During the summer of 1998, Dana L. Olds and Tiffany M. Gardner travelled to Ghana as student volunteers. Over the course of the summer, they lived in a rural village, tutored elementary school children and forged a life-long friendship. More than 100 eager, backpack-toting young Americans travelled all over Africa that summer with the program. However, there were very few minorities among this group. During their late-night talks under mosquito netting, Dana and Tiffany would often discuss how they were quite the anomaly in their community—two African-American young women with a dream to pursue careers in international human rights and development towards social justice causes.

After the summer of ‘98, both continued with their academic and professional lives, which were marked by contributing to the domestic and international social justice movements. Dana went on to get degrees in international relations and public administration, work for a community-based organization in West Philadelphia, complete a tour of service in Peace Corps, and ultimately settle in Washington, D.C. to work for an international organization. Tiffany went on to get a J.D. and L.L.M, practice corporate law, provide legal counsel to asylum seekers and strategic guidance to not for profits, work in corporate social responsibility, and ultimately settle in New York City to begin a career in the growing domestic human rights field.

As their careers progressed, they gained a deeper appreciation for the similarity of challenges facing minority communities in the United States and communities in the developing world. They also became increasingly aware of the paucity of minorities with international exposure. Dana and Tiffany saw this lack of exposure as a significant barrier to global coalition-building and networks around these similar challenges, as well as a primary reason for the under-representation of minorities in international careers.

In 2005, Tiffany decided to leave corporate law practice and traveled to Cambodia where she worked with a gender justice organization. During her time in Cambodia, Tiffany began to think more and more about the lack of representation from minority communities back home on the international scene, and the similarity of obstacles they share with counterparts in the developing world. At the conclusion of that summer, Tiffany decided that one way to address this issue was to start an organization focused on young people from minority backgrounds. She approached Dana and Charles Chear, a young activist from Boston, about the idea of starting such an organization.

Tiffany, Dana and Charles eagerly moved forward to develop One World’s vision and mission. One World launched its first international summer service program in 2007. Since that time we have sent over 20 young people on four international service projects. As One World continues linking global youth leaders for social change, we aim to develop and inspire future leaders in the international and domestic human rights and development fields.