The Speakers

Dr Cassandra Akinde is a public health physician working in the nexus of preventive medicine and epidemiology, and a research consultant committed to strengthening health systems and improving population health outcomes, especially in children living in underserved and marginalized communities in Nigeria. She currently serves as the Executive Director of The Neo Child Initiative for Africa (TNCI), an NGO that seeks to improve access to essential healthcare services and sustainable education among children in low-resource settings in Nigeria. Through this initiative, she and her team have conducted over 20 community health programs focused on WASH, Nutrition, Deworming, Malaria, and vaccine-preventable diseases impacting over 20,000 children in Nigeria.

Matt DeHart is a young, revolutionary educator on a mission to help create educational change through intentional and community-centered methods. He is a District Teacher of the Year winner, the “Face of Teacher Education” for his alma mater, Lt. Governor Challenge Medal Recipient, and a Top 10 Under 10 Year alumni award winner. Matt leads a non-profit, the Teach from DeHart Foundation, to take his students on life-changing trips across the US. His organization is still impacting students across multiple states. Seeing a need for revolutionary education in a Pittsburgh, PA suburb, Matt has used his non-profit to create a middle school in Arnold, PA, called the Teach from DeHart Academy. TFDA will educate the students (5th-8th grade) and their parents through an adult learning program. Matt DeHart is on a crash course with destiny. One of the youngest educational professionals to start a school, he is seeking to help create excitement around education and 21st-century methods that engage every student and teacher alike.

Samuel Olarewaju is passionate about empowering young leaders to discover their mountain of influence and become established in pursuing personal, community and global impacts. To this end, he founded Impact Leaders Connect (ILC) with the goal of bringing impact leaders globally together to learn, grow and network. Through ILC, Samuel has organized physical and virtual events that have impacted over 500 young people in more than 30 countries. Samuel's exceptional leadership qualities have been recognized through his participation as a President Student Leadership Program Fellow, One Young World ambassador, UNICEF Generation Unlimited Fellow, AstraZeneca Young Health Programme Scholar, and Unleash Accelerator Fellow, among other notable distinctions. These prestigious affiliations speak to his dedication to making a positive impact on society and his relentless pursuit of personal and collective growth.