Dr. Tererai Trent is an internationally acclaimed voice for women’s empowerment and education.
Hailed by Oprah Winfrey as her “all-time favorite guest,” Dr. Trent is an inspiring and dynamic scholar, educator, humanitarian, speaker, author, and the founder of Tererai International.
Born in a small village with no electricity or running water in Zimbabwe (then, Rhodesia), she was married in her early teens as was the custom, had four children by age 18 and suffered repeated physical abuse from her husband.
Still, she dreamed of a different reality, one that would break the generations-long cycle of poverty, early marriage, illiteracy and disempowerment. Against all odds, she worked for 8 years to get her GED, and eventually earned a spot in college in the United States, taking her family with her, where some 20 years after beginning her dream of an education, she received her Ph.D..
It was her secret additional dream to not only change her life but to do something for the greater good that turned this into an even bigger story. Trent’s story ended up in the pages of the New York Times, where Oprah Winfrey discovered her remarkable story and deeply-passionate quest to help educate women. Oprah offered to partner with Tererai to return to Zimbabwe and build a series of schools that are now raising thousands out of poverty and giving them an education and the life-changing opportunities that go along with it.
Dr. Trent’s gripping story is both the topic of today’s podcast and is detailed her deeply-moving new book, The Awakened Woman – Remembering & Reigniting Our Sacred Dreams