One of Panoply Digital’s directors and co-founders, Ronda Zelezny-Green, has been named as one of the 2015 Ten Outstanding Young Americans for her work in mobile learning. A prestigious award that is highly competitive, Ronda is in good company: previous winners include John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Orson Welles. Ronda’s award for her work in education is the culmination of her belief in the transformative power of education – and she is living proof of this. Born in Florida into a family with a low socio-economic background, Ronda grew up with persistent struggles and challenges – but was also encouraged by her mother to aim high and break the cycle of struggle through education. Ronda won a scholarship to study at a prestigious college in North Carolina, allowing her to graduate with no debt and enabling her to choose to pursue her dream of working in education, and giving others the opportunities that education can bring.

Ronda has been an educator and a teacher trainer in four continents, and has worked, studied and travelled in over 45 countries. These experiences, and her chance encounter with mobile learning while studying for her first Masters led her on to becoming an internationally recognized figure in the mobile learning field: she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in gender and mobile learning in international development, with fieldwork with adolescent girls in Kenya.

As Ronda puts it, “these international visits, bending gender stereotypes and utilising mobile technology all represent a fusion of my life experiences, and that fusion helps fuel my passion to teach, empower and learn. To be recognized among the ranks of people that have changed the world and being one of the few black women to win the award is incredibly overwhelming. It's an endorsement of the work I'm doing."

Congratulations Ronda – Panoply Digital are so proud, and so lucky, to have you as part of the team!

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