Sophal Ear became a refugee at a very young age and by all means was marching towards a most certain death, if it were not for the bravery and tenacity of his mom. Join us as Sophal talks about lessons learned, what real sacrifice means, how to overcome the worst situations, and why we should never give up.
This is a tribute to the amazing woman that rescued her son from a certain death. Be inspired by the legacy that Sophal carries on.
Tenured Associate Professor of Diplomacy & World Affairs at Occidental College
Previously, he taught political economy and how to rebuild countries after wars at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and international development policy at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. He consulted for the World Bank, was Assistant Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme in East Timor, and Advisor to Cambodia’s first private equity fund Leopard Capital. A TED Fellow, Fulbright Specialist, Delphi Fellow of BigThink, Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, and Fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar, he is on the boards of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Partners for Development, the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, the Southeast Asia Development Program, Diagnostic Microbiology Development Program, the Journal of International Relations and Development (Palgrave), theInternational Public Management Journal (Taylor & Francis), the Journal of South-East Asian American Education & Advancement (University of Texas), and Politics and the Life Sciences (Allen Press). He advises the Faculty of Development Studies at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and is a Councilor for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. He is the author of Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2013) and co-author of The Hungry Dragon: How China’s Resources Quest is Reshaping the World (Routledge, 2013). He wrote and narrated the award-winning documentary film “The End/Beginning: Cambodia” (47 minutes, 2011, news blurb) based on his 2009 TED Talk and has appeared in several other documentaries. A graduate of Princeton and Berkeley, he moved to the United States from France as a Cambodian refugee at the age of 10.
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