Editor’s Note: Since this article was published reports of sexual abuse and mismanagement within the More Than Me organization have come to light. Global Citizen champions gender equality and girls’ education, fights against sexual violence in all forms, and supports survivors of such abuses.

As a kid, Katie Meyler often wondered why life had dealt her such a lousy hand.

Her mother, a single parent, worked minimum-wage jobs just to make ends meet, and Katie and her two siblings grew up feeling like the poorest kids in their New Jersey neighborhood.

Then Katie traveled to Panama with her local youth group and encountered a whole new meaning of the word "poverty." There she met families who were struggling to get by without clean water, good schools, or basic healthcare—things she took for granted back home.

Katie quickly realized that she was one of the world's wealthiest people. Her life in New Jersey was one of relative luxury compared to the hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty around the world.

It didn't seem fair. So she decided to do something about it.

Today, Katie is the founder and CEO of More Than Me, a nonprofit dedicated to helping vulnerable girls in Liberia, West Africa, access a quality education. She recently visited Global Citizen to share her story. Watch the video above to find out why this New Jersey native wound up devoting her life to the children of Liberia.