Not your average 17-year-old; Meet the ‘World’s Most Powerful Girl’

BY JANIECE CAMPBELL

Can you remember what you were doing at nine years old? I bet that it was nowhere near meeting a national world leader for your own documentary.

That was the reality for Zuriel Oduwole, the “World’s Most Powerful Girl,” a title dubbed by former United States Secretary of State, John Kerry. Today, at age seventeen, she is a filmmaker and girl education advocate, all while being a full-time student.

Her venture into the film industry began when she entered a competition, where participants were given an assignment to create an artistic representation of a historical revolution. Striving to stand out from her peers who chose American or European events, young Zuriel extensively researched unique untold stories. A girl whose roots run deep in the continent of Africa, she chose the June 4^th ‘Rawlings Revolution’ in Ghana. After reaching out to the president of Ghana at the time to use as a primary source for her documentary, he responded by inviting her to the country to be interviewed in-person. The rest was history… literally!

With a total of seven films under her belt currently, Zuriel says that picking up a camera showed her a much bigger picture.

“Filmmaking led me to start my entire education initiative. When I went to Ghana, I saw children who were around the same age as me who were out in the streets instead of being in school. As someone who went to school in America from Monday to Friday, I couldn’t understand why they weren’t in school.”

On a quest to make a global difference in children’s education, Zuriel has met over thirty world leaders. Taking on the challenge of shaping outdated mindsets, she recognizes the privilege of being an education advocate while still being a child, as she offers a different perspective that forces leaders to listen. After meeting with the president of Mozambique, a country where 48% of girls were married under the age of eighteen according to UNICEF, Zuriel helped to give girls across the country a much brighter and hopeful future.

“I simply said that if these girls are able to stay in school and continue their educations, then they wouldn’t get married off at such young ages. It took about eighteen months in total but in the end, a policy came out outlawing girl marriage in the entire country.”

Having written opinion columns for several foreign newspapers regarding global issues, an excerpt from her latest piece entitled “Is America’s Approach to Fixing Racism Wrong?” questions the justice system and race-related issues in both Canada and America.

“What is the root cause of racism in North America, especially that unique blend that seems to cause the injury, death, and then incarceration of people of African descent aged 15-49 in the hands of their nations law enforcement officers. What is it that other races, especially caucasians, see when they look at or encounter African immigrants, irrespective of what generation they are? Is it hope, friendship, help, support, opportunity, development, growth, inspiration? Or do they see a basket full of the exact opposite of all I had just mentioned? And if that’s what they see, why do they see that? What have they been sold and why did they buy what they were sold?

What if the challenge is the sellers are selling an expired and outdated product, and because no one is turning away from their stores or checking the validity of the products, they just simply, keep selling?

What if we all deliberately begin to sell a new set of products, a fresh set of goods, and a kinder and gentler narrative? A storyline you would want others to tell about you? What if we all change our walk to mean we all rise or fall together, and even if one of us falls, we go out of our way to help that person onto his or her feet, because we want to see only by choice – the good and the possibilities in that fallen person, just like in the movie The Blind Side.”

As she plans to continue her advocacy work, Zuriel aspires to become the president of the United States someday so that she can have a positive effect on policies in and outside of the country. She concludes with a piece of advice directed to the youth.

“Make sure that you have dreams. All of the things I’m doing right now started with a dream. I was once told ‘if your dreams don’t scare you, then they are not big enough.’ I use that and apply it to everything I do.”