Shavano Park resident Shannon Sedgwick Davis credits her parents for inspiring her worldview—an approach that has led her to become an attorney, activist, author, and advocate for social justice here and abroad.

Sedgwick Davis is the CEO of the Bridgeway Foundation, an organization that is dedicated to ending and preventing mass atrocities worldwide, according to the Houston-based nonprofit.

Sedgwick Davis has also worked with international groups such as Human Rights Watch, Resolve Uganda, Aegis Trust, and dozens of local organizations and causes.

“It was really the fact that my parents focused on the idea that there’s nothing that’s impossible. They really thought that,” Sedgwick Davis said.

The World Affairs Council of San Antonio is the latest organization to formally honor Sedgwick Davis and her work, bestowing her with its 37th annual International Citizen of the Year award in a March 2 event at the Red Berry Estate.

According to a WACSA press release, Sedgwick Davis and the Bridgeway Foundation have been credited for bolstering awareness, civilian protection, and recovery efforts against African group the Lord’s Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, who was the first indictee of the International Criminal Court.

The release said Sedgwick Davis serves on the boards of philanthropic groups and initiatives Humanity United, This Bar Saves Lives, Verdant Frontiers and Virunga Fund.

Additionally, she is a member of the advisory council of The Elders, an organization made up of global leaders, including presidents, human rights activists and Nobel Prize winners, who use their collective influence to assist world problems, the release said.

Sedgwick Davis said being able to go overseas and “being present” to address various challenges, such as hunger and genocide, has provided her an opportunity to follow her passion and help others in need.

“They told me to do what makes my heart beat, what I was passionate about, what I was prepared to do,” Sedgwick Davis said.

World Affairs Council of San Antonio officials said March 2 award dinner attendees heard Davis speak about her life and work and got to receive a copy of her book, “To Stop a Warlord,” an account about the efforts to bring Joseph Kony to international justice.

WACSA CEO Armen Babajanian said Sedgwick Davis’s work is an example of the council’s mission, which is to promote public understanding of world affairs and enhance San Antonio’s participation in a global community.

“The World Affairs Council's International Citizen of the Year is specifically designed to shine a light on local leaders making a global impact. We can't think of a better-suited honoree than Shannon Sedgwick Davis,” Babajanian said in the release. “She lives and breathes what we preach in our mission through her work and story. Shannon’s compassion and tenacity, combined with the ability and know-how to bring political and military leaders and A-list celebrities together to back her efforts, is a testament to how well she is respected.”

Sedgwick Davis in the release expressed appreciation for WACSA’s honor.

"But the award is really a recognition and accolade of our extraordinary heroes out in the field around the world,” Sedgwick Davis said.

Sedgwick Davis said addressing geopolitical and social troubles abroad has been challenging given the COVID-19 pandemic and what she called a self-centered tone being projected by many U.S. leaders and policymakers in the past few years.

However, the United States has “an extraordinary responsibility” to serve as a leader for democracy and human rights in the world, Sedgwick Davis said.

“Injustice to one is an injustice to all,” Sedgwick Davis said.