Today's Leaders for Tomorrow's Future
Today’s Leaders for Tomorrow’s Future Podcast is intended to inspire people to tap into their leadership potential today. It is a way for people to sense and see the leader in themselves, and to redefine the narrative about what it means to be a leader in society.
You will hear a collection of stories about how people are making this world a better place for tomorrow’s future. Today’s leaders need not have an organizational leadership title. Their power rests in the people they serve, the communities they form, and in their ability to lead today.
If you take only one thing away from this podcast it would be to see yourself as the leader you want and choose to be knowing that parts of you already are one.
Today's Leaders for Tomorrow's Future
Protecting Children's Rights to Shine Bright with Sara Austin
In this episode, Sara Austin illustrates her fierce commitment to protecting the rights of children to survive and thrive. She discusses the need to unite for the sake of our children, noting there is a need for the nation to raise a nation, even in Canada. According to Sara, the formula for a healthy childhood is to show them that they can "be" themselves, that they belong, and becoming starts now. She encourages youth and all leaders to take calculated risks knowing that life has an inherent safety net around us, and that it is okay to continue to raise the bar higher, to keep going and to contribute to what lights you on fire.
Sara Austin is a world class champion for human rights, with more than 25 years of experience advocating for the rights of women and kids in Canada and on the global stage. As the Founder and CEO of Children First Canada, she currently leads a national movement to make Canada the best place in the world for kids to grow up.
Sara’s work has taken her into the top circles of power in the United Nations, national governments, and boardrooms around the world, leading highly successful advocacy, public awareness and philanthropic campaigns and shaped major public policy efforts.
Her leadership has impacted the lives of millions of children. Most notably, she led a global campaign that resulted in the UN General Assembly adopting the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child for a Communications Procedure (OP3).
Sara has led the creation of the Canadian Children’s Charter – a plan by children, for children, to ensure the protection of their rights; launched the Young Canadians’ Parliament to give children a voice at the highest levels of government; and created the Raising Canada report, released annually to put a spotlight on the top 10 threats to childhood and mobilize Canadians to take action.
In recognition of her leadership and impact, Sara has twice been awarded the Top 25 Women of Influence, and in 2017 she was the youngest person to be inducted into the Top 100 Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame. She was also a finalist in RBC’s Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards and was one of 100 inductees into the Government of Canada’s Women of Impact in Canada.
Sara holds an MSt/LLM with Distinction in International Human Rights Law from Oxford and an Honours BA in International Development and Women’s Studies from Dalhousie University. She has completed the Governance Essentials Program for Non-Profits with the Institute of Corporate Directors, the Maytree Foundation’s Public Policy Program and the University of Alberta’s Indigenous Partnerships Program.
