Englewood and Matawan students will receive $5,000 awards and invitations to the 2024 summit
for their work addressing the challenges of a changing
world.
NEWARK, N.J.,
Feb. 13,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Marie
Dillard, 18, of Englewood,
and Anika Dugal, 17, of Matawan, today were each named a 2024
Prudential Emerging Visionary for their inspiring commitment to
improving the lives of others.
As two of 25 Prudential Emerging Visionary winners, Marie and
Anika will each receive a $5,000
award to help take their innovation to the next level. They are
also invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to Prudential's
headquarters in Newark, New
Jersey, where they will be coached by Prudential employees
and have the chance to meet other young leaders.
Prudential Emerging Visionaries recognizes young people ages
14-18 whose fresh perspectives and innovative solutions address
pressing financial and societal challenges in their communities.
The program's goals align with Prudential's purpose: to make lives
better by solving the financial challenges of our changing
world.
"I am inspired by the students' sense of purpose and commitment
to driving positive change in their communities," said
Chairman and CEO Charles
Lowrey. "We're honored to support these young leaders as
they bring their extraordinary projects to life."
During the summit, to be held April
20-23, five winners will also have the opportunity to
present their solutions in a pitch-off, where a grand prize winner
will be awarded an additional $10,000
in funding. What's more, Prudential employees will again vote to
name an Employees' Choice Award winner, who will receive an
additional $5,000.
New Jersey's 2024 Prudential
Emerging Visionaries:
Marie Dillard founded
"The Crescendo Lab," a classical music mentoring program that works
with youth of color to expand access to music education and create
an inclusive future for classical musicians of color in American
orchestras. During the program, mentees build their music skills,
learn about setting goals, and explore music history so that they
are exposed to musicians and composers who look like them.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Marie noticed how few people of
color played in her orchestra. Through conversations with her
classmates, she found that many of her peers felt that "orchestras
were not for them." Growing up with access to classical musical
education made Marie passionate about encouraging young people of
color to "be comfortable expressing themselves through music, be
inspired to play, and be able to make space for themselves in
classical music." Currently, "The Crescendo Lab" runs a five-week
mentoring program and is working to build replicable models to
expand to other states.
Anika Dugal founded
"Girls for Algorithmic Justice," a global grassroots coalition of
young women acting through political action and advocacy to address
the gender and racial disparities in artificial intelligence
technologies. Through coalition building, Anika's initiative works
to address algorithm-based discrimination by advancing regulation
for ethical use of AI on a national scale.
When Anika learned of the gender and racial disparities within
AI algorithms, she decided to mobilize the young women in her
community around addressing bias. "Through a dualism of raising
awareness and empowering young people to take action, I hope to
spark significant progress in the realm of promoting equitable AI,"
she says. Currently, Anika's project brings together more than 280
student volunteers within a network of 11 school chapters across
the globe.
Prudential Emerging Visionaries is sponsored by Prudential in
collaboration with Ashoka, a leading organization in the social
impact sector, with advisory support provided by the Financial
Health Network, an authority on financial health and a longtime
partner of The Prudential Foundation.
The program is an evolution of Prudential's Spirit of Community
Awards, which honored more than 150,000 outstanding youth
volunteers over 26 years.
To read about all of this year's Prudential Emerging
Visionaries, visit prudential.com/emergingvisionaries.
About Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader
and premier active global investment manager, has operations in
the United States, Asia, Europe
and Latin America. Prudential's
diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by
creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential's iconic
Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and
innovation for more than a century. For more information, please
visit news.prudential.com.
About Ashoka
Ashoka is the largest global network of leading social
entrepreneurs — individuals with new ideas to systemically address
the world's biggest challenges and the entrepreneurial skill to
transform those ideas into national, regional and global social
impact. Over 40 years, Ashoka has supported more than 3,600 social
entrepreneurs in 90 countries with solutions addressing society's
most pressing issues. Ashoka's vision is a world in which Everyone
is a Changemaker — a society that responds quickly and effectively
to challenges, and where each individual has the freedom,
confidence and societal support to address any social problem. For
more information, visit ashoka.org.
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SOURCE The Prudential Insurance Company of America