Maria Omare

Maria Omare is the founder and executive director of The Action Foundation, an organization working to build inclusive and resilient communities where children and young people with disabilities can thrive. She is an award-winning disability inclusion advocate, social entrepreneur, and educator committed to inspiring change and hope in underserved communities. She is passionate about early childhood development, social justice, youth advocacy, human rights, and gender equality.

Among other accolades, she has been awarded the prestigious Cordes Fellowship, Ford Motor Company International Fellowship, Akili Dada Fellowship, Business Daily’s Top 40 under 40, and in 2019 she received the U.S. State Department Professional Fellows Program Alumni Impact Award.

Maria sits on the advisory board of Street Business School, a global leader in entrepreneurship training that equips women living in poverty with the knowledge they need to build sustainable businesses. She is the board secretary of Amplify Girls, a collective of community-driven organizations collaborating to create a community-based alternative to the traditional development scale. She enjoys baking, writing poetry, sky watching, and taking long walks in nature.