{FORBES} – Over the past few years,
Forbes has taken an interest in Liberia, one of the world’s poorest
countries, but also one with promise (under the leadership of of the
first democratically-elected woman president, Nobel Peace Prize winner
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf) and one which the U.S. holds historical
obligations. We’ve traveled there with a delegation of philanthropists,
and supported world-class social entrepreneurs like Katie Meyler and Dr.
Raj Panjabi, who have since been globally recognized for their efforts
to stem the Ebola crisis, and reform the country’s education and health
systems, respectively.
One of the quiet drivers in Liberia’s
progress over the past decade, D.C.-based international strategist K.
Riva Levinson, an advisor to President Sirleaf, recently published an
excellent behind-the-scenes book, Choosing the Hero, chronicling the
country’s journey (and hers) over the past decade. It was an opportune
time to catch up with Riva and a country full of pain — and opportunity.
How did you first get interested in
Liberia? My interest in Liberia began with my first encounter with Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf. It was July of 1996, and she was working at the United
Nations, in-exile from her native Liberia, waiting for the political
space to open up so she could return home. I was barely 30, but already
weary and jaded with my work as an international lobbyist, burdened with
meaningless client assignments, and uncertain of my ability to make a
difference. And then I met Ellen, and saw a fierce determination – a
commitment to democracy and human rights without compromise. I saw in
her the possibility of what Africa could be if there were capable
leaders. And she saw something in me that I didn’t yet recognize in
myself. Culled from Forbes Online
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