Feeling uninspired? Here’s a round up of five inspirational people that you should know about. From industry titans, to chefs, to racing drivers, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
1. Susie Wolff
Susie Wolff is the managing director of F1 Academy, a feeder series for Formula 1 that provides a platform for young female racing drivers. Wolff has become a feminist icon of the male-dominated racing world over the course of her career, starting out in karting before moving through single seater series’. She has also competed in Formula Renault and Formula 3, one of very few women to do so. In 2012, Wolff joined Williams F1 Team as a development driver, and in 2014 she was the first women in 22 years to participate in an F1 race weekend at the British Grand Prix.
After retiring from racing in 2015, Wolff co-founded Dare to be Different, an initiative to support women in motorsport. She ventured into Formula E in 2018, becoming Team Principal – and later CEO – of Venturi Formula E Team. In 2023, Wolff was appointed as Director of F1 Academy, which launched that same year. F1 Academy strives to improve female visibility and inclusion across motorsport, breaking long-standing barriers in the industry.
Wolff is a pioneer for women in motorsport, a sector that is extremely male-dominated and has started to change under her influence. Initiatives like Dare to be Different are vital in boosting the inclusion of women in the motorsport world and let young girls know that there is space for them too, even when it doesn’t always look that way.
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2. Motaz Azaiza
Motaz Azaiza is a Palestinian photo journalist from the Deir al-Balah refugee camp in Gaza. After graduating from university in 2021 with a degree in English Studies, he aimed to be a travel photographer and began documenting life in Gaza.
Azaiza started to gain recognition for documenting the impacts of the Israel Hamas War that escalated in October 2023. His photographs were posted to Instagram, where his following grew from 25,000 to 18 million by early 2024, and captured the destruction and suffering of civilians in Gaza.
His photographs were included in Time’s Top 10 Photos of 2023, serving as some of the most viewed images of the conflict. Azaiza was named GQ Middle East’s Man of the Year in 2023, was included in Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2024, and notably received the TRT World Citizen Award.
After surviving for 108 days of the war, he left Gaza and relocated to Qatar. Azaiza has lost 15 family members over the course of the conflict.
Since relocating, Azaiza has continued to speak out internationally about the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, using his powerful storytelling to highlight human rights issues and resilience of the Palestinian people.
3. José Andrés
José Andrés is a Spanish-American chef and humanitarian. In 2010, after being accredited as a pioneer of modern Spanish cuisine in America, he launched World Central Kitchen (WCK). WCK is a non-profit organisation that provides meals in response to humanitarian crisis. WCK has provided millions of meals to conflict zones such as Ukraine and Palestine, and to disaster zones such as Turkey after an earthquake, and Puerto Rico after hurricanes.
Andrés has received global recognition for his humanitarian efforts. He has been named as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People several times, was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in 2015, and was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with WCK. He has become a figurehead for chefs, demonstrating how they can help in global disasters.
Andrés has also received attention for resigning from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition in January 2025, after sitting in the position since 2022 under the Biden Administration. It has been reported that Andrés did not want to work alongside President Trump again, who was re-elected in 2024, after comments the President made about Mexican immigrants in 2015. The comments led Andrés to pull out of plans to open a restaurant in Trump’s Washington D.C hotel, a move the President tried to sue the chef over. The case was later settled.
4. Reshma Saujani
Reshma Saujani is an American lawyer, politician, author and entrepreneur. Before moving into tech activism, she worked in law and politics, running for Congress in New York.
In 2012, Saujani founded Girls Who Code (GWC), a non-profit organisation aiming to close the gender gap in technology by equipping young girls with computing skills and the confidence to go into the industry. GWC runs clubs and summer programs globally, reaching thousands of young women. This has helped woman gain the correct skills, mentorship, and industry exposure. The organisation also helps to address and break systematic barriers that women face in the technology sector.
Saujani is known for prompting her ethos “bravery over perfection”, which pushes for girls to take risks and gain experience through failure rather than not try due to fears of failing. This addresses the cultural and social pressures that often hold women back in their careers. Saujani has spoken up about the need for diversity in the tch world, not just for representation and equity, but also for innovation.
In 2019, she released her book ‘Brave, Not Perfect’, centred around overcoming fears and perfectionism. Saujani has also given a TED Talk, ‘Teach Girls Bravery. Not Perfection’, which has received millions of views and inspired a movement that shifts the perspective on how society encourages young women. Whilst continuing to advocate for gender equity and education reform, Saujani also founded Marshall Plan for Moms, an initiative that supports mothers who want to re-enter the workforce.
5. Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern was the Prime Minister of New Zealand between 2017 and 2023, leading through several major events that sparked global attention. At 17, she joined the Labour Party, was elected to Parliament in 2008, and became the leader of the Labour Party in 2017, just weeks before the national election. Aged 37 at the time of her election to Prime Minister, she became the youngest female head of government in the world.
One of the most notable moments in her career came after the Christchurch Mosque Attacks in 2019. A gunman killed 51 Muslims in a white supremacist terrorist attack, and Ardern’s response sent a powerful message. When paying tribute to the victims and visiting their families, Ardern wore a hijab as a sign of respect and declared “They are us,” a statement aimed at tackling and rejecting Islamophobia. In response to the attacks, she also banned most semi-automatic weapons in less than a month.
She demonstrated strong leadership again in her response to the threat of Covid-19, earning global praise for her swift action and science-based decisiveness. Ardern earned public trust through her compassionate and clear communication about fears surrounding the pandemic.
In 2018, she became the second world leader in modern history to give birth while in office. She took six weeks of maternity leave, demonstrating the balance between leadership and motherhood. When resigning from her role, she explained that she felt she no longer had “enough in the tank”, widely regarded as an honest and human decision.
While no leader is perfect and she received criticism from opposition at times, Ardern promoted a ‘politics of kindness’, challenging the male-dominated and often aggressive tone of global politics. She broke barriers as a young female politician, mother and leader on the world stage. Throughout her career she has stood up for marginalised groups, gender equity, LGBTQ+ rights and anti-extremism.
Her leadership style has been studied and promoted as a model for modern governance.
Interested in any of these paths? Read more in our Career Stories section!
