At the age of 18, Natalie Warne became a symbol for young activists everywhere. Inspired by Invisible Children, the documentary about Joseph Kony and how he forced children to become soldiers for the Lord’s Resistance Army, Warne interned with the Invisible Children movement and eventually showed how being young is no obstacle to changing the world.

Warne, along with other interns with Invisible Children, was working to bring awareness to a bill that would make it American policy to go after Kony and the LRA. Her efforts brought her to the Oprah studio where the Invisible Children movement advocated for the bill. Ten days later, the bill was introduced into Congress. And a year later, the bill was signed into law.

People will remember most that moment she got to appear on Oprah. However, she points out that what made their movement a success was not what was shown on television but what happened behind the cameras. She talks about the people who showed up to support the cause of Invisible Children even when it rained, the other interns that planned other events, and even a family that bought a hundred boxes of pizza for the supporters. These are people that didn’t do it for the glory but for the goal. “The moment isn’t a movement,” she said. “What fuels a movement is the anonymous extraordinaries behind it.”

She leaves us with the message to chase after our dreams and not let youth stop us. “In the small anonymous monotonous every single day acts, I have to remind myself to be extraordinary.” she said.

“It is the acts that make us extraordinary. Not the Oprah moments.”

– Rafael Panlilio
Source:  TED