Manuela Testolini, the founder and head of In A Perfect World foundation has a deep, impact-driven history in the philanthropic space. Her experience – and the nonprofit – is one she has yet to fully publicize in terms of ideas, strategies, and successes as she’s spent much of the past 20 years working to build effective, solutions-oriented approaches to empower the next generation.

Under her leadership, In A Perfect World has created and supported programs that provide access to education, mentoring and artistic expression to underserved youth around from the US to Central America to Africa and Asia. In addition to In A Perfect World’s work of building schools, providing grants to inner city classrooms in need, and helping to facilitate youth-driven moments of service, Manuela has created a unique Youth Ambassador Program in which she trains young people to be philanthropists and community leaders themselves.

Of Egyptian and Italian descent, Manuela was raised in Canada and spent her summers growing up in Egypt where she was deeply moved by first-hand exposure to societal challenges and for some, a need for so much.

After receiving a degree in law and sociology at York University in Toronto, Manuela became involved with several nonprofit organizations and philanthropic projects including Love4One Another, Free Arts Minnesota, and the Young Women’s Empowerment Network. From this work, experience, and passion, In A Perfect World was born, and has since been widely recognized with honors including the Award of Service from United Communities Against Poverty, the GuideStar Platinum Seal Award, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Fearless Leader Award, and the Muhammad Ali Voice of Humanity Award, whose inaugural recipient was Barak Obama.

Manuela’s commitment to service is a family affair: she and her husband have traveled together to places like Haiti to build schools with In A Perfect World, and their two daughters are following in their footsteps as Junior Ambassadors for the organization leading social impact projects of their own.