Marc Kielburger

Inspiring Speaker, Syndicated Columnist, New York Times Bestselling Author, WE Co-Founder
Marc Kielburger is a pioneering social entrepreneur who, along with his brother Craig Kielburger, co-founded and leads WE Movement. The organization brings people together to change the world through education, social enterprise, and charitable outreach.

WE Movement

As co-founder of the social enterprise ME to WE, Marc is a charismatic leader who makes social entrepreneurship relevant and cool.

 

WE Movement in the USA, Canada, and the UK inspires future leaders through the WE Schools and WE Day programs.

Marc Kielburger co-founded ME to WE, which sold socially conscious goods and donated half the profits to WE Charity. Marc and his brother Craig also co-founded We Day, an international youth empowerment festival with over 200,000 participants held in large stadiums across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

 

Initially called Free the Children, the international charity and educational partner WE Charity was also co-founded by Marc and Craig Kielburger.



Education

Marc attended Brebeuf College School in Toronto, Canada, and Neuchâtel Junior College (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) in 1995. 

 

As a 13-year-old young student in 1990, he volunteered for a program that allowed school credit to work at the hospice for teenage mothers and homeless older people who suffered from leprosy.

 

As a college student, Marc remained serious about his studies, earning a magna cum laude degree in International Relations from Harvard University. 

 

He later received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University to study law, with a concentration on human rights.

A Recognized Activist

Marc holds the record for being the youngest person to win the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship. In 2004, he was the youngest person ever to be named “One of Canada’s Top 40 Leaders Under 40,” but only until Craig, his younger brother, broke the record again two years later.

Marc has also been awarded an honorary doctorate by Nipissing University for his leadership development work.

He is recognizable from his appearances on shows such as Oprah, 60 Minutes, CNN, BBC, and the Colbert Report, who have shared his groundbreaking work with their audiences.

Marc Kielburger is the co-creator of the ME to WE social enterprise and WE Day, an annual youth empowerment event held in large stadiums across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Marc Kielburger also later co-founded Leaders Today, an organization that trains young people to develop the skills and confidence necessary to bring about effective social change. In 2008, Marc and Craig Kielburger appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where they launched a partnership with Oprah’s Angel Network. He was also recognized as the Most Admired CEO in Canada in the Public Sector in 2013.

Craig Kielburger is internationally recognized for his philanthropic contributions. Since he was 12 years old, Craig Kielburger has been positively impacting the lives of thousands of people all around the world. He has remained committed to human rights activism his entire life, steadily growing his charitable organizations and becoming a world-renowned author, philanthropist, public speaker and social entrepreneur.

An Early Start To Activism

At the young age of 12, Craig Kielburger had an epiphany that children truly have the power to effect change. Inspired by the story of Iqbal Massih, a boy his age in Pakistan who had spoken out against child labor and was killed, Craig and his brother Marc Kielburger initiated a project that they called Free the Children.

The Kielburgers eventually grew the project into a group of organizations empowering others to make an impact on their communities and the world.

Watch Craig share on CNN how young people can help end Child Labor in 2019

 

Free the Children would eventually become WE Charity, but the organization saw success before changing its name. When the organization was still headquartered in the Kielburger family home, Craig and his brother sent a petition to have Kailash Satyarthi released from imprisonment.

Kailash Satyarthi was a child labor activist in India. The petition was signed by 3000 people and sent to the Indian prime minister. This action resulted in the release of Kailash Satyarthi, who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

WE Charity & ME to WE

When Free the Children became WE Charity, the organization continued making significant efforts in the fight against child labor, especially in India and Pakistan, where many communities use children as workers. Craig’s passion for helping children all over the world has made a huge impact.   Craig Kielburger also created the ME to WE Social Enterprises, which supported the work of WE Charity. ME to WE was founded in 2009 to provide economic opportunities in WE Village communities and to serve as a long-term funding source for WE Charity.   With the help of his brother Marc Kielburger, Craig also developed the WE Villages program, a comprehensive international development model that was designed to create sustainable change. By working with local leaders and families, We Charity was able to change lives by implementing adaptable, reliable, and long-term sustainable solutions.

Education and Recognition

Though he started working as an activist as a teenager, Craig also took his studies seriously. Craig Kielburger combined his activism with his scholarly pursuits in 2002, enrolling in the University of Toronto’s Peace and Conflict Studies program. In 2009, Craig became the youngest person to ever graduate from York University’s Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program. Craig has also been recognized for his activism throughout his career. He has received 15 honorary degrees and doctorates for his efforts to promote education and human rights. He has also been awarded the Nelson Mandela Freedom Medal, the Order of Canada, the World Children’s Prize, and was named Canada’s Most Admired Public Sector CEO in 2015.

Marc Kielburger fires up the crowd at a WE Day event in California: “Today we celebrate a generation of young people coming together at WE Day

Marc Kielburger and brother Craig Kielburger ask a WE Day audience of young people to take action: “The mission of the WE organization is making doing good doable.”

Marc Kielburger shares the story of how WE Charity learned about Minga, an Ecuadorian tradition of “coming together” for the greater good.