Maria Bello is an internationally renowned actress, women’s rights activist, DWAG Board Member and the co-founder of We Advance, a women’s movement and NGO based in Cité Soleil, Haiti, that advocates for women throughout the country to have full political, economic, and social participation. In conjunction with the movement, she also founded the website We Advance University to connect and empower women in Haiti and throughout the world.
With Golden Globes and years of experience with human rights issues, Bello founded her first NGO, The DreamYard Drama Project, in 1997 and travelled around the world to Bosnia, Kenya, Botswana, Bhutan, Nepal, and many other countries. Bello began her career as an activist at Villanova University, where she majored in peace and justice education and worked at the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia.