Ronan Farrow

Ronan Farrow set in motion a sea change by exposing the culture of silence that protects powerful abusers. In the 10 months he spent investigating Harvey Weinstein for his series in The New Yorker, Farrow was repeatedly told to back down. He refused. “These are human rights abuses,” says Farrow.

A former diplomat, refugee rights activist and UNICEF spokesperson for youth, Farrow has long been a fearless advocate for human rights. As a foreign policy official in the first Obama administration, he founded the State Department’ s Office of Global Youth Issues and often reported on conflict, corruption and human rights abuses for major publications. In 2015, he started the Today Show’ s #Undercovered series, which combines old-school reporting with crowd-sourced story selection. Throughout his career, Farrow has consistently used his platform to give voice to people and stories that often don’t get attention – whether it’ s youth protesters in the Arab Spring, refugees from Darfur, or survivors of sexual assault.

“It opened up a vein that was under the surface,” says Farrow of his initial Weinstein article. He says the next step in this important cultural shift we’ re witnessing is to back it up with practical measures that prevent future abuse and support survivors who speak out.