Modern Hero

Ever since she was 5-years-old, Arabia Mollette wanted to become a doctor, but for a kid growing up in the projects, it seemed like an impossible dream, yet one she never stopped pursuing. Along the way, she has faced unspeakable pain, including the murder of her infant son and teenage sister, but through tragedy, she found faith and purpose. Today she tends to the medical needs of those struggling in her community and her journey is nothing less than extraordinary.

She's a world-renowned Oncologist whose career has spanned more than 60 years, and her work has impacted the lives of millions around the world. As a young girl growing up in England, her parents always made her believe she could do anything she set her mind to and she did just that. With a passion for people and a purpose for serving others, Dr. Evans found her true calling in caring for sick children. She's credited with reducing mortality rates in neuroblastoma patients by 50%, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. She noticed families had nowhere to stay while their kids received treatment, so in 1974 she co-founded the Ronald McDonald House Charities, which has since provided temporary housing to more than 7 million families in over 63 countries. At 93- years-old, she continues to live her life for the benefit of humanity.

Abandoned by her mother at just 4-months-old, the odds were against her from the start, but this New Orleans native overcame the obstacles and achieved her dreams of becoming a nurse practitioner. After Hurricane Katrina tore through her beloved hometown, this Modern Hero jumped into action, working around the clock to treat patients anywhere and everywhere in the devastated region, all while bringing national attention to the medical tragedy facing her community. Now, she's running her own home health care business, and teaching nurses throughout the country to launch their successful practices to give a little TLC to those who need it most.

She was a rising star on the financial scene with cooking skills that wowed her co-workers. But after Hurricane Katrina ravaged her hometown of New Orleans, she traded her career in corporate America for one in the culinary world so she could open a restaurant and breathe new life into the local economy. Now, this Modern Hero is the owner and operator of Diva Dawg Food Truck, specializing in gourmet, Creole-style hot dogs. She's a female business leader on the rise and is inspiring women everywhere to cook up a new life and create their own recipes for success.

Farah is a rising star at NASA and is on a mission to inspire young girls to join the Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) community. In fact, women currently make up less than 25% of the total STEM workforce, yet Farah continues to excel as a Systems Engineer, building unmanned spacecraft to search for life throughout the universe. Farah's career is out of this world, and she wants other young girls to believe they too have the power to reach for the stars.

As an award-winning journalist, author, and professor, Farai Chideya has used her life experiences, both good and bad to help others put the puzzle pieces of their lives together. Over the years, Farai has worked in print, television, radio, and digital media; covered every Presidential election since 1996; and traveled to 28 countries and 49 states to report, learn, and explore. Her voice is her gift, and she uses it to shed light on issues that matter.

From Hooters hostess to one of the most prominent business figures in the country, this Modern Hero has skyrocketed through the corporate ranks, while lifting others along the way. As a new mom, this powerhouse gets candid about marriage, motherhood, and the importance of giving back.

This Modern Hero refuses to be labeled! And no matter what career she's tried, she's conquered it. She's a lawyer, professional singer, interior designer, and now serves as a judge on the Emmy award-winning series Lauren Lake's Paternity Court. Her mission is to live limitlessly and to empower women everywhere to do the same.

Lauren Scruggs, a model and fashion blogger, found herself in the news in December 2011 after a plane propeller accident robbed her of her left eye and arm. Instead of focusing on the bad, Lauren has chosen to embrace everything good in life both for herself and for those around her. She's since launched the Lauren Scruggs Kennedy Foundation with a mission to help provide prostheses to women in need.

In 2004 Luma Mufleh took a wrong turn that changed the trajectory of her life. As a gay Arab woman, she lived in fear in her home country of Jordan, where homosexuality was a death sentence. Hoping for a fresh start, she escaped to the United States, but being a refugee in a new country wasn't easy. After years of heartache and uncertainty, Luma found her purpose when she met a group of refugee kids who wanted to play soccer. Understanding the plight of their experience, Luma started a soccer team called the Fugees Family. But that wasn't enough when she realized most of the kids could barely speak English, she opened a school in 2007 called the Fugees Academy, which has since grown into a co-ed institution that includes year-round soccer, after-school tutoring, and is the only one of its kind in the country. Organizations like CNN have celebrated her contributions to society by naming Luma 'A Hero Among Us.'

Meg Saligman is an award-winning public artist who has created some of the most influential and thought-provoking art installations and murals in the world. She's designed works commemorating legends like Martin Luther King Jr. to highlight race relations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and constructed the famed Knotted Grotto installation, engaging over 150,000 participants for Pope Francis 2015 visit to Philadelphia. Meg's mission is to open people's minds, create conversations, and bring communities together by using art as a unifier.

Paralyzing fear has been a defining factor in Michelle's life ever since she was a little girl. She grew up in Venezuela, ranked as the second most dangerous country in the world, and was surrounded by a family of Holocaust survivors haunted by their horrific past. Now as an adult, Michelle has stopped hiding from her fears and instead runs towards them, all while documenting her journey for the world to see. She travels the world, speaking to children and adults alike about the power of living a courageous life.

She became a sports icon when she was just 13 as the first girl to ever pitch a shutout in Little League World Series history. But now, as the 16-year-old focuses on the future and making her basketball dreams a reality, Mo'ne Davis looks back on her journey to stardom and celebrates the team that helped make her a Modern Hero and an inspiration for kids around the country.

Patrice is a former DuPont engineer turned automotive entrepreneur who's on a mission to makeover the male-dominated car repair industry. While women have more licenses than men and shell out over $300 billion annually on vehicle maintenance, the automotive repair force is only 2% female. Patrice decided it was time to change that statistic, so she went back to school for automotive engineering, and after juggling a full-time, six-figure job and night school, she graduated and opened Girls Auto Clinic, the only all-female-run auto mechanic shop in the country, with an attached beauty bar.

An estimated 8,000 girls in Tanzania drop out of school each year due to pregnancy or forced marriage. Polly Dolan is determined to break that cycle through the SEGA Girls School that she launched 2008. Since opening, this scholarship-based secondary school for at-risk girls has grown into a 30-acre campus that serves 200 girls each year. In addition to learning from textbooks, students are also taught about agriculture and tourism and given real-world experience to prepare them for life beyond the classroom. Polly is proof that one person can make a big difference.

In the United States, one person dies every 62 minutes as the direct result of an eating disorder. This mental health disease doesn't discriminate based on age, race, or gender, with 20 million women and 10 million men suffering from the illness at some point in their lives. Kristina Saffran and Liana Rosenman were both directly impacted by this disease at a very young age, suffering from anorexia nervosa. Liana ended up on suicide watch after months of failed recovery, and Kristina was hospitalized on four separate occasions and forced to spend months in a treatment center fighting for her life. The pair met on their road to recovery and formed a support system to stay on track. And at just 15, these Modern Heroes decided to change the future of treatment for themselves and others as the co-founders of Project HEAL, a non-profit that's become the largest in the U.S. for delivering prevention, treatment financing, and recovery support for people suffering from eating disorders.

Inspired by Pope Francis, Mother Teresa, and Jon Bon Jovi, Sister Mary Scullion was named by TIME Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" for her relentless dedication to eradicating homelessness. Her journey to serve those in need began at just 19-years-old when she joined the convent, and she's lived a life of service ever since. Now her organization, Project HOME, has saved thousands of people from living on the streets and is recognized as a model for ending homelessness nationwide.

As a child, Yasmine Mustafa experienced terror hiding out in a Kuwaiti bomb shelter during the Gulf War. But the birth of her brother on American soil led her on a twenty-year path to American citizenship. For years, Yasmine struggled with culture shock, a language barrier, and the feeling that she didn't belong. Through determination and perseverance, she graduated summa cum laude from Temple University with a degree in Entrepreneurship. Today, she is the CEO and founder of ROAR for Good - a self-defense wearable technology company aimed at diminishing attacks against women and addressing the underlying causes of violence.