Dear Friends of U-GO,

At the beginning of 2025, we looked forward to a year of taking our bootstrapped non-profit and maturing it from our humble beginnings into an organization with the structure and world class team capable of helping us reach our BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal): supporting 100,000 scholars by 2042. At this halfway point of the year, I’m pleased to report that we are already achieving many of the milestones we had set out to achieve. And still, being a nimble upstart, we have also added in new scholar programs and fundraising opportunities beyond what we had planned.

A Bold New Look to Match a Bold Mission

Perhaps the most visible part of our evolution, in March we unveiled the new U-GO website, the culmination of a nearly year-long process of refreshing our brand with the pro-bono creative genius of Saboteur. We encourage you to check out the website as a resource for the most up-to-date information on our programs, up-coming events, and inspiring stories from our scholars around the world.

Welcome to our new Chief Operating Officer

As we continue to grow, we are thrilled to welcome Elizabeth (Liz) Bradford to our all-volunteer C-Suite as our new COO. Liz has been a member of our Hong Kong regional board and recently relocated to the UK. Her 20+ year career in banking has been in COO and Chief of Staff roles in Sydney, Hong Kong and London, most recently with HSBC. Liz is already diving in, helping to build the systems and processes a rapidly-expanding organization needs to run at scale and with utmost efficiency.

U-GO: Beyond the Classroom

Perhaps most exciting is the launch of U-GO AI—our proprietary AI readiness training program. Designed and developed in record time by tech leaders Martina Lauchengco and Stuart Kerr, alongside our Director of Programs Tom Monroe, this initiative ensures our scholars are prepared for the future of work via a 16 hour course load that combines live sessions, pre-recorded modules and “office hours” with AI experts. Over 700 scholars signed up for the training in just the opening week and we have a growing cadre of world-class teachers volunteering their time to the program.

Our Largest Cohort of Graduates!

This year, 536 young women are graduating thanks to U-GO scholarships—our largest graduating class ever. Their diplomas are not just personal triumphs, but stepping stones to careers that will uplift families and communities. We hope you will be as inspired as we were by the story of one of those graduates in southern Vietnam:

Tran Thi Thao Quyen illustrates the perseverance and resilience of our scholars. Born in rural Vietnam to an impoverished family, Quyen’s world was rocked during her teenage years by the untimely death of her mother to cancer. This story could easily have ended there as a tragedy, but Quyen channeled her grief into an interest in medicine. With help of a U-GO scholarship and our partner The Relay Fund, Quyen was able to attend the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University where she recently graduated with a Bachelor of Nutrition. Today she is already gainfully employed at Siam Thailand Cosmetic Hospital. Enjoy Quyen’s story below in her own words, and know that your support is helping us to reach thousands of young women with their own bright futures, just waiting for the opportunity.

All the best,

John Wood

Founder and CEO

scholar spotlight

events around the world!

In what is sure to be one of the highlights of the year for all involved, we were thrilled to gather over 80 scholars, board members, investors and partners together in Danang, Vietnam this past April for the 4th annual U-GO Global Summit. It was an inspiring weekend of learning and brainstorming, while connecting across borders, languages and cultures. The summit allowed many of our participants to experience for the first time the impressive array of partners and board members we are proud to count as part of the U-GO family. Though by far the high point was getting to spend time with our scholars, who are simply some of the most intelligent, resilient, and confident young people I have ever met. They are walking examples of our motto: talent is universal, opportunity is not. Meeting them made us all more committed than ever to making opportunities available to all who wish to follow their dreams to higher education.

Danang kicked off the spring (in the Northern Hemisphere) event season. From Vietnam we bounced over to Hong Kong for a gathering of our board along with top donors on the lovely terrace of the newly opened Gia Trattoria overlooking Victoria Harbour. Then we went on to Singapore, first, for an intimate event with our partner, the Asia Community Foundation, then on to the Singapore gala dinner at The Edition Hotel. We are thrilled to report that the room was sold out with 200 high energy, generous, enthusiastic members of the Singapore business community and society. After a short break in the Komodo Islands with my family to recharge, we flew through Jakarta to meet with our partner Inotek Foundation and 50 of our scholars attending university in the Jakarta area. We closed out the Asia journey in Manila with an intimate dinner for the business community sponsored by the U-GO Philippines board, JP Morgan Private Bank and Mishcon de Reya.

Image Credit Left to Right: Ayala Foundation (Manila) , Andrew Toh Photographer (Singapore), Hong Kong Board, Andrew Toh Photographer (Singapore)

Back home in San Diego, our new “Wild West Board” hosted over 150 supporters for a festive Italian Wine Dinner. Guests came from all over the region, including Orange County and Los Angeles, and were treated to a rare live solo performance of original music from U-GO board member and O.A.R. co-founder Benj Gershman.

Images: Elena Monroe Photography at the San Diego event

In total, our spring events raised over $1.6 million, enough to fund an incredible 2,000 years of scholarships. This helps us to move another step toward that BHAG and a world where every woman has the chance to pursue her education and career dreams, whatever barriers she may face.

We love meeting all of you as we travel around the world and watching this community grow. Please have a look below for upcoming events. Please join us if your travels coincide with any of them. Know someone who might be interested in supporting women’s education while having a fun time with an awesome group of people? Please introduce us. We are especially looking for new friends in Dubai and New York as we look to plan events this fall in two of the world’s most dynamic cities. There’s never been a better time to get involved.