Carolina García Jayaram is the CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to ‘Make Good Famous’ by amplifying the voices of philanthropists and changemakers to inspire further change in the world.
Here, Jayaram relays five milestone moments in her career.
Presenting Malala Yousafzai the Elevate Prize Catalyst Award at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)
“This is an award given to individuals who have already achieved a great level of fame, and are using it to push issues forward. Malala has been advocating for girls’ right to education for a long time, but this particular moment was when the Taliban took power again in Afghanistan.
“Girls were being sent back home from school and since then, it has only gotten worse.
“Even though she was already incredibly famous, she needed more of a light shined on this issue. The US$250,000 we granted her at the time was put straight to work to create alternative forms of education for girls in Afghanistan.
“She continues to bring light, and it was an incredibly important moment for us. It was our first time on the CGI stage, and our first time working with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
“It was really special to introduce Elevate to the world, and to do it by supporting someone as extraordinary as Malala.”
Make Good Famous Summit 2024 opening remarks
“The summit is a great moment every year because we get to be with the winners of the Prize in person. To have them all together, with their collective genius, purpose and drive, is really quite powerful.
“It’s also a cross-sector convening of media and our partners from different foundations around the world, with the goal of sparking fresh ideas and challenging conventional ways of thinking.
“When you’re confronting really daunting issues, you can often feel very alone in this work. So the convening is a chance for them to rest and feel connected to their peers.
“The topic of my speech was asking, how can we harness culture and storytelling to bring people together? We want to train winners to be able to tell their story with greater clarity so they can achieve their goals even more effectively and inspire a global movement for change.”
The Drew Barrymore Show
“To get on The Drew Barrymore Show was, I think, uniquely powerful because often philanthropy isn’t a sexy topic to talk about. We invited Stephanie Woodward to share her lived experience.
“When she was a little girl, her father marched into her school and advocated for her right to accessible bathrooms.
“This led her to become a lawyer and a professional activist, and created this organization, Disability EmpowHer Network. She’s extraordinary and was very surprised when we announced her as the winner of a US$25,000 grant on the show.
“More than a million people watch the show, and of course social media picks it up even more, which is great for her organization.”
India with Dr Aparna Hegde and Armman
“I love this moment so much. I’ve had a personal connection to India since I was 20, when I spent a year there in the pre-internet era that really changed my life and set me on the path of a purpose-driven career.
“Through Elevate, we’ve had the great honor to support several Indian organizations, and Armman is one of the most extraordinary I’ve ever seen in terms of impact and leadership.
“The work that they do is so women-centric. And this particular day I was doing a site visit with Aparna in Mumbai, visiting hospitals and seeing the work that she does there.
“India, sadly, has one of the highest levels of maternal death rates, but it is lower because of Aparna’s work.”
On stage with Joe Deitch, Make Good Famous Summit 2024
“Joe is the reason for the whole foundation. The idea of leveraging fame, building a global fan base and elevating human consciousness came from him. I manifested that idea for him, but I continue to be inspired by him as a leader and a CEO.
“This moment on stage is when he’s at his happiest. He’s been so successful in life, but this is where his heart’s work is.
“It’s a moment of celebration. At this year’s summit we got to present Dwyane Wade with the Elevate Prize Catalyst Award for his support around the trans community.
“We’re just really happy with where we’re at right now. It’s so exciting to see how our team continues to grow. We’re about to announce our next cohort of winners, and we want to keep telling their stories to a bigger and bigger audience.”
