Marc Kielburger Bio: His Life Story and Journey
Marc Kielburger is a young social entrepreneur, who also has a passion for making positive change in the world today. He is an author, a motivational speaker, and founder of an international charity organization that caters specifically to underprivileged children.
Personal Life of Marc Kielburger
Born to school teacher parents in 1977, Marc Kielburger completed his schooling at Brebeuf College School in Toronto, Canada, and Neuchâtel Junior College (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) in 1995. As a 13-year-old young student in 1990, he volunteered for a program that allowed school credit to work at the hospice for teenage mothers and homeless older people who suffered from leprosy.
In the same year, he launched a social awareness program single-handedly against chemical-based home cleaners’ production and use. He later graduated from Harvard University, earning a degree in International Relations. He was also awarded Rhodes Scholarship in 2000. Subsequently, he completed a law degree at Oxford University, focusing on human rights law.
Humanitarian, Social Entrepreneur and Activist
A humanitarian at heart, Marc has been an active social entrepreneur and activist all his life. One of the finest moments in his career was when he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2008 from where the brothers launched a partnership with Oprah’s Angel Network.
Apart from being involved in massive social activity, Marc Kielburger is also an author and columnist. He is also a best-selling author of the New York Times. He has written eight books addressing global change, activism and social entrepreneurship.
Amongst the many other life achievements mentioned so far, Marc is also quite a well-known speaker and has had the opportunity to speak at many different conferences, live events and charitable gatherings over the years. Keilburger has shared his experience of having done decades of leading humanitarian work and provides guidance to similar groups. He continues to empower scores of young people around the globe and enables them to create a positive change in society.
He also had the opportunity to meet and interact with distinguished global leaders, including Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton, and Desmond Tutu, to name a few.
His Charitable Work
Marc Kielburger co-founded the WE Movement with his brother Craig. This movement consists of individual organizations catering to different needs.
- “WE Day” is an annual event for youth empowerment organized under the WE movement. This is held in large stadiums all throughout Canada, the US, and the UK.
- When Marc was studying at Harvard, he came across a story of a child labor in Pakistan through his brother Craig. This inspired him to co-found the “Free the Children” organization, which was later renamed We Charity.
- Keilburger is also the co-founder and co-CEO of ME to WE, an organization that provides people with environmentally friendly clothes and accessories and international volunteer trips, leadership training programs and materials, and books that address positive social change issues.
Scale of Operations
Marc, along with his brother Craig, has expanded the WE group of organizations to a massive scale. They engage around 4 million young people in active service. As referenced by Wikipedia, every year, more than 200,000 people attend the WE Day event in stadiums and schools across many cities to celebrate young people’s positive actions.
Marc’s innovative social work that encompasses ME to WE provides a unique partnership in charitable work. This relationship has boosted WE Charity and helped lift more than one million people from poverty.
Awards Received by Marc Kielburger
Keilburger is an accomplished Rhodes Scholar with as many as ten honorary doctorates. He is also the recipient of some of Canada’s most significant honors, including the Order of Canada and Canada’s Walk of Fame. Among the many awards he has won, some of them are
- In 1990, he received the YTV Achievement Award for the campaign against chemical-based home cleaners.
- In 1990 and 1992, he won two awards at Canada-Wide Science Fair.
- He also received the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship for his efforts. He was the youngest winner of such an award.
- His charitable work has been recognized through an Ashoka fellowship.
- He was also honored as the most Admired CEO in the Public Sector, Canada, in 2015.
- He was nominated as a Member of the Order of Canada by the Governor-General of Canada.
Personal and Life Achievements
Marc Kielburger has achieved a lot in his short career so far. Beginning early in school with his impactful contribution to society, he remained focused and committed to humanitarian work. Over the years, he has grown to be a powerful example for anyone who wants to create positive change in society. His organization has brought people together to change the world through education, social enterprise and charity. A multi-faceted personality founder of WE Movement, a best-selling author, and multi-faceted motivational speaker, he has catered to a broad society segment.
Marc is also well-recognised from his appearance and has been featured in media such as BBC, CNN among others who have shared his groundbreaking work with their audience. His story is unique and inspiring. His speeches can be tailored to different groups’ needs from where one can take away only inspiring thoughts and actions. Millions have been inspired by him so far, and the best is yet to come from him.
