2024 Voices of Courage Awards
Voices of Courage Honorees | Women, Peace and Security Champion Award | Lifetime Gender Equality Leadership Award | Congressional Champion Award | Musical Guest | Dance Performance | Artwork | Awards Presenters | Closing Remarks | Sponsorships
The Women’s Refugee Commission’s 2024 Voices of Courage Awards gala was held Thursday, September 26, 2024. Learn about our honorees, presenters, and performers.
Thank you to all who joined us as we celebrated 35 years of impact and honored inspiring leaders who stand for justice, equality, and humanity.
Together with our community of partners and supporters, the Women’s Refugee Commission works to protect the lives and rights of displaced women and girls, and to transform the humanitarian system so it is more responsive to their needs and solutions.
Event Photos
2024 Voices of Courage Honorees
The Women’s Refugee Commission celebrates our 2024 Voices of Courage honorees.
Deepti Gurung
Deepti Gurung is a tireless Nepalese activist and advocate for the rights of women to pass on their nationality on an equal basis with men and for the rights of stateless individuals in Nepal and around the world. Her journey began from a deeply personal struggle that transformed into a broader fight for justice and equality.
As a single mother of two daughters, Deepti faced the harsh reality of Nepal’s gender-discriminatory citizenship laws, which prevented her from conferring citizenship to her children. This personal injustice fueled her determination to change the system.
Inspired by her own experience, Deepti established the Citizenship Affected People’s Network (CAPN), an organization led by affected people that is dedicated to addressing the plight of stateless individuals and those impacted by discriminatory nationality laws and other nationality right violations. She advocates for recognizing gender-equal nationality rights and statelessness as pressing human rights issues, rather than merely a political or diplomatic concern.
Deepti’s work has not only secured citizenship for numerous individuals, but also brought much-needed attention to the broader issues of gender discrimination and statelessness in Nepal.
Rowida Tariq Elshafee
Rowida Tariq Elshafee is a dedicated humanitarian from Sudan. When war broke out in her country in 2023, she was displaced. Her family fled to Egypt, but she chose to remain in Sudan to continue her work providing education and psychosocial support to more than 10,000 children and training more than 400 teachers.
Rowida began her work with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) setting up education programs for refugees from Tigray, providing safe learning spaces for more than 7,000 children. She helped establish NRC’s first youth project in Sudan, offering 3,000 youth training, language literacy programs, vocational activities, and recreational options.
She was seconded as a project manager to NRC’s Syria response office for six months and helped respond to the earthquake in February 2023.
“I believe education is a fundamental right and a powerful tool for building resilience in young people facing crisis,” says Rowida. “I am driven to create safe learning spaces and empower youth to become agents of positive change in their communities.”
Women, Peace and Security Champion Award
Abigail E. Disney
Abigail E. Disney advocates for real changes to the way capitalism operates in today’s world. As a philanthropist and social activist, she has worked with organizations supporting peacebuilding, gender justice, and systemic cultural change.
She is a documentary filmmaker who won an Emmy for The Armor of Light. Her latest film, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, which she co-directed with Kathleen Hughes, made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film screened in select theaters and is available on-demand. In Season 4 of the podcast All Ears, Abigail used the film as a jumping-off point to ask big-thinking business leaders, union organizers, economists, and others how they would fix our broken economy.
Abigail is chair and co-founder of Level Forward, an ecosystem of storytellers, entrepreneurs, and social change-makers dedicated to balancing artistic vision, social impact, and stakeholder return. She also created the nonprofit Peace is Loud, which uses storytelling to advance social movements, and the Daphne Foundation, which supports organizations working for a more equitable, fair, and peaceful New York City.
Lifetime Gender Equality Leadership Award
Ambassador Geeta Rao Gupta
Ambassador Geeta Rao Gupta is the fourth Ambassador-at-Large for the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the US Department of State and the first woman of color to hold the position.
She previously served as senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation and senior advisor to Co-impact, a global collaborative philanthropy for systems change. From 2012 to 2016, Ambassador Rao Gupta served as deputy executive director, programmes at UNICEF and prior to that as a senior fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Earlier, Gupta served as president of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) for more than a decade.
Ambassador Rao Gupta has also chaired numerous boards, including the Global Advisory Board of Women Lift Health, an initiative to promote women’s leadership in global health, and served as a member of WHO’s Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for Health Emergencies, the Board of UBS Optimus Foundation, and the Advisory Board of Merck for Mothers. She also served as a commissioner for the Lancet-SIGHT Commission on Health, Gender Equality, and Peace.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, including InterAction’s Julia Taft Award for Outstanding Leadership, Harvard University’s Anne Roe Award, and Washington Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” Award.
Ambassador Rao Gupta holds a PhD in psychology from Bangalore University and an MPhil and MA from the University of Delhi in India.
Congressional Champion Award
US Congresswoman Grace Meng
US Congresswoman Grace Meng was born and raised in Queens as the daughter of immigrants. She is the first and only Asian American member of Congress from New York State, representing one of the most diverse districts in the country.
Serving as a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, Congresswoman Meng is a stalwart advocate for refugees, immigrants, and people seeking asylum. She has introduced legislation to promote the inclusion of new immigrants and refugees in the United States, including the Destination Reception Assistance Act, which would provide much-needed federal assistance to communities receiving and serving migrants. In 2023, she co-sponsored the Fairness to Freedom Act, which establishes a right to legal representation in immigration removal and bond hearings for individuals who are unable to afford it. Congresswoman Meng is also a champion of sexual and reproductive health and rights and LGBTQ rights. In Congress, she has opposed efforts that undermine the ability of health care providers to deliver life-saving care to women and people around the world by supporting legislation like The Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act, which would repeal the global gag rule. In addition, she has led the bipartisan Safe from the Start Act which would codify the Safe from the Start protocol, which integrates gender-based violence prevention and response into humanitarian responses more broadly.
Musical Guest
Alsarah & The Nubatones
Alsarah & The Nubatones were born out of many dinner conversations between Alsarah and Rami El Aasser about Nubian “songs of return,” modern migration patterns, and the cultural exchanges between Sudan and Egypt. A common love for the richness of pentatonic sounds and shared migration experiences expanded the conversation to include Armenian–American oud player Haig Manoukian and French-born Togo-raised bass player Mawuena Kodjovi.
Under the leadership of Alsarah, the Brooklyn-based group’s sound grew into what they have dubbed “East-African retro-pop.” Signed to Wonderwheel Recordings, their debut album “Silt” was released to international acclaim in 2014 and their sophomore release “Manara” topped the “2016 Best of Lists.”
Always trying to connect the musical dots, both her full-length albums with The Nubatones saw them reimagined and remixed by various acclaimed electronic producers in 2015’s Silt Remixed and 2017’s Manara Remixed (both via Wonderwheel Recordings). Between albums, Alsarah also works with the Sudanese artist collective Refugee Club Productions on a variety of projects including the critically acclaimed documentary “Beats of the Antonov.”
Alsarah’s star quality and expressive live performances with The Nubatones have seen the band play some of the world’s finest festivals: Glastonbury Festival, Roskilde Festival, and WOMAD Festival, and amassing fans, including The Roots’ Questlove, with their spellbinding and eclectic East African retro-pop.
Photo credit: Nousha Salimi
Dance Performance
Preeti Vasudevan
Dance inspired by “The Immigrant’s Song” as voiced by the poet Tishani Doshi, set to original music by Mal Stein
Preeti Vasudevan is an award-winning cultural storyteller and thought leader exploring individual identity and the critical role of arts in the expression of the individual’s story in a global society. A critically acclaimed choreographer, Preeti’s provocative and unconventional storytelling challenges the status quo of dance-theater, bridging ancient traditions with the contemporary world.
Preeti’s works have been supported by prominent organizations like TED; Centre National de la Danse, Paris; Lincoln Center, NY; Guggenheim Works & Process, NY; The Joyce Foundation, NY to name a few.
Arts & advocacy through cultural diplomacy is key to Preeti’s work. As an arts ambassador of the US Department of State, she leads pioneering initiatives including innovative digital educational initiatives, encouraging self-expression, artistic risk and healing of trauma amongst youth in underserved regions of the world through cross-cultural creative exchange between artists and the community. Preeti collaborates with other creative leaders such as Yo-Yo Ma, Guggenheim awardee Paul Kaiser, and Dame Evelyn Glennie (work slated for premiere in 2026-27 premiere). Preeti currently serves on the New York Lincoln Center’s Artistic Committee advocating representation and diversity in the arts.
Preeti created her arts impact collaborative, Thresh, in 2005 as a platform inviting multidisciplinary artistic collaborators and thought leaders to work towards a common voice on issues that impact our global society.
Photo credit: Maria Baranova
Tishani Doshi, Poet
Preeti Vasudevan’s performance was set to original dance piece to “The Immigrant’s Song” by Tishani Doshi.
Tishani Doshi is an award-winning poet, novelist, and dancer whose work centers the body as a vehicle to explore gender, sexuality, and power.
Her publications include Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, Small Days and Nights, and A God at the Door. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a Visiting Associate Professor at New York University, Abu Dhabi.
Artwork
Helen Zughaib
We are grateful to Helen Zughaib for allowing the Women’s Refugee Commission to feature her art at the Voices of Courage gala.
Helen Zughaib was born in Beirut, Lebanon. She came to the United States to study art at Syracuse University, earning her BFA from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Helen’s work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, and Middle East. Her paintings have been gifted to heads of state by President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and are found in many private and public collections, including the White House, World Bank, Library of Congress, American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Her work has been featured in Art in Embassy State Department exhibitions abroad, including in Iraq, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia.
The John F. Kennedy Center/REACH selected Ms. Zughaib as a member of the 2021/24 Inaugural Social Practice Residency. She is the recipient of the Senior Fellowship at Abraham Path Initiative, 2024, and has served as cultural envoy to Palestine, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.
Helen’s work is about creating empathy and creating a shared space for introspection and dialogue. She says, “I ask the viewer to see through someone else’s eyes, to walk in another’s shoes. To accept the ‘other.’ To reject divisiveness. To promote acceptance and understanding and to reject violence and subjugation of anyone anywhere. To give voice to the voiceless, to heal, and to reflect in our shared humanity.”
For more information about Helen and her artwork, visit https://www.hzughaib.com/.
Photo credit: Basil Kiwan
Awards Presenters
Dina Dublon
Dina Dublon is a pioneer in advancing women and promoting gender equity in both the corporate and nonprofit worlds. She began her corporate career as a trainee on the trading floor in 1981, rising to become the first female chief financial officer and executive vice president of JPMorgan Chase in 1998.
Following her first Women’s Refugee Commission delegation to Rwanda in 1999, Diana came back determined to use her leadership role to advocate for refugee women’s rights. She co-chaired the board of the Women’s Refugee Commission and was on the board of the Global Fund for Women. She currently serves as chair of the board of the Columbia School of Public Health, on the board of several other not-for-profit boards and several corporate boards. She was also on the faculty of the Harvard Business School.
Born in Brazil, Dina resided in Israel and has lived in the US for many years. She has two adult children.
Ambassador Donald Steinberg
Ambassador Donald Steinberg has more than 40 years of experience in government and nongovernmental organizations, and expertise in the fields of international relations and development; women, peace and security; and atrocity prevention. He now serves as expert advisor to the Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and is executive director of the nonprofit, Mobilizing Men as Allies for Women, Peace and Security. As USAID deputy administrator under President Obama, his priorities included the inclusion of women, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ persons, and other marginalized groups into the development and humanitarian space.
Ambassador Steinberg’s positions in government included White House deputy press secretary, National Security Council senior director for African affairs, special Haiti coordinator, and US ambassador to Angola.
He is the former president and CEO of World Learning, an international nonprofit organization that provides education, exchange, and development programs in more than 60 countries.
Ambassador Steinberg has served on many nonprofit boards, including as former co-chair of the Women’s Refugee Commission.
Leila Rassekh Milani
Leila Milani serves on the Women’s Refugee Commission board. She is the program director for global policy and advocacy for Futures Without Violence, where she leads their work on global violence prevention, with a focus on women and children. She is instrumental in developing innovative policy solutions, driving advocacy efforts, securing resources, and influencing the agendas of national coalitions such as Girls Not Brides, Coalition for Adolescent Girls, the US Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security, End Violence Against Children Task Force, and the Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls Globally, for which she serves on the executive committee. Ms. Milani has traveled extensively to eastern Africa where she has led innovative programming around engagement of men and boys in advancing gender equality. She serves on the Board of Directors of Soccer Without Borders, and Too Young To Wed. She was recently invited to serve on the Mona Foundation Board of Advisory, which addresses the root causes of poverty and inequality around the world. Ms. Milani is a lawyer and human rights advocate with special expertise on women’s rights, children’s rights, and human rights.
Closing Remarks
Liv Ullmann, WRC Co-Founder and Honorary Chair
Liv Ullmann is co-founder and honorary chair of the Women’s Refugee Commission. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of women, children, and youth refugees worldwide. Liv was the first woman to serve as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Originally a stage actress, she has played many of the great classic women’s roles in Norway, on Broadway, in London’s West End, and in Australia. Her collaboration with Ingmar Bergman lasted for more than 40 years. She has won and been nominated for numerous awards, including an honorary Oscar in 2022, two Academy Awards nominations for best actress, and five Golden Globe best actress nominations, including two wins. She won the American Film Critics’ Prize four years in a row. Richard Rogers wrote his last musical for her.
Liv has also had a successful directing career in film and theater, receiving international acclaim. In 2014, she directed a film version of Miss Julie, starring Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell, and in 2009, she directed A Streetcar Named Desire, featuring Cate Blanchett in the lead role; the play ran in Sydney, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Ingmar Bergman gave her his last two film scripts to direct.
Liv is also the author of two books, Changing and Choices, which have been printed in more than 25 languages.
Sponsorships
Advocate
