Maria Ressa is one of the handful of journalists that have won the illustrious Nobel Peace Prize, sharing the prize for her work safeguarding freedom of expression by holding an authoritarian government of the Phillipines for its brutality and attacks on the independent press.
Born in Manila and educated in Princeton, she straddles the two countries with her work as the co-founder and CEO of online Filipino news site Rappler and as a Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Her memoir, "How to Stand Up to a Dictator", warns that the United States stands just a hop, skip and a jump from the sort of oppression that has beset her native country.