One minute the Oduwole family was mid-conversation, catching up over a routine check-in call from Ademola Oduwole. The next, everything changed. 

Zuriel Oduwole, a doctoral student studying organizational change and leadership, was on the phone with her father when she learned she had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

“That shock from back then, I’m pretty sure, is the shock that we’re still all feeling now,” Oduwole said.

---

Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.

---

Oduwole was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in January by Anthony Maddox, a professor of clinical education at the Rossier School of Education, an emeritus professor at the University of Missouri and a Nigerian senator, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

The winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in October. 

Oduwole, a filmmaker and education advocate, was nominated in part because of her 12 years of global education advocacy. 

When she was 10 years old, Oduwole launched Dream Up Speak Up Stand Up, a non-profit organization and platform that Oduwole uses to continue her advocacy and education. Twelve years later, Oduwole has now spoken to over 58,000 youth in 23 countries, including Botswana, Ethiopia, South Africa and, most recently, Seychelles. 

“I just think it’s beyond inspirational to see somebody not only start, but continue, these impactful conversations about education,” said Amelia Godard, a freshman majoring in business administration. 

Maddox first met Oduwole on the way to a conference they were both attending. Maddox said after learning more about Oduwole and her work, he suggested that she join Rossier’s Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership online program as she was studying at UCLA at the time.

“The Nobel Peace Prize tries to bring together a bunch of nominees that have done things in the world that many of us would not have thought about ourselves,” Maddox said. “I thought [Oduwole] certainly should be one.”

As part of her advocacy work for Dream Up Speak Up Stand Up, Oduwole meets with the heads of state to discuss policies and initiatives that could help kids stay in school and improve their education systems. 

Oduwole said she has sat down with over 36 presidents and prime ministers, including the presidents of Egypt, Croatia, South Sudan, Malta and the prime ministers of Jamaica and Italy to discuss education and youth development.

At 13 years old, Oduwole intervened in an oil territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana during the yearly United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York because of the potential effect of the conflict on education. 

Oduwole said she met with President David Granger of Guyana to show herself as a reminder that youth are at stake in times of conflict.

“It was a completely new experience,” Oduwole said. “You can imagine at 13 trying to even comprehend what that looks like, but that was really the first of many.”

In 2018, when Oduwole was 16 years old, President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi heard about her work and invited her to Egypt to discuss peace in the region and the importance of youth voices. 

“This upcoming generation, we have so many tools at our disposal [so] it’s about using the voices that we’ve been given to make a difference in the world,” Oduwole said.

Oduwole’s foundation also holds an annual event where they recognize the first ladies and gender ministers who play a significant part in youth development and education. So far, they have honored 16 first ladies and gender ministers. 

Oduwole said after conversing with first lady of Sierra Leone, Fatima Maada Bio, at the awards ceremony, Maada Bio thought she would be an amazing example for the young girls and parents in Sierra Leone who were impacted by the nation’s civil war. She invited Oduwole to take part in her “Hands Off Our Girls” campaign to speak in front of an audience of 20,000 girls in Sierra Leone’s national stadium.

“I went there to speak to them about the importance of dreams, the importance of education, and again, to just be that example,” Oduwole said. “I also met with the president of Sierra Leone, President [Julius Maada Wonie] Bio, just to talk about development work and what work could be done in the country.”

One of Oduwole’s largest undertakings was her advocacy  to end child marriage in Mozambique in 2018. Oduwole said it started when she found out that Mozambique had one of the highest rates of child marriage on the continent.

As young as 13, as young as 12, 10, they’re taken out of school [and] sold off into marriage, and, essentially, that’s it for them,” Oduwole said. “It’s an unimaginable practice and something that definitely gets in the way of education.”

Oduwole went to Mozambique to discuss child marriage with former President Filipe Nyusi. Sixteen months after this first meeting, Mozambique formally outlawed child marriage. 

Oduwole said her conversation with former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf when she was 10 years old was so profound that it still sticks with her throughout her advocacy work.

“[President Sirleaf] said, ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough,'” Oduwole said. “I also do talk about the importance of dreams [to students] because as someone who started when I was really young, I see the effect that dreaming has.”

Oduwole’s passion for filmmaking has served as a powerful tool in her advocacy, she said. At nine years old, she made her first short documentary about the Ghana Revolution for the History Channel-sponsored National History Day competition. 

Oduwole said she makes documentaries for three main reasons: to tell positive stories, to tell untold stories and to shed light on challenges occurring around the world. 

“I can use that medium, use film, to showcase the things that we see on the ground whenever we travel to different countries,” Oduwole said. “It’s also now been a tool that we’ve used to teach others filmmaking so that they can tell their own stories.”

Oduwole said that it is an honor to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, considering past winners like Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter. 

“[My nomination] paints the picture that age, literally, is just a number,” Oduwole said. “With the amount of resources that are out there, you can truly start at any age, even if there’s a goal or dream you think you have to be much older to accomplish.”

Maddox said he hopes Oduwole’s nomination will not only lead to the change that she advocates for but that it would inspire young women all over the world.

“It means the most to the young girls,” Maddox said. “They know there’s a champion out there and hopefully they’ve heard of her work and her efforts.”