For its July/August issue, business magazine Fast Company has listed 60 women who are doing extraordinary things in their careers. Oprah, Laila Ali, Liya Kebede and Alicia Keys (who landed on the issue's cover) are among some of the Black women who've made the cut.
Inside, Keys talks about how a tour through AIDS-stricken South African villages in 2002 led to her activism and creation of the Keep a Child Alive foundation.
“I started meeting these kids who had been so isolated and alone, and not much younger than me,” said Alicia, who is now 31 but was only 21 when she began her work. “It was so deep to me. [AIDS activist] Leigh [Blake] had a very clear vision, that if we could get these kids the right anti-retroviral medication, we could allow them to lead a full life. I dedicated myself to that vision right then.”
Boxing champ Ali has helped fund the dreams of 2012 Olympic hopefuls though her Women's Sports Foundation, while Liya Kebede's eponymous foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of women and children around the world. And thanks to Oprah's Leadership Academy for Girls, 72 young women will be starting college in the fall.
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