Barack Obama has shown us how to be a politician guided by intelligence, integrity, and compassion.

Among others, Mikhail Gorbachev for leadership that enabled the peaceful transition from communism in eastern Europe.

I have a lot of respect and admiration for President Carter. It was a delight when I got the Nobel Peace Prize to get a letter from him. It meant a lot to me, getting that letter from a man who is my idol in many ways. ... He always has the courage to express his views, his convictions. He doesn’t hesitate to run against the current. He has always had a moral certitude. He looks at the ethics and morality of his action, and that’s key. Whatever we do in life, whether privately or publicly, we need to have a compass. We need to be sure that what we do is not only good for us, but good for the people at large. That’s ethics. That’s morality. I think we need to always know that our work is not just good for us in the short term, but it’s morally correct. And when I talk about morality, I don’t talk about religion. I talk about a moral code, a moral value, which I think we all have, being honest, being fair, being correct. These are values I think we all share.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – everything she writes speaks to me. Her Ted talk, We Should All Be Feminists, inspired everything I do with Gurls Talk.

I am a bit of a Pollyanna – I spend most of my day happy.