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Updated: 2 hours ago / 2025 40 Under 40 honorees

40 Under 40: Laura Nilsson is passionate about furthering humanitarian aid

Photo / Courtesy of Laura Nilsson Laura Nilsson, 34: Director of global programs, Partners for World Health
Laura Nilsson, 34 Director of global programs, Partners for World Health Read all about the 40 Under 40 honorees
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Greatest achievement: I think it’s still yet to come!

Passion project: For over a decade, I ran a social enterprise with a team of women, which we started out of our dorms at Bentley University; we grew it into a fully functioning, sustainable jewelry business. We sponsored 15 vulnerable young people in Ghana through secondary and tertiary education — not just school fees but housing, utilities, food, books and technology, so that they could focus on their studies. These students went on to get certificates, degrees and find work in a difficult economy. We built relationships with these individuals with whom we still keep in touch, and have fond memories of multiple visits to Ghana. We didn’t just wire the revenues, we built a lasting people-to-people connection.

Influential book: “Dead Aid,” by Dr. Dambisa Moyo. During graduate school, this book exposed me to the critical side of foreign aid which I now constantly recall as a lens for the work I’m doing, because I believe there is a right way to do foreign aid, as much as there is a wrong way.

Favorite TV show: “Fargo”

Personal hero: My late grandmother, who suffered the worst of war and survived, never asking for anything in return — not special treatment, not sympathy and definitely not pity. She didn’t turn against the world and all the hurt it caused her, but instead channeled compassion and never stopped giving to others, no matter who they were.

Favorite quote: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main ...for each man’s death diminishes me, I am involved in mankind, and therefore send not to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” — John Donne.

Best way to recharge: Hike, camp, ski, walk the beautiful coast where we live (and all of the above with my dog Taco!), read, try all the amazing food and drink in Greater Portland and explore new places in hidden corners of the world as much as possible!

Maine’s biggest challenge: The rivalry between old and new; Mainers and being “from away,” wanting to cherish what makes this state great by freezing it in time and making it a best kept secret instead of sharing with those who value the same.

Dinner party guests: Michelle Obama, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Anthony Bourdain.

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