North Royalton student is
honored with $5,000 award and
invitation to the 2023 summit for her work addressing the
challenges of a changing world.
NEWARK,
N.J., Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Varuni Chopra, 17, of North Royalton, Ohio, today was named a 2023
Prudential Emerging Visionary for her inspiring commitment to
improving the lives of others.
As one of 25 Prudential Emerging Visionary winners, Varuni will
receive a $5,000 award to help take
her innovation to the next level. She is also invited to attend an
all-expenses-paid trip with her parent or guardian to Prudential's
Newark, New Jersey, headquarters
for a three-day summit in April where she will receive coaching,
skills development and networking opportunities with Prudential
employees and 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 goals of our Emerging Visionaries program reflect
Prudential's overarching purpose: to make lives better by solving
the financial challenges of our changing world," said Chairman and
CEO Charles Lowrey. "We applaud all
of our honorees for their commitment to improving the lives of
others and creating inclusive and thriving communities."
Ohio's 2023 Prudential Emerging
Visionary:
Varuni Chopra founded "Bridge the Gap
Initiative," a project that teaches digital literacy skills to
senior citizens, boosting their connectivity and increasing their
quality of life.
Varuni decided to start this project after seeing how her
grandparents struggled with online communication during the
pandemic. "Being an immigrant with my grandparents halfway across
the world really opened my eyes to the struggles senior citizens
face every single day with technology," she explains. Since its
founding, "Bridge the Gap Initiative" has worked with 1,200 senior
citizens on more than 50 topics. The project operates across 15
states and five countries.
Emerging Visionaries is a collaboration between Prudential
Financial and Ashoka, a leading social impact organization, with
support from the Financial Health Network, an authority on
financial health and longtime partner of The Prudential
Foundation.
During the summit, to be held April
22-25, 2023, 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.
The program is an evolution of Prudential's Spirit of Community
Awards, which, over 26 years, honored more than 150,000 outstanding
youth volunteers.
To read about all 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 Prudential Financial, Inc.