Recognized by Prince William and Prince Harry, L’Oreal Paris, and featured in People, Yahoo News, Business Insider, CBS News, and Vox, Olivia Zhang is a trailblazing global health leader mobilizing the largest youth-led force against childhood cancer. At just 14 years old, she founded Cancer Kids First (CKF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit that today unites 40,500 volunteers across 80 countries. CKF has donated over $600,000 in supplies to 72 hospitals and impacted 10,000+ pediatric patients in 22 countries.

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Throughout elementary school and middle school, Olivia’s grandfather and elementary school teacher—who she connected most deeply with—were diagnosed with cancer. Her grandpa lived in a poor part of China, Xi’An, and had limited treatment access. Over her elementary years growing up, Olivia visited him every summer. She held his frail hand and urged him to eat. She read him their favorite books to try to ease his pain. A few months later during school, when Olivia was 7,000 miles away, she drew close to 100 pieces of artwork to raise a few hundred dollars—an admirable achievement, but she ultimately came up short of the impact she had hoped to make.

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Olivia’s grandpa’s cancer eventually spread, and he passed away. Shortly after, her elementary school teacher also passed away from breast cancer. At thirteen-years-old, Olivia had lost two of the most important people to her; their deaths destroyed her. 

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Olivia has always found purpose in work, and she poured her time and energy into fundraising for cancer research through selling artwork. However, she soon realized she had no agency over where the funds went and how treatment was provided for patients. Thus, Olivia began creating a mission and vision for Cancer Kids First to normalize the hospital environment and build a supportive community for patients through five service programs. 

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A rag-tag group of three, Olivia and her officers pulled all-nighters hosting events, organizing fundraisers, researching partner hospitals, pitching to local businesses for fundraisers, and marketing CKF. They toiled to earn every cent, celebrating every small milestone. 

Today, Olivia has turned heartbreak into global impact—first selling art at a grassroots level, then creating the world’s largest nonprofit empowering young people to transform pediatric cancer care. CKF’s three-program model supports patients by leveraging its large and diverse youth base to provide a loving community through virtual events, personalized care packages, and more.

Throughout 2025 alone, she’s led CKF to mobilize ~8,000 members in Gen Z to engage in service and initiated international hospital service trips (bringing necessities, surgical equipment, and US oncology expertise to countries like Brazil and South Africa). Further, she’s sustained CKF’s core programming across 35 states in the US to decrease social isolation for kids with cancer. Her leadership includes advising global health organizations like World Child Cancer USA and WEGO Health—where she is the youngest-ever board member—and co-developing projects with pharmaceutical companies to support patients in low-income countries.

Her work has garnered awards including the 2023 Diana Legacy Award, youngest 2025 L’OReal Women of Worth, WEGO Health’s Top Patient Leader worldwide, and inclusion in Girls' Life 30 Under 30 and iMensch’s 101 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch. She has spoken at 50+ conferences and schools and amassed over 145,000 followers on social media by sharing her changemaking journey, reaching over 11 million people. Olivia is also channeling her passion of writing with Berrett-Koehler and Penguin Random House to publish a book, YOUth: The Young Person’s Guide to Starting a Nonprofit, to equip dedicated young leaders with the resources and knowledge to change the world at a time when it’s needed the most.

In addition to balancing her ventures, Olivia is studying full-time at Harvard, making her the blueprint for what Gen Z impact can look like at scale. At the intersection of health equity, youth innovation, and global service, Olivia Zhang is redefining what’s possible when young people lead.