July 21–24, 2026 · 10 AM – 1 PM EST Daily
World Merit
Day 2026.
A global celebration of positive action, uniting changemakers, youth leaders, and communities. Thank you to everyone who joined us across four days of speakers, learning, and community connection.
Thank you · See you in July 2027
In Pictures
Moments From
World Merit Day.
More highlights and photos to come
The Schedule
Four Days Of
Action.
Day 1 · July 21
Leadership & Career Development
- •Opening Keynote & Leadership for Global Impact · World Merit CEO
- •From Merit to Mission · Mentorship & Career Pathways · WM Scholar Alumni
- •Community Hour · Merit Stars & CorpsAfrica volunteers/alumni
Day 2 · July 22
Education & Mental Wellbeing
- •Reimagining Learning for the Next Generation · Education Innovator
- •Wellbeing as the Foundation of World Merit · Global Mental Health Advocate
- •Community Segment · Volunteers For Cause Leaders
Day 3 · July 23
Workforce, Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainability
- •Skills for the Future · Closing the Global Gap · Alaa-Eddine Khaldi
- •Building Businesses That Change the World · Pallavi Guha, Ph.D.
- •Building World Merit Together · Volunteers For Cause/Councils spotlight
Day 4 · July 24
Technology, SDGs & Closing Celebration
- •AI, Ethics & Technology as a Force for Positive Change · Dr. Humera Noor
- •World Council Gathering · Khadija Amahal, Chayma Benchikh
- •Community Hour · Closing Celebration · Awards & Commitments
Speakers
Meet The
Speakers.
Breanna Leuze
CEO, World Merit
Bringing over 20 years of expertise across higher education, sales, and international business development. As President of CareerFoundry she scaled the organisation to $50M in annual revenue, created over $150M in revenue, and helped over 40,000 students and adults begin or change their careers.
Daniel Stephen
Governance & Policy
Governance, policy, and development professional advancing institutional transformation and public-sector reform across Africa. Acting Head of Think Tank Operations at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
Feolami Awe-Joseph
Education & Youth Advocate
Founder of the Educational Guidance Development Initiative (College Guide Africa), expanding access to education and leadership opportunities across Africa. Host of the Youth Have a Voice podcast.
Jihad Bnimoussa
CEO, InspireCorp
Moroccan-American psychologist and CEO of InspireCorp, a youth mental health social enterprise reaching over 8 million people. Stanford AMENDS Fellow and Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader.
Alaa-Eddine Khaldi
Partnerships Manager, EFE-Maroc
Partnerships and Programme Development Manager at EFE-Maroc, leading strategic initiatives to promote youth employability across international cooperation, project management, and education.
Pallavi Guha, Ph.D.
Director of Research, NCA
Award-winning media researcher and former international journalist. Author of Hear #MeToo in India; contributed to the 2022 White House Gender Policy Task Force's U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
Dr. Humera Noor
AI & Education, Founder of Lumen
25 years teaching at universities globally including Stanford and TU Munich. Founder of Lumen, a Data & AI academy, and mentor to 3,000+ students now at Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Zoom.
