Cheryl Perera is an accomplished children's rights activist, a captivating speaker and the founder and president of OneChild, the premiere organization empowering a movement of children and youth taking action against child sex slavery. Her extraordinary contributions to protect children, and her high innovation, achievement and leadership, have earned her honours such as the World of Children Founder's Award and the BRICK Award, and distinguished her as one of Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 and Canada's Top 20 Under 20.

Cheryl became socially involved at age 16, after reading about the exploitation of children, for a high school project. Eager to take action, she traveled to her native country Sri Lanka in 2002, to investigate the exploitation of children. Wanting to get an insider’s look into the child sex industry, she participated in a treacherous sting operation that led to the successful apprehension of a child sex offender. Her breadth of knowledge and bravery attracted the attention of dignitaries, and she was recognized by the Sri Lankan Government, having been offered a placement of one year at the Presidential Secretariat to serve as the President's Nominee on Child Protection, at the age of 17.

At age 19, she established OneChild and, under her leadership, the youth succeeded in their negotiations with Air Canada, to screen their youth-created in-flight video warning against child sex tourism. The project was launched in 2005 on all domestic and international flights, as the first and only one of its kind in Canada and the second in North America. A sought-after dynamic orator, she actively addresses UN organizations, government bodies, business groups, rotary clubs, educators, students, and the media on the importance of children's rights, poverty, education, children in armed conflict, child participation, social responsibility and volunteerism. She has spoken to over 36,000 young people and adults, and undertaken keynote speeches, and served as a panelist at various international and national conferences and events. She has also appeared on US and Canadian TV and radio as a commentator on child rights issues, and generated awareness on child servitude at the 5th World Youth Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. Cheryl was appointed as a member of the Senate committee against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth, chaired by Romeo Dallaire, and has also served on the international advisory council and judging panels of World of Children, the BRICK Academy’s “Do Something” and Flare magazine for several years, and participated in the Women's Executive Network expanded WXNWisdom programme.

Cheryl holds an Honours B.A. in ethics, society and law, and political science, from the University of Toronto, and is currently pursuing an M.A.S. in Switzerland, in advanced studies in children's rights. A recipient of many prestigious national and international awards, Cheryl has broken tremendous ground to turn the tables on the child exploitation industry where few would dare to tread.