Women Of The Week: Chinese Actress Jiang Mengjie, UK Gardner Carly Burd And South African Hot Air Balloon Pilot Semakaleng Mathebula
Here are some of the women who are making an impact and inspiring us this week.
Women are helping others by speaking out, feeding those in need and breaking into industries.
1. Chinese Actress Jiang Mengjie
Chinese actress Jiang Mengjie is being praised for speaking out about her experience of being upskirted and blackmailed.
She said she first learned about it when her staff noticed comments about “secret footage of her” under her Weibo posts.
Afterwards, her friend sent her the video, which she said left her and her team feeling “angry, disgusted and subsequently powerlessness.”
She said in her post that she then started to receive private messages blackmailing her.
She said she eventually brought the case to the authorities.
She said she decided to come forward because she hopes she can help more people become aware and pay attention to the issue.
2. British Woman Carly Burd
Carly Burd, a woman in the UK who has fed more than 1,600 people through the cost of living crisis, found her garden vandalized with salt on April 12.
Burd launched her project, “A Meal On Me With Love”, in July 2022 as inflation hit record highs in the UK, leaving many at risk of hunger and homelessness.
She took the story to TikTok on the day she discovered the crime, when more than five kilograms of salt was poured onto the land, thus killing the crops and sabotaging soil fertility.
With the help of volunteers, she has now dug up much of the salt and is now trying to restore the land.
3. South African Balloon Pilot Semakaleng Mathebula
Meet Semakaleng Mathebula, South Africa’s first Black woman hot air balloon pilot and one of the few women in the industry.
The 27-year-old from Hartbeespoort, South Africa, got into ballooning by accident.
Deciding to pursue her passion, she eventually received a scholarship for her pilot training and earned her license.
Her journey to learn about the sport required an incredible amount of confidence, she said.
