2018-2019 Obama Foundation Scholar Trisha Shetty took to the stage at the inaugural Paris Peace Forum on Sunday to call for peaceful leadership and international cooperation – and to introduce the French president, Emanuel Macron.

In brief remarks that opened the event, Shetty, who served as the chair of the Forum’s Solutions Committee and as vice president of its Steering Committee, praised the French leader for encouraging peace and stressed the importance of toning down fierce rhetoric in times of partisan division.

“We’re here today to mark the centenary of the armistice and reinforce the pledge of never again,” Shetty said, referring to the armistice that ended World War I exactly a century ago: “As a global community, we don’t need walls to address our problems, we need international cooperation, we need an actively engaged civic society and we need good leadership. And that is the ethos of Paris Peace Forum.”

In her remarks at the Paris Forum, Shetty said that public calls for peace were particularly important in times when political rhetoric is particularly contradictory and even violent. “We cannot hope to have peace with talks of less cooperation and countries looking inwards,” she said. “Now more than ever we need to lean on good governance and leadership.”

For video of the event, including Shetty's remarks, click here.

The Peace Forum took place during a weekend of events marking the end of World War I, 100 years to the day of the war’s end. In his speech, President Macron called for a renewed commitment to multilateralism. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, also spoke at the event.  

Shetty is one of 12 rising social change leaders from around the world selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Obama Foundation Scholars Program at Columbia University during the 2018-2019 academic year. Participating scholars are taking classes at Columbia and pursuing opportunities aimed at building their leadership skills in partnership with the Obama Foundation. The program is part of Columbia World Projects, a new initiative that will use its distinctive strengths in research and practice across a broad range of fields to take on substantial challenges by developing projects that will positively affect people’s lives.

Shetty, an India-based social activist, runs the organization She Says, which gives medical, legal and educational resources to female survivors of abuse. Since arriving on campus, Shetty has continued her leadership in New York: On the International Day of the Girl last month, she appeared on the Today Show as the telecast marked the occasion.