Natalie Portman speaks at Stanford

As an applicant, one way to demonstrate your fit with schools is to offer ideas for conferences and speakers in your areas of interest. Explore the websites of your target schools to get ideas on what they are currently offering and what you could bring.

For example, Natalie Portman recently gave the inaugural address in the Social Innovators Speaker Series at Stanford’s GSB. The series is a new initiative by the Center for Social Innovation. She spoke about her involvement with FINCA International, a nonprofit that provides financial services to the poor.

According to the Stanford website, “Portman told the story of a woman in Uganda who was one of FINCA’s first clients there. She had been living on less than $1 per day, raising 10 daughters…More than 10 years ago, the woman opened a roadside food stand with a loan from FINCA. By 2004, when Portman met her, she had expanded her business to a restaurant that employed other local people. All of her children were in school, including one daughter attending university…Portman said seeing the psychological change in the women who are served is one of the most rewarding aspects of her work.”

Read the entire article here.