Josh Tanenbaum

When most kids were setting up lemonade stands in the neighborhood to earn money, Josh Tanenbaum saw a crowded marketplace and decided to sell his teddy bear and videotape collection on the street corner instead. Close to two decades later, his strong entrepreneurial spirit combined and unwavering passion for making the world a better place led him to establish Clearstone Enterprises, founded in 2016.

“For me, social change was integral to my being. It just took me a while to find out my niche,” Tanenbaum explains. “Clearstone is at the intersection of finance and social change, which is exactly where I want to be. ”

The platform invests in early-stage start-ups that narrow societal inequality gaps through educational technology, financial technology and mobility solutions.

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FILLING IN THE EMPTY SPACES OF A MOTHER’S LIFE

It was only March, but the sun cast a warm glow on the fields dotting the Polish countryside. I couldn’t help but notice that the flat landscape before me, which was painted with picturesque farmhouses and tall green pine trees, had an uncanny resemblance to rural Ontario, the place I call home. I could imagine the desperate souls who, decades ago, found shelter among the towering trees, hoping that they and their loved ones would be spared from the brutal Nazi regime.

As my husband and I joined the Toronto contingent of the March of the Living last spring, I thought I could handle seeing Auschwitz and the gruesome death camps of Majdanek and Birkenau. What worried me was the potential emotional upheaval that my husband, being a child of Holocaust survivors, might experience on the trip.

I was born lucky. I grew up in Toronto in the 1960s, having grandparents, aunts and uncles, all Jewish, who escaped Poland years before the Second World War began. I heard stories about the Holocaust, but felt its potency only from a distance. Every year on Yom ha-Shoah, I watched a slide show of horrific black-and-white images of corpses that were projected on a large screen in the back of the synagogue’s social hall. I was terrified to see such atrocities, but thought that this kind of genocide could never happen to me, here in Canada. I never needed to learn how to live with extreme loss or trauma.

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Mia Maestro - Photo by JC Olivra / SIPA USA / AP Images

You can tell a lot about actress, singer-songwriter, Mia Maestro, from her Twitter account. Instead of posting selfies, the Argentinian artist prefers to tweet about things that matter to her-her posts offer insights into topics ranging from environmental conservation to social activism. Off social media, Maestro is actively committed to being a “global citizen” and approaches everything she does with passion, creativity and conviction.

“Through acting I am constantly being exposed to new cultures and communities. I’m inspired by the people I meet,” says Maestro from her home in Los Angeles.

Although she has graced the covers of Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar, she is best known for her on-screen work. A versatile actress, she made her screen debut in Tango a 1998 Golden Globe- and Academy Award-nominated Spanish film directed by Carlo Saura. She gained attention for her role as Chichina Ferreyra in the biopic The Motorcycle Diaries opposite Gael Garcia Bernal.  From there she was able to take on more intriguing roles, such as Christina Kahlo (sister of iconic artist Frida Kahlo) in Julie Taymore’s Frida, Dolores in Oliver Stone’s Savages and Carmen in The Twilight Saga: Breaking   Dawn Part 1 and Part 2.

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“It’s in my DNA,” confesses New York developer, Lela Goren, referring to a strong work ethic which drives her to be a ‘fearless warrior’ in both her personal and professional lives.

Goren, the founder of New York-based a real estate development company the Lela Goren Group, undertakes large-scale development projects that are meaningful to her- often breathing new life into once forgotten buildings and transforming them into magical spaces.

Her eclectic career path is astounding – a distinguished developer for over 15 years, (she is the recipient of the 2016 Women Builders Council Developer of the Year Award) Goren is also an intellectual property lawyer with a master’s degree in international law. Before attending law school, she played professional basketball for the University of Jerusalem.

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