I have chosen Charlize Theron because she is a very inspiring woman who has used her fame as a celebrated film actor to raise awareness of important causes and to fight for change.
As a South African young women myself, I find Theron particularly inspiring as there are not many South African woman famous around the world for striving to make it a better place.
I know from my own experience that there will be men and women who will tell you to give up your dreams and focus on reality. But Theron did not listen to the people who told her that there were things that she could not do. Nor was she defeated by the terrible things she endured in her early life due to an abusive alcoholic father. Instead Theron went after her dreams. She became an Oscar winning film star. This alone is an inspiration.
Yet what I admire even more is that Theron has used her celebrity to help others.
In 2007, she created the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project with the aim of helping African youth in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Theron has declared that “We can be the generation that ends Aids.” In 2008, she was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace.
Theron is the epitome of this year’s International Women’s Day theme. She is a strong woman who has pursued her dreams and helped to make the world a better place, and never let herself be hindered by those who would tell her that there are things that she cannot achieve.
This is how every woman should aspire to be.