Katie Hilborn - Changemaker of the Year

Introduction: Katie Hilborn is an award-winning changemaker, humanitarian, nonprofit founder, visionary, and keynote speaker. She founded Global Orphan Prevention in Nepal after discovering that 80% of children in orphan homes had living parents. At the time of the founding, no other organizations were addressing the orphan trade in specific. Today they strive to we keep mothers and children together by providing economic development, awareness, and educational opportunity. Katie has been on the forefront of empowering people to drive change both locally and abroad since 2011. She's not just speaking about these topics, but she's actually lived them! Her travels to twenty-eight countries and six continents have inspired her to help create positive change by being of service to those living in poverty and struggling in the developing world. Since that time, she has recruited volunteers and has inspired people to help aid her in projects totaling over 22,000 hours! For her efforts, she was awarded as the runner-up for Millennial Week's Changemaker of the Year for her work surrounding the 2015 Nepal earthquake relief efforts. Her humanitarian work has been featured on the ABC Morning Show, Women of Denver, Impact Founder, Nonprofit Leadership Podcast, and in various media outlets. Currently, she's working on an anti-child trafficking program both in Nepal and Colorado, using microenterprise and awareness campaigns to halt this epidemic, and last November she uncovered a child trafficking ring in Nepal; the politician behind it is now in jail. Her Nepali colleague and she had been checking up on a women's empowerment group that we formed in a neighboring village in 2016. The journey involved a 6-hour jeep ride from the capital on pothole invested Himalayan road with often a 400-drop on either side. Once we arrived, it was another 3-hour hike to the top emerging above the clouds. The women's empowerment group had been formed to help break the cycle of sex trafficking through literacy and economic development. Since the formation of the group, zero girls had been trafficked! However, they soon discovered that a nearby village was losing 15-20% of adolescent girls to traffickers annually so we made it our mission to investigate. Through a weeks-long anthropological investigation that involved trekking village-to-village, sleeping on dirt floors and not showering for days, we finally uncovered the ring and it's being dismantled as she speaks. What to Expect Katie enjoys speaking to all demographics, including high school students, college students, women's groups, and at corporate events. TOPICS 1. What makes a great leader 2. How to show up as a leader 3. How to become changemakers 4. Finding your passions to create change 5. Standing behind Millennials & Gen-Z to create change 6. Empowering women worldwide to create change 7. Microenterprise, microfinance, & impact investing 8. Child sex trafficking & the orphan trade 9. How social enterprise can halt child trafficking 10. Child trafficking prevention in America 11. Global & national issues TESTIMONIALS: “It's exhausting just to think about how Katie thinks, let alone try to imagine the fortitude it requires to take all of this on. Not everyone has the freedom or the gumption to do what she does. The majority of us are not leaders, like Hilborn, and that's fine. Without followers, leaders in such efforts are just people with good hearts and ideas.” -The Daily Herald Editorial Board "She did an awesome job sharing with our students her energy, passion, and heart at Cherry Creek High School's Global Awareness Day. She did such a great job inspiring them to care about our world. And I loved that she talked with them not only about Global Orphan Prevention but also about who they are and the role they can play in serving this world in a positive way." -Katie Gunneson, Teacher "Katie spoke at CAUSE's annual Social Impact Summit. It was so refreshing to hear her relatable background and bold moves to get to where she is today. Her story is truly one you will want to hear! It was inspiring that she saw a problem and decided she was the one for the job to resolve it. It was a great experience to hear Katie speak!" -Morgan Morris, College Student "Katie has definitely made it at the top of my list for favorite guest speakers. The whole time during her Social Impact Summit keynote, she emitted great vibes with her enthusiastic personality. She quickly captivated everyone with her charm and smile." -Business Student "Miss Hilborn was such an inspiration at the Global Awareness Day at Cherry Creek High School. Her stage presence paired with her powerful method of finding your passion really will echo within me forever. The whole audience was also moved by her altruistic story." -Erin Shin, High School Student