Georgina Lara Booth

Georgina Lara Booth FRSA
Born	London, England
Nationality	British and Dutch
Alma mater	Columbia University in the City of New York[1]
Occupation(s)	Humanitarian, Actress, Journalist, Writer, Filmmaker[2]
Known for	Humanitarian, Activism, Journalism, Writing, Acting, Filmmaking[3][4][5][6][7]
Awards	Forbes 30 Under 30[8][9][10][11] International Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Award Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts Holland's Next Top Lobbyist (Final top 3 Nominee) Velmans Fellowship in International Communications for Journalism, Public Relations, Social Media, Publishing and Historical Research Fulbright Scholarship[12][13][14][15][16] Dik Trom Youth Award Silver Pin of Haarlemmermeer Honorary Medal of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting Association International Award for Young People (Gold Medal)[3][17][5][4][18]
Website	www.georginalarabooth.com

Georgina Lara Booth FRSA is a British-Dutch humanitarian public figure, journalist, writer, filmmaker and actress.^[2][19] She is the first ever Chief Editor Social Good of the global digital news platform and media company Mashable (Benelux),^[3] where she is also an Entertainment, Tech and Science Editor and Writer.^{[3][17][5][18][6][7]} Booth was the first person from the Netherlands to receive the International Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Award in 2013.^[20][21][22] In March 2023, Booth was recognized by Forbes as one of the 30 honorees in their annual Forbes 30 under 30 power list in the Media category and was referred to as "the new frontier of storytelling".^{[8][23][9][24][25]} In honour of International Women's Day in March 2024, Booth was recognized and named as the youngest woman on a list of "Nine famous female Fellows inspiring inclusion" published by the Royal Society of Arts, alongside former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, 18th century painter and Royal Academy of Arts founder Mary Moser and electrical engineer Dame Caroline Haslett.^[26]

Biography

In order to raise money for young victims of the 2004 tsunami disaster, Booth organized a large music concert in the Netherlands that attracted thousands of visitors when she was just 10 years old.^{[20][21][22][3][4][5][6][7]} She co-organized the concert with her then 12-year-old sister Natasha.^{[27][3][4][5][6][7]} Playgrounds and sports fields were built in Indonesia in several villages with the funds raised by Booth through her benefit concert.^[28] Subsequently, Booth was officially appointed to the prominent position of Humanitarian Youth Ambassador for Haarlemmermeer, one of the largest municipalities in the Netherlands. She was also the first and youngest youth ambassador to have been appointed by the governmental officials of the municipality and she played an important role in the promotion of the Dutch municipality's youth policy.^[28] She also served as the source of inspiration for humanitarian work to all young people of the municipality.^[29]

At the age of 16, Booth co-founded her own foundation with her sister, 4U&U Foundation, of which she is the president and founding board member.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Booth received special permission to establish her foundation from a district court judge due to her young age as a minor under Dutch Law.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} 4U&U is a youth foundation that has encouraged volunteer work and peace to youth for more than a decade, such as through social media and peace-related activities. 4U&U Foundation has also organized benefit events to raise money for various humanitarian and charity projects in collaborative foundation partnerships.^{[30][3][17][5][4][18]}

Aside from her foundation as co-founder and president, Booth has also held the title of Ambassador of Peace of the National Ministry of Peace in the Netherlands in a collaborative partnership with IKV Pax Christi.^{[31][3][17][5][4][18]} She was the youngest ever Ambassador of Peace when she established her Embassy of Peace on a regional scale in the Netherlands in 2012. Her Embassy of Peace was central to all world peace and security related activities during Peace Week and the National Day of Peace declared by the United Nations in the district of her embassy. Booth organized many activities as an Ambassador of Peace, ranging from a Masquerade Peace Ball in the Dutch National Museum of Ethnology to lectures and debates about peace with many prominent experts, including the former Defense Minister of the Netherlands Joris Voorhoeve, a Dutch Member of Parliament and Dutch musician Merlijn Twaalfhoven about conflicts surrounding raw materials in countries such as Congo, Colombia and Sudan.^{[31][3][17][5][4][18]}

In 2005, Booth won a nationwide competition to design the new national slogan for UNICEF's Kids United in the Netherlands. Her slogan "Van Pool tot Pool, elk kind naar school!" (Dutch for: From Pole to Pole, all children should go to school) was published on posters, flags, magazines, flyers, and other merchandise and was also mentioned on the Kids United TV show.^{[3][17][5][4][18]}

As an advocate for women's rights, Booth has also been a UN Women delegate for the United Kingdom since 2021 and attended the Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.^[32]

Career

Acting

Aside from humanitarian work, Booth is an actress for television, film and theatre. She has appeared in various professional productions ranging from starring in the European TV show Le Camping with Flemish Sesame Street actress Sien Diels to a Stephen King film, performing on the NCRV children's TV show Buya with Jetske van den Elsen, voiceover work for the ITV series Van der Valk and performing in theatre at the Dutch Children's Rights festival with fellow Dutch television actors like Victoria Koblenko. Booth trained in acting at several leading drama schools, such as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, and studied method acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City.^{[20][33][21][22][34][35]}

Journalism and writing

Booth leads the Social Good content and publications desk of Mashable (Benelux), writing about social good, sustainability,^[36][37] social entrepreneurship,^[36] charities, NGOs and humanitarian work.^{[3][37][38][39][4][5][6][7][40]}

As Editor, Writer and Journalist for Entertainment, Tech and Science at Mashable (Benelux), Booth also writes about Entertainment, Tech, Film and Television, Books, Law and Politics,^[41][42] Sustainability, Nature and Environment,^[18][43] Science, Food and Hospitality,^[44][45][38] Travel,^[44] History, Visual Arts,^[46] Performing Arts, Films and Television,^{[47][48][49][50][51]} Robotics,^[52] Artificial Intelligence (A.I.),^[53] Space,^{[54][43][55][52]} Innovation, Gaming^[56][57][58] America^[59] and Entrepreneurship.

Booth has interviewed many public figures and Hollywood celebrities, including Martin Luther King III^[60] and family, Angelina Jolie,^[61] Pierce Brosnan,^[62] Richard Branson,^[63] Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov,^[64] Colin Farrell,^[65] James McAvoy,^[66] Spike Lee,^[67] Robin Wright,^[68] Khloé Kardashian,^[56] Andy Serkis,^[69] Tiësto,^[70] Rick Astley,^[71] Hiram Garcia,^[72] Paul Dano,^[73] Ruth Wilson,^[66] Jeffrey Wright,^[74] Prince Constantijn of The Netherlands,^[75] Joseph Gordon-Levitt,^[76] Victoria's Secret supermodel Behati Prinsloo Levine,^[77] Harry Potter star Domhnall Gleeson and Brian Gleeson,^[78] Neil Burger,^[79] Jeremy Piven,^[80] Tye Sheridan^[79] and more.

During the Warner Bros. interviews for the 2022 DC Comics film The Batman, Booth received online recognition for impressing Andy Serkis by doing a voice impression of The Lord of the Rings character Gollum, which was voiced by Serkis himself in the Lord of the Rings films.^[81][82]

In November 2022, Booth interviewed Mykhailo Fedorov, the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, in the presence of his interpreter on the day of the Liberation of the strategic port city of Kherson from Russia, which became a key event in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Booth spoke with Fedorov about the future of Ukraine, the digitization of the Ukrainian government and the importance of technology and drones for peace and warfare. Booth also spoke with Fedorov about the role of Elon Musk and his space technology for Ukrainian warfare.^[64]

Awards and Recognition

For her humanitarian work, Booth has been recognized nationally and internationally^[83] and has received awards for her work, including an Honorary Medal from the Netherlands Public Broadcasting Television Station, awarded by Dutch MP Femke Halsema, and the International Award for Young People (Gold Medal). At the age of 17, Booth was the youngest of the top 3 final lobbyists of 'Holland's Next Top Lobbyist' named by Amnesty International, Oxfam Novib and IKV Pax Christi.^{[20][21][22][84][85]}

At the age of 18, Booth was the first recipient of the International Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Award from the Netherlands, awarded by British Prime Minister David Cameron.^[20][21][22]

At the age of 20, Booth was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts in London, UK, for achievement and contribution to the arts and society. As a Fellow, she has the honour of carrying the post-nominal title FRSA.^{[20][22] [21]}

Booth was awarded the prestigious and selective Fulbright Scholarship by the Fulbright Commission, founded by U.S. senator J. William Fulbright, and the United States State Department for graduate studies at the Ivy League university Columbia University in the City of New York.^[86] Booth was also the only Fulbright Scholar awarded the prestigious Velmans Fellowship in International Communications for Journalism, Publishing, Public Relations, Social Media and Historical Research, a fellowship founded by Dutch Hill & Knowlton CEO and public relations pioneer Loet Velmans, in addition to the Ivy Circle scholarship.^{[12][87][13][88][14][89]}

In March 2023, Booth was recognized by Forbes in their annual prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list for the Media category and was referred to as "the new frontier of storytelling". Booth was selected as one of the 30 honorees under the age of 30 on the power list who represent the "brightest young entrepreneurs, leaders, and stars" by the editors of Forbes and four independent judges. The judges for the media category of 2023 who selected Booth were John Ridding (CEO of Financial Times), Asmita Dubey (Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at L'Oréal), Kübra Gümüsay (Writer and Journalist) and Trevor Johnson (Head of Marketing Global Business Solutions at TikTok). Other fellow Forbes 30 under 30 honorees of 2023 included Hailey Rhode Bieber, Sadie Sink, Joseph Quinn, Maddie Ziegler and George Russell.^{[8][9][90][91][92][93][94]}

In honour of International Women's Day in March 2024, the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) of the United Kingdom published a list of "Nine famous female Fellows inspiring inclusion" and selected Booth as one of the nine women who promote and foster gender equality in all areas of society for future generations. Booth was also the youngest woman honoured by the RSA on the list of nine women "whose work has catalysed and continues to catalyse gender parity". Some of the other nine selected female Fellows recognized by the Royal Society of Arts for "representing their gender and being seen as role models by aspiring women" include former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, 18th century painter and Royal Academy of Arts founder Mary Moser and electrical engineer Dame Caroline Haslett.^[95]

External links

• Official website
• Georgina Lara Booth at IMDb
• Biography on Mashable

References