Stephanie Gilmore

'The whole point was to educate them so they could create work for themselves and future generations.'

Unless you follow the world surfing tour or closely monitor every winner of an ESPY, you've probably never heard of Stephanie Gilmore. Then again, maybe you noticed when the five-time women's world champion was featured in Vogue or posed nude for ESPN's The Body Issue. "Happy" Gilmore, 26, is a fast-improving golfer who plays with Kelly Slater and other top men's surfers on tour, but she's also devoted to improving the lives of others. Gilmore participated in an aid mission to a remote village in Senegal in 2012, and no one there had a clue who she was. "The kids were staring at me like, Who is this blond-haired, green-eyed person, and what is she doing here?" Gilmore was there for two weeks with sponsor Quiksilver to help locals set up an irrigation system and plant about 1,500 nut and fruit trees. "The whole point was to educate them so they could create work for themselves and future generations," Gilmore says. She's also an ambassador for Movember, Sea Shepherd and SurfAid International. "We get so much from surfing at these incredible locations, it's important for us to give back and leave those places better than they were when we came."