18-year-old Gabby Tan is an activist, Diana Award winner, TedX speaker and a powerful young voice advocating for change in the world.

When she was just 13, Gabby founded her own organisation supporting refugee and asylum seeker education, Horizon of Hope. She has dedicated the past six years to advocating for the environment and working against educational inequalities in Malaysia and the UK. Last year, Gabby received a Diana Legacy Award. The Diana Award is the most significant global accolade a young person aged 9-25 years can receive for their social action or humanitarian work – the Legacy Award is an even more prestigious award! Gabby is off to study at Stanford University. 

Whether you have always wanted to effect change, campaign or set up a charity or social enterprise, Gabby is definitely proof that you can make change, however young you are – even whilst balancing this with schoolwork, sport and friends. Gabby speaks about being a quiet child, finding your voice, learning to speak publicly, focusing on the small changes you can make and finding like-minded people and mentors to work with. 

Gabby is one of the most inspiring students I've ever had the privilege of teaching. If you’re an aspiring activist or even if you’re just a normal person thinking about how to get the best out of yourself in any area of your life, I ask her the questions that you want to know the answers to…