WOTM: Angelina Jolie

" Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life."

Intelligent, Brave, Courages, Soulful, Selfless and Inspiring name a few of the many characteristics of this issue's Woman Of The Month. Celebrating the International Women's Day, who better to represent all of the women out there than Angelina Jolie? 

In the early stages of Angelina Jolie's public and famous life, she was known as the wild child actress who snogged her brother on the red carpet at the Oscars, wore a vial of her then husband's blood around her neck and admitted to self-harming and drug use. But all that is now long forgotten as the inspiring woman splits most of her time between her extremely busy acting and directing job, extensive humanitarian work and bringing up her beautiful family of six. "Make bold choices and make mistakes. It's all those things that add up to the person you become." Let's take a look at and appreciate how she's turned into a role model for so many. 

Angelina is known for not only her amazing and talented acting and directing skills but also for her soulful charity work that takes place around the world. She is "never too busy for those in need, for those in need are more important than a 2 hour hair appointment at the salon". Her kind and selfless generosity has contributed so much to those facing problems around the world. Even with her busy schedule in Hollywood, Angleina is never too busy to take a visit to the countries in need of help.

Angelina first became aware of the extent of the problems people around the world face when she filmed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. She later said that seeing and meeting the people of that war-ravaged country 'opened my eyes.' The suffering of the people in Cambodia caused Angelina to contact the United Nations to find out how she could help. She then went on her first overseas mission which was an 18-day trip to Sierra Leone and Tanzania. After, she followed a two-week trip back to Cambodia and then met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Not long after, she was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and her humanitarian work really got going. Angelina was devoted and set to help the people around her. She was never a woman who showed selflessness in any way. 

Ever since she had been appointed as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Angelina has visited over 30 countries and even risked her life on one of them. On a recent trip to Afghanistan she revealed that she had written a farewell letter to Brad Pitt after being warned she was a target for attack. She is brave and has always put the safety and health of others before her own. She is indeed a representative of all strong and brave women out there.

Angelina is beyond admirable in her courage for visiting highly volatile areas, during her time as a Goodwill Ambassador she's visited Darfur in Sudan during the verocious conflict there, Chad during its civil war as well as Iraq and Libya during the Libyan revolution. Angelina has focused her attention on refugees and people who have been displaced due to conflict. She is definitely a try inspiration to all. She has also helped those who have been affected by natural disasters, including earthquake victims in Haiti. Angelina has also set up and financed many charity organisations. Angelina Jolie had also founded the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation after her first son, Maddox, who she adopted from Cambodia. This was dedicated to the community development and environmental conservation in Cambodia.

All of her contributions doesn't stop there, Angelina joined forces with economist Dr. Gene Sperling and founded the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which funds education for children affected by man-made or natural disasters. Angelina has always, and I hope will continue on, to not only care for her own children but those who are in bigger need of a home and a happy life. 

Angelina has worked with Microsoft to set up the 'Kids in Need of Defense' which is a group of law firms and volunteers who have committed to giving legal counsel for immigrant kids in the US. Both Angelina and her husband Brad dig deep when it comes to charity. The couples have donated millions and millions of their own money each year. 

Despite her selfless humanitarian work, generous charity donations and her role as a devoted mother, it was Angelina's announcement that she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy that really won people's admiration. Not only did the inspiring woman take the brave decision to have the dramatic surgery, after discovering that she had a high chance of developing cancer, which was the same disease that killed her beloved mother, but she wrote a moving op-ed piece for the New York Times so that other women would hopefully benefit from her decision. Angelina is a woman health advocates and has given examples of cancer prevention procedures like removing her breast and now ovaries along with her fallopian tubes. "We have a choice about how we take what happens to us in our life and whether or not we allow it to turn us. We can become consumed by hate and darkness, or we're able to regain our humanity somehow, or come to terms with things and learn something about ourselves."

Bravery, elegance, generosity and poise, Angelina has been and always will be an incredible woman.