For attorney Kay Wolf, a 2009 book by Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof was more than a good read. It was a life-changer. After devouring Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which Kristof wrote with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, Wolf felt empowered.

Tapping into her roots as a teacher’s daughter, she last year began a campaign within 170-attorney Ford Harrison to raise money to open an elementary school in Cambodia’s poverty-stricken Prey Ven province. They cut the ribbon for the building in December.