Ohio youth recognized by Prudential Emerging Visionaries program

North Royalton student is honored with $5,000 award and invitation to the 2023 summit for her work addressing the challenges of a changing world.

NEWARK, N.J., Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Varuni Chopra, 17, of North Royalton, Ohio, today was named a 2023 Prudential Emerging Visionary for her inspiring commitment to improving the lives of others.

As one of 25 Prudential Emerging Visionary winners, Varuni will receive a $5,000 award to help take her innovation to the next level. She is also invited to attend an all-expenses-paid trip with her parent or guardian to Prudential's Newark, New Jersey, headquarters for a three-day summit in April where she will receive coaching, skills development and networking opportunities with Prudential employees and other young leaders.

Prudential Emerging Visionaries recognizes young people ages 14-18 whose fresh perspectives and innovative solutions address pressing financial and societal challenges in their communities.

"The goals of our Emerging Visionaries program reflect Prudential's overarching purpose: to make lives better by solving the financial challenges of our changing world," said Chairman and CEO Charles Lowrey. "We applaud all of our honorees for their commitment to improving the lives of others and creating inclusive and thriving communities."

Ohio's 2023 Prudential Emerging Visionary:

Varuni Chopra founded "Bridge the Gap Initiative," a project that teaches digital literacy skills to senior citizens, boosting their connectivity and increasing their quality of life.

Varuni decided to start this project after seeing how her grandparents struggled with online communication during the pandemic. "Being an immigrant with my grandparents halfway across the world really opened my eyes to the struggles senior citizens face every single day with technology," she explains. Since its founding, "Bridge the Gap Initiative" has worked with 1,200 senior citizens on more than 50 topics. The project operates across 15 states and five countries.

Emerging Visionaries is a collaboration between Prudential Financial and Ashoka, a leading social impact organization, with support from the Financial Health Network, an authority on financial health and longtime partner of The Prudential Foundation.

During the summit, to be held April 22-25, 2023, five winners will also have the opportunity to present their solutions in a pitch-off, where a grand prize winner will be awarded an additional $10,000 in funding. What's more, Prudential employees will again vote to name an Employees' Choice Award winner, who will receive an additional $5,000.

The program is an evolution of Prudential's Spirit of Community Awards, which, over 26 years, honored more than 150,000 outstanding youth volunteers.

To read about all this year's Prudential Emerging Visionaries, visit prudential.com/emergingvisionaries.

About Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader and premier active global investment manager, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.

About Ashoka
Ashoka is the largest global network of leading social entrepreneurs — individuals with new ideas to systemically address the world's biggest challenges and the entrepreneurial skill to transform those ideas into national, regional and global social impact. Over 40 years, Ashoka has supported more than 3,600 social entrepreneurs in 90 countries with solutions addressing society's most pressing issues. Ashoka's vision is a world in which Everyone Is a Changemaker — a society that responds quickly and effectively to challenges, and where each individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support to address any social problem. For more information, visit ashoka.org.

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SOURCE Prudential Financial, Inc.