Benjamin Quinto is one of my role models. He’s been a good friend while I was in New York, and I still try to keep track of what he’s up to, though we don’t touch base as much as we should. Ben is an activARTist 
An activist, an artist, an advocate. I’m not sure if he coined the term, but it definitely suits him. I don’t want to talk too much about Ben, because you can read his bio here. Enough to say Ben founded an organization when he was 18 which became probably one of the largest and most influential global NGOs before he reached 30, he’s inspired hundreds of youngsters all over the world, and he’s influenced global policies by liaising with some of the most important leaders of the world.
Apart from all this, Ben is a great artist and photographer. Check out his albums on Flickr! I totally adore his latest photoproject, which is actually the main reason I am blogging about Ben today. The Book of Smiles is a coffee album with smiles! As Alan Alda was saying, “When people are laughing, they are generally not killing each other”. I’m confident Ben will find the resources to publish it. And that I’ll get an autographed copy of it.