Appointed to the Order of Ontario (the province's highest civilian honour), distinguished as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and L'Oreal Paris Woman of Worth; Cheryl Perera is an international children's rights advocate. She is the Founder and President of OneChild, the first organization in the world empowering a youth-led movement against the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) through education, advocacy, survivor care and survivor empowerment, benefiting over +130, 000 in 16 countries. OneChild was named one of the Top 5 Canadian Charities run by Young Professionals.At age 16, Cheryl learned about SEC in high school and was filled with anger and passion to eradicate this crime. At 17, she embarked on a solo, fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka where she visited the streets, slums, and brothels to meet with child victims, NGO workers, and law enforcement to learn how she could help. Wanting to obtain an insider’s look into the child sex trade, she partnered with the National Child Protection Authority and played the main role of the decoy—a 15 -old child sex trade victim-- in a STING operation that resulted in the successful apprehension of a child sex perpetrator. For her bravery and achievement, Cheryl was offered the position of President of Sri Lanka’s Nominee on Child Protection. At 19, she founded OneChild, and became a pioneer in the movement, lobbying the Canadian private sector to take action on the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism (SECTT), and launching the first youth-led prevention education program in schools, on child sex trafficking. Her career spans over 22 years and across 24 countries where she has joined law enforcement operations and provided shelter and long-term comprehensive care to hundreds of victims in Asia.Cheryl is a sought-after speaker and has shared the stage w/ Heads of State, UN Secretary-Generals and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera, CNN, Financial Times of London etc. Cheryl holds a MAS in Children Rights, University of Geneva and a B.A. (Hons) in Ethics, Society, and Law; Political Science and Women’s Studies, University of Toronto. She is a recipient of honorary doctorates from Trent University and the University of Windsor.She is the recipient of +35 prestigious awards in Canada and abroad including the 2006 World of Children Founder’s Award (commonly known as the "Nobel Prize for Child Advocates"), Ashoka Fellowship, 2006 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award; and 2005 Canada’s Top 20 Under 20.