Full Name
Dr. Zuriel Oduwole
Job Title
2025 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. Global Speaker, Peace Envoy, Film Maker, Education Advocate
Speaker Bio
Dr. Zuriel Elise Oduwole is one of the most globally recognized young voices in leadership, development, global security, and gender development – an ‘accidental strategist’ whose footprint has calmly but reassuringly traversed world capitals, presidential offices, and major multinational institutions.
She entered the international arena at age 10, when Forbes spotlighted her for conducting policy discussions with seven sitting Presidents across Africa. They were President Johnson [Liberia], President Fonseca [CaboVerde], President Banda [Malawi], President Kenyatta [Kenya], President Jonathan [Nigeria], President SalvaKiir [South Sudan], and President Kikwete [Tanzania]. Over the next decade, she evolved that early diplomatic engagement into a powerful global advocacy for girls’ education, grounded in rigorous academic work after discovering a correlation between instability and gender development. She earned a master’s degree inGlobal Security, International Affairs & Conflict Resolution from American University and has since held varying depths of advisory dialogues and meetings with more than 35 Presidents and Prime Ministers.
Her work contributed to ending child marriage in Mozambique in 2019, following her meeting with PresidentFilipe Nyusi, demonstrating the transformative impact of investing in girls’ education by using herself as anexample of what is truly possible when girls are allowed to thrive. The lives of over 1.1 million girls in thatSouthern African country changed almost overnight.
A self-taught filmmaker, she created film-making programs for out-of-schoolgirls in Ghana, Mexico,Namibia, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire, equipping young women with economic empowerment tools.
Her conflict-resolution insights led to an invitation from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt during theArab blockade of Qatar that ended peacefully in 2021. The invite was a result of her unexpected but decisive mediation role in discussions between Guyana and Venezuela at the United Nations over the disputedEssequibo oil territory, where she met first as a neutral party with President David Granger of Guyana.
Zuriel’s unparalleled and unique approach to ‘communicative & project leadership’ and their measurable outcome has been recognized globally with several awards, including:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Leadership Award (age 20)
Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award (age 22)
CARE Humanitarian Award (age 23) Forbes Women Award (2024)
Nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize by two U.S. institutions, a Senator, and a Prime Minister’s office
In May 2026, she earned a doctorate in Global Organizational Leadership & Change from the University ofSouthern California [USC] Rossier School, becoming at 23 the youngest doctoral graduate in the school's 100-plus-year history since its founding in 1918.
Over the last decade, Zuriel has delivered high-impact leadership talks or headlined conferences for marquee brands including Procter & Gamble (Washington DC), Hilton Hotels (Johannesburg), Natixis (Paris), Seeds& Chips (Milan), Qatar Foundation (Doha), Pictet (Geneva), MiSK Global (Riyadh), Global Citizen (NewYork), Women Deliver (Melbourne) and LVMH (Paris).
She brings a rare combination of global insight, youth perspective, and an executive-level clarity to development challenges, making her one of the most compelling voices for organizations navigating change,leadership, and social impact.
She entered the international arena at age 10, when Forbes spotlighted her for conducting policy discussions with seven sitting Presidents across Africa. They were President Johnson [Liberia], President Fonseca [CaboVerde], President Banda [Malawi], President Kenyatta [Kenya], President Jonathan [Nigeria], President SalvaKiir [South Sudan], and President Kikwete [Tanzania]. Over the next decade, she evolved that early diplomatic engagement into a powerful global advocacy for girls’ education, grounded in rigorous academic work after discovering a correlation between instability and gender development. She earned a master’s degree inGlobal Security, International Affairs & Conflict Resolution from American University and has since held varying depths of advisory dialogues and meetings with more than 35 Presidents and Prime Ministers.
Her work contributed to ending child marriage in Mozambique in 2019, following her meeting with PresidentFilipe Nyusi, demonstrating the transformative impact of investing in girls’ education by using herself as anexample of what is truly possible when girls are allowed to thrive. The lives of over 1.1 million girls in thatSouthern African country changed almost overnight.
A self-taught filmmaker, she created film-making programs for out-of-schoolgirls in Ghana, Mexico,Namibia, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire, equipping young women with economic empowerment tools.
Her conflict-resolution insights led to an invitation from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt during theArab blockade of Qatar that ended peacefully in 2021. The invite was a result of her unexpected but decisive mediation role in discussions between Guyana and Venezuela at the United Nations over the disputedEssequibo oil territory, where she met first as a neutral party with President David Granger of Guyana.
Zuriel’s unparalleled and unique approach to ‘communicative & project leadership’ and their measurable outcome has been recognized globally with several awards, including:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Leadership Award (age 20)
Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award (age 22)
CARE Humanitarian Award (age 23) Forbes Women Award (2024)
Nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize by two U.S. institutions, a Senator, and a Prime Minister’s office
In May 2026, she earned a doctorate in Global Organizational Leadership & Change from the University ofSouthern California [USC] Rossier School, becoming at 23 the youngest doctoral graduate in the school's 100-plus-year history since its founding in 1918.
Over the last decade, Zuriel has delivered high-impact leadership talks or headlined conferences for marquee brands including Procter & Gamble (Washington DC), Hilton Hotels (Johannesburg), Natixis (Paris), Seeds& Chips (Milan), Qatar Foundation (Doha), Pictet (Geneva), MiSK Global (Riyadh), Global Citizen (NewYork), Women Deliver (Melbourne) and LVMH (Paris).
She brings a rare combination of global insight, youth perspective, and an executive-level clarity to development challenges, making her one of the most compelling voices for organizations navigating change,leadership, and social impact.
