"Data can change the world!” That’s what Charita L. Castro, PhD, MSW believes. She has witnessed first-hand the power of data and research in changing lives, especially for vulnerable children. Dr. Castro began her career as a survey statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau under the Presidential Management Fellowship; conducted field research on health hazards to children working on sugarcane farms under a Fulbright Fellowship; and became the inaugural Chief of Research and Policy in the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking at the U.S. Department of Labor. Dr. Castro has played a leadership role in measuring the prevalence of child labor in West African cocoa production used for chocolate and examining forced labor conditions in the production of electronics, such as cell phones, in Malaysia. This work is not just technical for Dr. Castro. As a child of the Filipino diaspora and daughter of Asian immigrants, research work tugs at her sense of humanity and personal obligation to be in service of others.