--- description: Ben Rattray and the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy discuss the moment they found their calling. title: Two Activists on How to Change the World image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58335093f94ede25/69889142f887dcc154e95aa9/screen-shot-2016-04-29-at-2-22-49-pm.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How the Change.org Founder and a Filmmaker Knew They Wanted to Change the World by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 2, 2016 2:00 PM CUT  by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 2, 2016 2:00 PM CUT For Ben Rattray, the founder of Change.org, the moment his life changed was when his younger brother came out as gay. For Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker from Pakistan, it was when she was a young girl and drove through a poor neighborhood on the way to school in the morning. “If you speak the truth, I will stand with you, and so will the world,” Obaid-Chinoy said her father told her years later about writing about what she saw. TIME brought together [Obaid-Chinoy](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975%5F2111976%5F2112152,00.html "undefined") and [Rattray](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975%5F2111976%5F2111946,00.html "undefined"), both former TIME 100 honorees, as part of a new video series that sparks conversation between pioneers in different fields. **Watch More:** [Arianna Huffington and a NBA Star on Why Sleep Is Crucial to Success](http://time.com/4307961/arianna-huffington-andre-iguodala-sleep/ "undefined") Their discussion ranged from how they both got their start to the best way to inspire others to take action for a cause, and even to Obaid-Chinoy’s footwear at this year’s Academy Awards, where she won for Documentary (Short Subject). “I went onstage to accept my Academy Award wearing flip-flops,” she said. “My mother, she’s like, who wears flip-flops to accept their Academy Award?” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4310904/ben-rattray-sharmeen-obaid-chinoy-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4310904/ben-rattray-sharmeen-obaid-chinoy-video/"},"headline":"How the Change.org Founder and a Filmmaker Knew They Wanted to Change the World","datePublished":"2016-05-02T14:00:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:15:06.575Z","description":"The founder of Change.org and an Oscar-winning filmmaker speak about the pursuit of truth","url":"https://time.com/4310904/ben-rattray-sharmeen-obaid-chinoy-video/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58335093f94ede25/69889142f887dcc154e95aa9/screen-shot-2016-04-29-at-2-22-49-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58335093f94ede25/69889142f887dcc154e95aa9/screen-shot-2016-04-29-at-2-22-49-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2016-04-29 at 2.22.49 PM","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4310904/ben-rattray-sharmeen-obaid-chinoy-video/","name":"How the Change.org Founder and a Filmmaker Knew They Wanted to Change the World"}}]}] ```