STUDENT-DEBT
WARRIOR
TOBY MERRILL | 36
Years before student debt
would be widely considered a
national crisis—Americans now
owe a combined $1.6 trillion—
Toby Merrill started using
litigation to fight what she
calls the “worst-of-the-worst
student debt,” the kind incurred
by students who enrolled in
predatory for-profit colleges
that burdened them with
debt and provided them with
worthless degrees. As founder
and director of Harvard Law
School’s Project on Predatory
Student Lending, Merrill and her
team now represent hundreds
of thousands of former students
in several lawsuits against
the Education Department,
challenging officials to stop
collecting on loans from defunct
for-profit colleges and trade
schools. Many of her clients
are immigrants, people of color
or the first in their families to
attend college, so the issue
is about more than money,
she says: “It’s magnifying the
racial wealth gap and denying
a person access to meaningful
higher education.”
—Katie ReillySUPPORTING SEXUAL-
ASSAULT SURVIVORS
OLUWASEUN AYODEJI
OSOWOBI | 29
Dismayed by the lack of resources
available for sexual- assault survivors
in Nigeria, Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi
decided to start an organization dedicated
to the issue— despite her fears. “Telling
my story as a survivor, that comes with a
lot of stigma,” Osowobi tells TIME. Five
years on, her organization Stand to End
Rape (STER) has reached around 200,000
people across the country through its
services, such as training for health
workers and counseling for survivors.
Osowobi—who has been honored as an
Obama Foundation emerging leader—has
big plans for 2020, including lobbying the
Nigerian government for a stronger bill
addressing harassment at universities.
ÑSuyin HaynesFASHION’S NEW FACE
ADUT AKECH | 19
If there’s anyone who embodies the
future of fashion, it’s Adut Akech.
Since making her major debut three
years ago, the supermodel has scored
multiple international Vogue covers
(including the British Vogue guest-
edited by the Duchess of Sussex) and
landed coveted gigs like closing the
Chanel haute couture show as the
“bride.” Akech, who was born in South
Sudan before her family fled to Kenya
and later Australia, has also made
concerted efforts to make the fashion
industry more inclusive. Among them:
calling out racism and amplifying the
stories of her fellow refugees.
—Cady LangSPRINTING AHEAD
DUTEE CHAND | 23
On the track, Dutee Chand
sprints. Off the track, she fights.
The 100-m runner from India is
preparing to make her second
Olympic appearance, in 2020
in Tokyo. In July, she became
the first Indian sprinter to
win the 100-m at the World
University Games. But back
in 2014, Chand was effectively
banned from competition
because of her high natural
testosterone levels; she
appealed the verdict and won
a precedent- setting case. This
year, Chand announced she
was in a same-sex relationship,
making her the first openly gay
athlete in India’s history. For a
country that decriminalized
homosexuality just a year
ago, Chand’s revelation was a
notable step forward: Vogue
India named her the nation’s
Sportsperson of the Year.
“No one can win without love,”
says Chand. —Sean Gregory