Sometimes parents have eh tendency of not taking their teen kids seriously because they haven’t grown up yet. A teen’s life is as important as the life of any adult. And today we are going to look into 10 most influential teens of 2016:
10. Shawn Mendes, 17
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Shawn Peter Raul Mendes is a Canadian singer who earned quiet a following in 2013 after he began posting song covers on the video sharing application Vine. He soon caught the attention of an artist manager and signed a deal with the record label. His debut single “Life of the Party” was a hit. Mendes was part of the opening acts for Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour. He also recorded a song called “Believe” for Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants. He is the youngest artist to debut in the top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100. In 2014 he won the Teen Choice award.
9. Malia Obama, 17
Malia Obama is the eldest daughter of Barack and Michelle Obama. Being the daughter of one of the most powerful man in the planet, the President of United States of America, automatically draws attention to Malia and whatever she does becomes news. Well bred and groomed, Malia according to Obama is being taught to become committed women who will help build that world. Along with her sister she attends the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. Malia is also a style icon and her style is religiously followed and appreciated by many.
8. Katie Ledecky, 18
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American swimmer. She holds a number of world records in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyle and the fastest-ever times in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles. Ledecky has broken ten world records. She is also a nine-time world champion and an Olympic gold medallist. In total, she has won fifteen medals in major international competitions. She has been awarded the Swimming World’s World Swimmer of the Year (2013), the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award (2013), the American Swimmer of the Year awards (2014) and named the international female Champion of Champions by L’Équipe in 2014.
7. Joshua Wong, 19
Joshua Wong Chi-fung is a student activist from Hong Kong and founder of the student activist group Scholarism. Now studying at the Open University of Hong Kong, Wong was named as one of TIME’s Most Influential Teens of 2014. In 2015, he was listed by Fortune Magazine as one of the World’s Greatest Leaders. The son of middle-class, Wong was inspired by his father to take a stand for the underprivileged classes and for what is right. He was also featured in the 2014 Time Magazine Cover.
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6. Zendaya, 19
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman is an American actress. Zendaya started her career at an early age with a dance group. She is best known for playing the role of Rocky Blue in the Disney Channel series Shake It Up. In 2013, Zendaya appeared in the sixteenth season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Her single releases have reached among Billboard Hot 100 and her self-titled album too reached at 51 on Billboard 200. Currently Zendaya is starring in the Disney Channel original series K.C. Undercover.
5. Maisie Williams, 18
When auditioning for the role of Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, Maisie Williams could never have known how big the show would become. In 2012, she earned the Portal Awards for Best Supporting Actress and the BBC Radio 1 Teen Award for Best British Actor in 2013 and the Saturn Award for Best Young Actor in a Television Series in 2015. She has received quite a few other nominations too. Arya was Williams’ first professional role and she received critical acclaim for her performance in the blockbuster series. Currently Williams is expected to star in the film adaptation of the video game The Last of Us.
4. Amandla Stenberg, 17
Amandla Stenberg is an American actress who was part of the film The Hunger Games (2012) and was praised for the portrayal of young Cataleya in Colombiana (2011). In Zulu and Xhosa, Amandla means “power or strength”. Stenberg began her career by doing catalogue modelling shoots for Disney. Today she has been called “one of the most incendiary voices of her generation” by the Dazed magazine. After posting her school project video, “Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows” in 2004, she turned into a social activist and became pretty outspoken regarding racial discrimination against black people.
3. Ahmed Mohamed, 14
Mohamed was a 14 years old freshman at the MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. Mohamed had brought an electronic clock to show his teachers but his English teacher thought it was a bomb and after confiscating it, he reported to the principal. The principal called in Local law enforcement who questioned him for an hour and a half and sent him to a juvenile detention facility. Mohamed was a victim of racial profiling and Islamophobia. The incident drew much attention and widespread criticism.
2. Rowan Blanchard, 14
Rowan Blanchard is an American actress who is best known for playing the character of Riley Matthews in the series Girl Meets World at Disney Channel. Blanchard began acting when she was only five years old. She has acted in a number of popular shows like Dance-A-Lot Robot, Best Friends Whenever, Invisible Sister and films like Spy Kids: All the Time in the World etc. Blanchard is pretty out spoken about issues like, feminism, gun violence and human rights. She was part of the #TeamHeForShe campaign and has spoken at the UN Women and US National Committee’s annual conference.
1. Malala Yousafzai, 18
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Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan who for advocating education for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was shot in the head by the Taliban. The assassination attempt sparked a widespread outpouring of support for Yousafzai. Yousafzai survived her assault and emerged as an activist for female education. In 2013, she was crowned as “the most famous teenager in the world” and also featured in the Time magazine’s “The 100 Most Influential People in the World,” three times in a row, in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She became a co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
