Should the United Nations happen to need a new Secretary General in the next few years, Shannon O'Brien would be Young & Successful Media's candidate of choice.
When Shannon talks about her goals--contributing to the field of educational programming and media through the promotion of cultural awareness, language learning understanding
and acceptance--she's far from "all talk." Although a United States citizen, Shannon has spent 20 years living, working, studying and traveling in a total of 21 countries.
Her bio certainly reads like a world-leader-in training:
Shannon recently received the Rotary World Peace Scholarship created to develop future leaders skilled in peace studies. As one of just 8 people to receive this award,
Shannon is today pursuing a Masters degree in international relations, with a focus on peace and conflict resolution, at International Christian University in Tokyo.
She also hosts an English-language version of a Japanese radio program.
Shannon's interest in international affairs and cultural exchange began at a young age while she was growing up in Dublin, Ireland, and Geneva, Switzerland. Educated
in Europe and the United States, Shannon earned a degree from Boston College in Intercultural Communication while completing the College's Global Proficiency Program.
Since then, Shannon has served as a resident adviser at an international language school, and completed internships with Standard & Poor's in London and Arnold Worldwide (which put her to work on the national anti-smoking campaign "The Truth").
So how did Shannon end up in Japan? Her journey was born from her grandfather's experience in World War II. Shannon's grandfather, Donald O'Brien, was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese forces attacked, and was later shot down over Japan during the war. Shannon says, "I am here seeking to understand what led my grandfather and millions of others to risk their lives engaging in the world's wars." She finds it unusual that in this century her experience with Japan conjures a very different image-that of peace.
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