Women Who Inspire: Christy Turlington Burns

(Photo Courtesy of everymothercounts.org)

NAME: Christy Turlington Burns

AGE: 45

OCCUPATION: Model/Philanthropist; Founder of Everymothercounts.org

WHO SHE IS: My 10-year-old-self would have died to have been in Christy’s designer shoes, strutting her stuff in George Michael’s video for Freedom! ‘90. That was more than 20 years ago, and Christy has continued to enjoy an incredibly vast modeling, every since. Now, she has added philanthropist to her list of achievements with the start of Every Mother Counts, an organization aimed at ending preventable deaths caused by pregnancy and childbirth around the world.  She is focused not just on raising money for the cause, but also on raising awareness, in an effort to avoid maternal mortality due to unnecessary delays and denial of medical treatment in many countries.

WHY SHE INSPIRES ME: Having just become a mom in February 2013, Christy’s charity certainly hits home for me now more than ever. And as co-founder and COO of Sherpaa, where our goal is to make health care accessible and affordable for everyone, Christy’s devotion to doing so herself via her own organization is particularly admirable to me — she’s a true kindred spirit. And while she may be a model, she’s not ignorant to the plight of others, and she uses her access, influence, and wealth to help make a difference in the world. She’s a wonderful example of how we, as women, can help each other, which is a true showing of global sisterhood, whether you’ve been on the cover of a million magazines or not.

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