission on the Status of Women, and a “Social Media Role-Model” at a United Nations conference on technology. She has served as an Oprah Ambassador, been honored by the Boyscouts of America, and won NJ Seeds of Hope recognizing her as a NJ state hero. Katie is also an established public speaker, having through Oprah’s Angel Network spoken to over 40,000 people on the challenges and solutions to global poverty.

Activists, Entrepreneurship, Motivational, Inspirational, Female Leadership, Philanthropy, Philanthropist, Leadership,