As CEO and founder of multiple charities, Leila Janah dedicated her life to ending global poverty. Though Janah passed away earlier this year from cancer, her work lives on through her company Samasource, which employs thousands throughout East Africa. The company’s offshoots, Samaschool and Samahope, additionally offer education in digital skills to tens of thousands more, as well as fundraising for life-saving medical treatments.

Syed Mohammed, who suffers from ADHD, founded Enable My Child as a telehealth company to provide mental health and learning resources virtually. His company has become a vital resource in the age of Coronavirus, helping provide resources to students suffering without in-person access to counselors and mentors. Mohammed has expanded their services in recent months, working with schools and parents to make sure that every student has the resources they need to succeed in at-home learning.

Dr. Rana el Kaliouby, founder and CEO of Affectiva, just released a memoir titled Girl Decoded, chronicling her life and career studying emotion and technology. Her work at MIT and Affectiva fill a crucial gap in artificial intelligence studies, thrusting tech development forward into a future of empathetic, emotionally intelligent technology. Her company’s technology can also help determine if distance-learning students are bored, confused, or excited – opening the door for educators to develop personalized, real-time teaching strategies.

For twenty years, the Rahim siblings have built a brand based on ethics. Their popular Numi Tea brings fair-trade, organic teas to the world. Meanwhile, the siblings have dedicated much of their time and money to the Numi Foundation, a non-profit working to provide clean, safe drinking water around the world.

 Covid-19 has placed extreme pressure on parents, especially parents of school-age children. With new protocols and at-home learning, parents are facing all sorts of unforeseen child-rearing obstacles. The author and Slate columnist is offering crucial advise for parents, to help everyone navigate these changes smoothly and keep kids healthy, happy, and learning.

Raised in the gritty Paris suburb of Clinchy-Montfermeil, director Ladj Ly saw striking parallels between the class struggles fueling Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and those facing the largely immigrant population in his neighborhood today. His modern retelling of Les Misérables struck a chord with audiences and critics, earning Ly the Jury Prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The Mali-native’s film was picked up by Amazon Studios and is available on Prime Video.

Forbes 40 Under 40 lister Omer Ismail had little formal finance training when he first started at Goldman Sachs. But now, Ismail leads some of the company’s most lucrative and popular services, including Marcus by Goldman Sachs and the new Apple Card, his inspiring story of hard work and dedication paying off at the highest levels of the finance world.

Founder and director of Ahlem Eyewear, Tunisia-native Ahlem Manai-Platt is encouraging people to buy her glasses for two reasons.  First, the CDC remarks that glasses may help people avoid touching their face, and thus protect against the coronavirus. Second,, Manai-Platt has pledged 25% of Ahlem’s profits to No Kid Hungry, a charity helping children affected by quarantine protocols.

With filming of The Matrix 4 paused, actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has extra time on his hands. The dynamic actor – famous for films like Aquaman and The Get Down, and a starring role in HBO’s Watchmen – has taken this reprieve to entertain his fans by drawing their “portraits” on IG live, bringing some much-needed levity and happiness to the world.

Amidst a time of deep uncertainty. Dr. Saqib Shahab, the Chief Medical Officer of Saskatchewan, Canada, has emerged as a calming voice. He eases his constituents’ fears with regular press meetings, engaging the public with his calm and re-assuring manner. Under his leadership, cases of coronavirus in Saskatchewan have dropped steadily since early April.

With all the energy of a thousand suns, Atlanta-based fitness influencer Umama Kibria has taken the fitness world by storm. As founder and CEO of SweatPack, the Forbes 30-Under-30 lister helps people of all fitness levels reach their goals – including shifting her training trips and events to virtual workouts and meet-ups, helping people improve and maintain their health during lockdown.

Yashar Ali has become a key curator of breaking news on social media. The independent journalist contributes to publications like the Huffington Post and New York Magazine, but wields the most impact as a Twitter personality breaking stories. Named one of TIME’s 25 Most Influential People on the Internet, Ali is currently reporting stories from the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

With devastating national shortages of protective gear, renowned New York fashion designer Naeem Khan led a wave of volunteers in the fashion industry, diverting resources to sew protective masks. His masks are specially designed to fit surgical masks within them, extending the lives of these crucial pieces of equipment. In less stressful times, India-native Khan has dressed icons like Beyoncé, Michelle Obama, and Taylor Swift.

Part love story, part police procedural, part ghost story – French director Mati Diop’s Atlantics defied genres, but won the hearts of cinema fans. Diop recently became the first black director to win the Cannes Grand Prix. Netflix picked up her film shortly thereafter, bringing the intricate tale of love, loss, and revenge to audiences worldwide.

While the final season of Game of Thrones polarized audiences, fans of the show could agree on one thing: Ramin Djawadi, the show’s composer for its 8-year run, was at the top of his game. The German transplant to Los Angeles won an Emmy for his work. Masterfully weaving old themes with new, Djawadi’s rousing scores have set the mood for a range of shows and movies, including Westworld, Iron Man, and Jack Ryan.

Lahore native Shahid Khan arrived at the University of Illinois as a teenager with nothing but a few dollars and a dream. Today Khan is the billionaire owner of auto-parts giant Flex-N-Gate as well as the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. Using his hard-earned wealth to give back, Khan has already donated $1 million to coronavirus relief efforts.

Stuck-at-home foodies can tour the world’s cuisine and pick up some new culinary tips with cooking expert Samin Nosrat. Her Netflix show Salt Fat Acid Heat on follows Nosrat as she explains the basics of cooking from Italy to Japan to Mexico. In real time, Nosrat is also hosting virtual Lasagna meals with her fans on Instagram Live.

Today show host Hoda Kotb recently moved national audiences when she broke down in tears during an interview with Saints quarterback Drew Brees. The morning news icon was overwhelmed with emotion hearing about the pandemic situation in New Orleans, where she worked for many years as a local reporter, and the inspiring work of Brees to help people impacted. Kotb’s tears captivated the country and captured the raw emotions unleashed by the COVID-19 crisis.

Before the closure of gyms and public pools, Celtics rookie and NBA fan favorite Tacko Fall inspired his followers by taking a leap into the swimming pool. The 24 year-old joined a swimming class at a local Boys & Girls Club. By far the tallest in his class, Fall learned to swim with a group of fellow beginners. With a wingspan of 8’4”, Fall jokes that he is a natural in the pool.

Pop chanteuse Rita Ora released a new single “How To Be Lonely” just in time for the COVID-19 era. With a physician mother working on the frontlines, UNICEF Ambassador Ora is helping raise relief funds by launching the #StopTheSpread campaign. When an earthquake hit her native Albania in November, Ora also helped raise funds for survivors.

Actor and rapper Mahershala Ali has earned critical acclaim and numerous awards, including Academy Awards for his roles in Green Book and Moonlight, making him the first black actor to win two Best Supporting Role Oscars. Ali has also earned a dedicated fanbase for his dynamic roles in a range of hit shows like House of Cards, True Detective, and Luke Cage.

The suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant in California becomes the launching point for a complex exploration of Muslim-American cross-generational identity in Laila Lalami’s The Other Americans. The prolific writer’s novel was named a National Book Award Finalist and a Kirkus Prize Finalist. Her first non-fiction book Conditional Citizens has just been published.

With travel agencies and tours hard-hit by coronavirus. Ruzwana Bashir’s travel start-up Peek.com quickly pivoted to provide users with unusual tourism opportunities in their own communities. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Bashir is considered a leading female tech entrepreneur and counts among her investors Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Ramy Youssef’s eponymous Hulu show “Ramy” earned him a surprise Golden Globe award. As co-writer and lead actor, his humorous portrayal of the complexities of Muslim-American life brought Cultural Muslims into the American mainstream – and earned a 97% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

As the founder of Khan Academy, Salman “Sal” Khan has had one of the most important roles in global education with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to his regular content of videos, tutorials, and study guides, Khan has introduced guides for parents and caretakers to help their kids learn from home.

YouTube sensation and founder of Huda Beauty, Huda Kattan, has announced she will forego her salary for 2020, along with members of her family who work at the business. Instead, those funds will be directed towards protecting her employees’ wages in the time of coronavirus. She is also donating funds to independent make-up artists hard-struck without work.

Co-founder of Venmo Iqram Magdon-Ismail launched the virtual money-moving app for the sake of convenience. But with millions stuck at home, his invention helps people around the globe conduct business and exchange money without risking the spread of coronavirus involved in meeting in person or taking a trip to the bank.

Aghdashloo has captivated sci-fi fans around the world with her striking role as Chrisjen Avasarala, the complex and powerful Secretary-General of Earth in the hit show, The Expanse. Aghdashloo’s character portrays a compelling blend of wise and strong leadership in troubling times. Read the full article:

Khadijah Mellah stunned both herself and horse racing fans by taking home the first place title at the Magnolia Cup amateur race. The young jockey’s talent and dedication pushed her past many more practiced competitors, having only begun training to race a few months prior.

About to retire as CEO of medical devices giant Medtronic, Omar Ishrak stayed on to help respond to the coronavirus challenge. To double production of life-saving ventilators for Covid-19 patients, he jumpstarted an emergency collaboration with Elon Musk. Ishrak also released the specs for making a ventilator free of charge so production could increase around the world.