Age: 16
When your mom is part of a Toastmasters club, you’re exposed to public speaking at an early age — but Zafina Zaman still impressed when she first spoke in front of a crowd for a competition at the age of eight.
Often one of the youngest participants in competitions (even the World Championships), she wanted to change that. So she became president of Chinook Winds, Calgary’s Junior Optimist Club, leading local youth in public-speaking training, events and volunteering, and increasing access to speaking resources, which aren’t always abundant in Canada.
“There’s a lot of different debate associations in the U.S., but I wanted to share the resources that I had in Calgary for other youth to increase that network,” she says.
The honours student, motivational and TEDx speaker leads her club to get involved in global service projects such as donating more than 500 books to underfunded schools.
