One Young World Profile: Daisy Butzer, United Way of Chatham County

What happens when a straight-A student, confident in every answer, discovers that life has more than one right way forward? If that student is Daisy Butzer, you get to witness a rare kind of transformation: part intellectual, part emotional, and all heart.

Daisy is the Impact Manager at United Way of Chatham County in North Carolina, a small team with a big mission. She lights up when recalling the moment she first learned about the role at United Way. It was a clear yes. “This is it,” she thought. “This is what I want to do.” Since then, she’s thrown herself into the work with abandon.

Daisy leads both the Chatham Housing Collective and a bold new initiative to prevent and end poverty for 2,000 people in 2,000 days. She works with state, regional and county partners to coordinate service providers, build shared systems, and make community-level data more accessible and actionable for both initiatives. “I like being in the background,” she says. “But I also really love cheering people on and making things easier for them to do great work.”

Daisy’s academic background is strong. She holds a Master of Public Health, but she’s learned just as much from her peers and partners. “Theories, models, frameworks. I love that stuff,” she admits. “But I’ve become a lot more open-minded. Realizing how much I don’t know is a gift.”

I used to think global issues weren’t part of my work. But now I see how much we can learn from other places and bring it home.”

That curiosity and humility are what led her to One Young World. When the application landed in her inbox with a “last call” subject line, it felt like a sign. She applied, was selected, and is now part of a global delegation of young leaders. “I used to think global issues weren’t part of my work,” she says. “But now I see how much we can learn from other places and bring it home.”

For Daisy, attending the One Young World Summit is all part of a bigger goal. It’s the next step toward building communities that can adapt, grow, and stay strong no matter what the future holds.